The Royle Family
Sunday night saw the glorious return to our screens of The Royle Family. Unfortunately it was only a one off special, coming six years after the last episode in Christmas 2000.
Subtitled The Queen Of Sheba, this hour long episode centred on Nana, the slightly potty but lovable old lady. She’s now moved in to the Royle household, much to Jim’s annoyance, and is the centre of attention, with her bed in the famous living room. Other changes to the set up include both Denise and Dave’s child, and Anthony’s son now all grown up. The two things that haven’t changed over the years are Jim’s laziness and his “My Arse� catchphrase, and Cheryl from next-door’s lack of luck in the love department. She spends the whole of this episode entertaining a string of Lonely Heart boyfriends over at the Royles.
This was a masterpiece, one of the best things I’ve seen on TV this year. The first five minutes were spent trying to catch us up on the times, with mentions of Sky Plus, Deal or No Deal and turkey twizzlers amongst the sources used. After that, it really got into its stride, with the double length hour-long episode passing so quickly as to surprise me when it ended.
It had everything from love and affection, through to laughter and humour and even a very sad, almost tearful moment, not only for the characters but also the viewers. It even had Johnny Cash’ dulcet tones playing throughout as the score, which just heightened the sense of atmosphere.
Early estimates indicate the show received 7.8 Million viewers, the highest of any comedy programme on British TV this year. Series writer Caroline Aherne and co-writer Craig Cash should at least consider coming back for a full run, and I’m sure the BBC will be begging them to. Part of me feels they should, the other sees this as a fitting end to one of the UK’s funniest and cleverest comedies of recent years. Whatever they decide, this was fantastic Sunday night viewing and highly recommended to anyone who may have missed it.
Royle Family, Sky Plus, Johnny Cash, Caroline Aherne
January 25th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
[...] Cash (Dave Best and Denise Royle), and first aired in 1998. The series ran until 2000, with a special edition in 2006, so who knows what will happen in the [...]