The Royle Family was a popular BBC television situation comedy (sitcom) that ran for three series between 1998 and 2000. It concerned the lives of a cash-strapped working class Manchester family, the Royles.

The series was remarkable for its simple production and realistic portrayal of family life at the turn of the Millennium. The scripts contain often banal conversations but each series focuses on events around a major family occasion, namely the marriage of the family's daughter Denise, the birth of her first child and the child's christening. All the episodes take place in the rather cramped family home. The show was written by Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash who also acted in it. It was produced by Granada Television for the BBC.

In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, and voted on by industry professionals, The Royle Family was placed 31st. In a 2004 poll to find Britain's Best Sitcom, The Royle Family was placed 19th.

Description

The show is a comic and poignant satire of family life in Manchester, or perhaps Britain as a whole. The family rarely do anything other than watch TV, banter and occasionally eat, smoke and drink. It could be said to be a modern comedy of manners.

Most episodes lack an obvious plot, but most have a theme, or at least a topic of discussion to hold it together. The show also lacks set piece jokes. Many of the humorous situations involve awkwardness, badly told jokes, crassness (usually on Jim's part), irony and the fact that the Royle family on the television often realistically reflect the real lives of the families watching it. In this it has similarities to another BBC docu-comedy, The Office.

Although it is sometimes claimed that the series has no jokes, there are in fact many one-liners, but these are spoken casually by the characters and not signposted like jokes in a regular sitcom.

Characters

The family consists of:

• Jim (Ricky Tomlinson), father and patriarch of the Royle family. He is middle-aged, overweight, unemployed and very lazy. Ignorant and boorish, he is prone to being quick-temperered and scathing to those around him. He is loud-mouthed and opinionated and very public about his bodily functions (for example, by announcing his visits to the toilet). However, he can also be very affectionate and sentimental (usually while slightly drunk). A quite competent banjo player, he has a raucous belly-laugh (usually in response to his own jokes) and is something of a party animal . He spends an overwhelming amount of time sitting in an armchair watching television and does little else in the series.
• Barbara (Sue Johnston ), mother and domestic drudge to the Royle family, married to Jim. She also works at a local bakers. A bit more prim and a lot harder-working than her husband, she often scolds Jim for bad language or improper conversation.
• Daughter Denise (Caroline Aherne), a weepy neurotic who suffers intense jealousy of the unseen Beverly Macca;
• Lanky teen son Antony (Ralf Little ), whom the family treat like a butler and who seems incapable of standing up to them.

In every episode the Royles are visited by Denise's boyfriend and later husband Dave (Craig Cash), a dim-witted, semi-jobless young man. There are also occasional visits from Barbara's mother Norma, known as Nana (Liz Smith). Norma and Jim share a mutual dislike for each other. Other recurring characters include neighbours Mary and Joe Carrol (Doreen Keogh and Peter Martin ), their daughter and Denise's friend, the ever-dieting Cheryl (Jessica Stevenson), Antony's Best friend Darren (Andrew Whyment ) and girlfriend Emma (Sheridan Smith), and Jim's best friend Twiggy (Geoffrey Hughes).

Series

The first series ran on BBC2 in 1998, quickly gaining a cult following, and was moved to BBC1 for the second series in 1999, where it became even more popular. A Christmas special appeared in 1999, followed by a third series and another Christmas special in 2000. This episode proved to be the last when Caroline Aherne decided to move to Australia after a bout of depression and a suicide attempt to escape the press. After Aherne announced that she would not write or star in any more episodes, Ricky Tomlinson also pulled out to ensure the show's end.

Miscellany

Unlike most sitcoms the show is filmed in 16mm using a single camera. There is no laugh track.

Each episode appears to take place in real time, so that half an hour of the Royles' lives unfolds during each half-hour episode. However, the passage of time as indicated by the changing programmes on the Royles' TV sometimes suggests that the action has been compressed.

All of the action takes place in the Royles' house. The camera never leaves the house. If the Royles look out of the window the camera looks at them and not what they are looking at. The only images from outside are glimpses of programmes on the Royles' TV.

The show was made famous by Jim ending many sentences with the catchphrase "My arse."

The show's theme tune is "Half the World Away" by Oasis. The song can be found as the B-Side to Whatever and on the album The Masterplan.

Each series appeared to lead up to a specific event. The first led to Denise and Dave's wedding; the second saw Denise now pregnant with their child and led up to the birth (Denise went into labour in the Christmas special); and the third saw the addition of Baby David and the run-up to his christening and his first birthday on Christmas Day. Jim also received Sky Digital as a present.

The name The Royle Family is an obvious pun on Britain's Royal Family. The rude manners of the Royles are in contrast with the supposed refined manners of the Queen and her family. The joke was taken to its conclusion by impressionist Alistair McGowan on his television show, with a series of sketches featuring the Royal Family as the Royle Family. The Duke of Edinburgh character played Jim, with Queen Elizabeth II as Barbara, The Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker-Bowles as Denise and Dave, and The Duke of York as Anthony, wearing the top half of a Royal Navy uniform along with a pair of tracksuit trousers.