The Royle Family tonight BBC 1 9 O'clock

amacachi

New episode, hope it's good. Wasn't impressed with last year's which I'm fairly sure no-one enjoyed greatly though it was on RTE last night and have to admit it was better second time around.

Spiritoftheseventies

just finished watching the office christmas special. Comedy at its best

lord lucan

amacachi wrote: »

New episode, hope it's good. Wasn't impressed with last year's which I'm fairly sure no-one enjoyed greatly though it was on RTE last night and have to admit it was better second time around.

I'm a massive Royle family fan and wasn't too gone on last years xmas special. I re-watched it last night and thought it was a lot better than i remembered. Can't wait for tonights special,good to see anthony and cheryl back,i think last years suffered with the introduction of new characters(mr&mrs. best) and a change of venue from the Royles sitting room(dave & denises flat).

magnumlady

I thought it was really good tonight. I didn't enjoy last years one much. It's a shame Nana isn't in it anymore though.

amacachi

Great bit of telly tonight I though.

Otis Driftwood

The fact that Jim and Barbara were 50 years married confused me.Are we to believe they are both in their late 60s?

For its entire run Joe barely said 2 words but he spoke incessently for the screen time he had.

There were some funny moments but all in all it was disappointing.They are trying too hard to recreate what made the old episodes great eg at the end -

morning jim
morning barbara
morning dave
morning barbara
morning dad
morning denice
morning dave
morning denice

etc etc

It went on far too long.

They have also resorted to using piss gags which really should spell the end of this once brilliant show.

Swarles Barkley

Hate to disagree but I thought that was terrible.

I wish they had the restraint to end the series with the Queen of Sheba episode. The last two 'specials' have done nothing but damage the reputation of what was a classic comedy.

The repetition of unfunny 'gags' (One Show, Egg Cup, Thanks Dad, Thanks Dave....) was cringeworthy.

Really really poor.

amacachi

Well Ricky Tomlinson is 70 and Sue Johnston is 66 so it's not that much of a stretch for me. I'll agree the Morning whoever went on a bit long tonight.

CSC

Wasn't impressed at all this evening.

Was a great comedy series in it's day; they should leave it at that rather than try to recreate it for one off specials.

iguana

amacachi wrote: »

Well Ricky Tomlinson is 70 and Sue Johnston is 66 so it's not that much of a stretch for me.

And Caroline Aherne is 46 and Craig Cash 49, so 50 years married is plausible. Though I did always assume the characters were younger than the actors. I would have put Jim and Barb in their late 50s/early 60s and Denise and Dave in their 30's, with Anthony in his late 20s like Ralf Little is.

I think this had some decent moments but I think the Royle family works best when it is set more in 'real time' with each episode being one long scene. When it moves from scene to scene it is more like a series of interconnecting sketches and it just does not work as well.

lord lucan

I really enjoyed tonights show,better than the previous 2 'specials' imo. Great dialogue,some drawn out bits but overall i thought it was excellent.

murpho999

Just watched it myself and I was as disappointed this year as I was with last years.

I really think the show is getting too big for its boots, and was much better when it was just the family chatting and arguing whilst sitting on the sofa watching TV, and the family never went further than the kitchen.

At the time it was great comedy that was very clever how it stayed in one room and used long silences.

Now its turning into a situation comedy and is rapidly turning into Only Fools and Horses.

Graceland

I thought it wasn't bad. There was some good funny scenes. I really do think they should have ended it completely after the queen of sheba special though.
Going a bit off track here - but did anyone else think Sue Johnston got plastic surgery. I wasn't sure if she got surgery or just put weight on - but her face did look really strange. I don't think putting on weight would have this effect. What does anyone else think.

omerin

disappointing show last night. i think they should have ended it with the last christmas special which was good but not great. there were no really side splitting laughs last night, but at least there was twiggys "coming out" and daves father from the previous episode
running out of material i guess

Max Headroom

No no no..........talk about milking a joke..very dissapointing, i've watched every episode of the Royles and the endless repeats but hand on heart i just couldnt watch last nights "special" ever again.....no Mary,Twiggy,too much of Joe ...really cheap, thrown together dissapointment..thank god for Katherine Tate...

Btw ..i think it was a mistake leaving the "comfort zone" of the house.....:p

fryup

Swarles Barkley wrote: »

I wish they had the restraint to end the series with the Queen of Sheba episode. The last two 'specials' have done nothing but damage the reputation of what was a classic comedy.

Here Here, they've tainted the legacy of the show now....its just like Only Fools and Horses they should have left that at the 96 xmas special when they became millionaires.

ardmaj

amacachi wrote: »

New episode, hope it's good. Wasn't impressed with last year's which I'm fairly sure no-one enjoyed greatly though it was on RTE last night and have to admit it was better second time around.

I tried watching last year's RF Xmas special, which started well, but by 20 minutes in became cartoonish. all that nonsense of Denise cooking Xmas dinner, could only end in cliche. By the way, have RTE now started showing the Royles? If they screened last year's episode, they must have bought up the rest of them. The One they showed this year was sub 'Carry On' fare. too insulting to the intelligence. So, how is Jim and Barbara supposed to be 50 years married?

iguana

ardmaj wrote: »

So, how is Jim and Barbara supposed to be 50 years married?

In real life they are 70 and 66 and Denise is 46 so 50 years married is plausible.

ardmaj

murpho999 wrote: »

Just watched it myself and I was as disappointed this year as I was with last years.

I really think the show is getting too big for its boots, and was much better when it was just the family chatting and arguing whilst sitting on the sofa watching TV, and the family never went further than the kitchen.

At the time it was great comedy that was very clever how it stayed in one room and used long silences.

Now its turning into a situation comedy and is rapidly turning into Only Fools and Horses.

That is correct, murpho. Only Fools turned into a soap opera with the 50 minutes series[both of them]. and some of the scenes involving trigger in the return in 2001/3 were downright insulting to the fans of the series.
The 'sleepless in Peckham was really only about tying up loose ends on the 'Frog's Legacy' story. It should have been titled 'Laughless in Peckham' It can't now be unmade or isolated from the other 60+ episodes.