Agree with most sentiments on here, this was a real return to form. The New Sofa was pretty terrible, and the Golden Eggcup showed flashes of brilliance but still very disappointing, but this was really very good indeed. Not quite up to the standards of the glory years, but I still laughed a heck of a lot!
I think it really helped that they realised that the show is best when they stay in the Royle house. Good to see there were a couple of touching scenes as well. Anthony and Barbara in the kitchen made me smile a lot, as did a lot of the scenes with Joe remembering Mary.
YES I HAVE TO agree the death of Mary was far too long..
and very cheesy lines.. i would upset genuine grieving people, who have lost loved ones at Christmas:mad:..
Notoriously severe TV critic Kevin O'Sullivan gave the thumbs up for this year's edition in the Sunday Mirror today stating, "the Christmas edition of The Royle Family has become one of the Beeb's best festive fixtures. Reliably funny, Jim and his dysfunctional clan didn't disappoint. Loved desperate Dave and Denise's extra-vagant gift...a fridge magnet".
I have to agree that last night's ep was on top form. Did anybody else suddenly sit up and shout, "What!? You can't leave it there!" at the end?
To those who say that there has to be another special, bare in mind how various writers will leave on a cliffhanger to either ensure more episodes (although it doesn't always work, i.e. My Wife and Kids) or to merely leave the story open for their fans to use their imagination and picture their own conclusion.
As people have said, the BBC got Aherne to write three specials, all of which have been written and now aired. The Beeb have been very, very eager to get another series, but Aherne is quite passionate about the show. The only reason she wrote The Queen of Sheba was because her Nan died and she didn't feel she had a strong enough story... although 2008 and 2009 probably didn't stop her.
Nevertheless, I think it'd be good of the BBC to give us an alternative Royle wedding (being a Bank Holiday an' all) unless another special comes along giving us no insight to what happened at all...
A fantastic episode last night. A terrific script, brilliantly delivered. The direction is just fantastic and so well executed. Another bow to Caroline's talents. Comparing last night's episode to the first series is futile. Catering for two entirely different audiences. I don't understand how people don't understand that. A BBC2 monday night script is going to be totally different to a BBC 1 prime time Christmas day script. So many brilliant gags last night, The Shaun Wright Phillips one was probably the best.
It was the success of the BBC 2 script hat put it on BBC 1 in the first place. It's not catering for different audiences at all, it was on after the watershed and is only on on Xmas day based on it's previous successes.
The thing that used to be great about it was the fact that the comedy was in the realism. Each line could have been delivered by a family member in a living room around the country. The show felt like a collection of real comedy. Now it is just ridiculous IMO. When it lost the realism it lost a lot of what made it great.
I found it very amateurish and predictable. Agree with earlier posters who mention the unwelcomed changes in characters from subtle to pantomine. Denise has gone from being a lazy so and so to a down right neglectful, social work intervention time so called mother, Dave went from a bit daft to brain dead, Jim has gone from acerbic to downright nasty, Joe has gone from mute to motormouth.
The only decent characters left were Barbara, Anthony and Cheryl. Stop now Caroline and Craig.
The Jim character just makes me want to puke, he's already unlikeable but the dirty feet, fart 'jokes' and toilet 'jokes' on top of his real life alcohol addled face and body urrrrggghhh. As for Dave, he may as well not be in it.
If they made it more about Joe & Saskia, Cheryl, Denise and the kids in the future, I would consider watching it again. There were some funny bits involving Denise leaving the kids with the neighbour they don't like, offering Saskia a hand if she needs a babysitter, and the fact Cheryl had potty trained the kids and taught them to read.
The rest of it, urns, ashes, Joe's poem, etc, it's just so obvious and IMO really not funny anyone could write that load of tripe.
I found it very amateurish and predictable. Agree with earlier posters who mention the unwelcomed changes in characters from subtle to pantomine. Denise has gone from being a lazy so and so to a down right neglectful, social work intervention time so called mother, Dave went from a bit daft to brain dead, Jim has gone from acerbic to downright nasty, Joe has gone from mute to motormouth.
The only decent characters left were Barbara, Anthony and Cheryl. Stop now Caroline and Craig.
You could have taken the words right out of my mouth!
The Jim character just makes me want to puke, he's already unlikeable but the dirty feet, fart 'jokes' and toilet 'jokes' on top of his real life alcohol addled face and body urrrrggghhh. As for Dave, he may as well not be in it.
If they made it more about Joe & Saskia, Cheryl, Denise and the kids in the future, I would consider watching it again. There were some funny bits involving Denise leaving the kids with the neighbour they don't like, offering Saskia a hand if she needs a babysitter, and the fact Cheryl had potty trained the kids and taught them to read.
The rest of it, urns, ashes, Joe's poem, etc, it's just so obvious and IMO really not funny anyone could write that load of tripe.
just stick to watching my family then, which must be a favorite
just stick to watching my family then, which must be a favorite
:rolleyes:
Don't roll eyes at me for passing an opinion. Accusing anyone of liking My Family should probably be against the T&Cs of this forum. When you learn how to do maths and logic at high school, you'll understand that finding fault with one programme doesn't automatically mean you like another. Finding low key toilet humour boring especially when it's presenting in the form of the repulsively ugly Jim character isn't a crime against comedy. Caroline Aherne's doing that all by herself.
Not if what people are saying is that its crap and they turned it over. It is not their mission to be talked about, its their mission to be well-liked and considered a christmas favourite.
Cheryl's overactive thyroid cleaning out the biscuit tin! Some genuinely touching moments in tonight's ep, a prevalent sense of finality throughout, cna't help but feel Caroline Aherne has written this one to be the last.:(
I thought an overactive thyroid would result in the sufferer being very THIN. an underactive condition would be more likely in Cheryl's case.
A brilliant Special, not as good as Queen of Sheba, but SO much better than the Eggcup and Sofa episodes. Some really funny moments, and I do like that extra characters like Joe and Cheryl were in the episode almost throughout.
rivercity. After the feedback they must have got from the New Sofa, i don't think it's any surprise the Dave's father and mother haven't been back, and they must have got the message. Last year's effort was definitely below standard
I have always felt a little uncomfortable with Denise's attitude to her kids. It started way back when Baby David was first born, and she came across as not just lazy but really uncaring about her son. I didn't like this side to her character.
They have continued with this attitide throughout the series though so I don't agree it was out of character but it's not something I like. That's my only gripe though as I loved the show!
My thoughts exactly.
Really can't understand what the majority of people posting here saw in last nights episode. Somebody actually mentioned the words 'gags came thick and fast'. This about a show that was loved for not having 'gags'.
I thought an overactive thyroid would result in the sufferer being very THIN. an underactive condition would be more likely in Cheryl's case.
Overacative thyroid make you feel hungry all the time BUT really thin. Underactive you can't shift any weight even if you do diet which causes some sufferers to eat unhealthily because they don't see the point of trying. I don't know which was Cheryl is meant to be but she's certainly not very thin!
Comments
I think it really helped that they realised that the show is best when they stay in the Royle house. Good to see there were a couple of touching scenes as well. Anthony and Barbara in the kitchen made me smile a lot, as did a lot of the scenes with Joe remembering Mary.
and very cheesy lines.. i would upset genuine grieving people, who have lost loved ones at Christmas:mad:..
in fact it was the Christmas highlight for me
other shows can only dream of a moment like that.
magic
To those who say that there has to be another special, bare in mind how various writers will leave on a cliffhanger to either ensure more episodes (although it doesn't always work, i.e. My Wife and Kids) or to merely leave the story open for their fans to use their imagination and picture their own conclusion.
As people have said, the BBC got Aherne to write three specials, all of which have been written and now aired. The Beeb have been very, very eager to get another series, but Aherne is quite passionate about the show. The only reason she wrote The Queen of Sheba was because her Nan died and she didn't feel she had a strong enough story... although 2008 and 2009 probably didn't stop her.
Nevertheless, I think it'd be good of the BBC to give us an alternative Royle wedding (being a Bank Holiday an' all) unless another special comes along giving us no insight to what happened at all...
It was the success of the BBC 2 script hat put it on BBC 1 in the first place. It's not catering for different audiences at all, it was on after the watershed and is only on on Xmas day based on it's previous successes.
The thing that used to be great about it was the fact that the comedy was in the realism. Each line could have been delivered by a family member in a living room around the country. The show felt like a collection of real comedy. Now it is just ridiculous IMO. When it lost the realism it lost a lot of what made it great.
should have ended after the nana ep for good which was perfect in every single way
what are you on about?
The only decent characters left were Barbara, Anthony and Cheryl. Stop now Caroline and Craig.
If they made it more about Joe & Saskia, Cheryl, Denise and the kids in the future, I would consider watching it again. There were some funny bits involving Denise leaving the kids with the neighbour they don't like, offering Saskia a hand if she needs a babysitter, and the fact Cheryl had potty trained the kids and taught them to read.
The rest of it, urns, ashes, Joe's poem, etc, it's just so obvious and IMO really not funny anyone could write that load of tripe.
You could have taken the words right out of my mouth!
just stick to watching my family then, which must be a favorite
:rolleyes:
Don't roll eyes at me for passing an opinion. Accusing anyone of liking My Family should probably be against the T&Cs of this forum. When you learn how to do maths and logic at high school, you'll understand that finding fault with one programme doesn't automatically mean you like another. Finding low key toilet humour boring especially when it's presenting in the form of the repulsively ugly Jim character isn't a crime against comedy. Caroline Aherne's doing that all by herself.
Ergo their mission is accomplished
Spamhead
Not if what people are saying is that its crap and they turned it over. It is not their mission to be talked about, its their mission to be well-liked and considered a christmas favourite.
Well then that is good for the show. People saying it's crap isn't in any context.
I thought an overactive thyroid would result in the sufferer being very THIN. an underactive condition would be more likely in Cheryl's case.
rivercity. After the feedback they must have got from the New Sofa, i don't think it's any surprise the Dave's father and mother haven't been back, and they must have got the message. Last year's effort was definitely below standard
My thoughts exactly.
Really can't understand what the majority of people posting here saw in last nights episode. Somebody actually mentioned the words 'gags came thick and fast'. This about a show that was loved for not having 'gags'.
Overacative thyroid make you feel hungry all the time BUT really thin. Underactive you can't shift any weight even if you do diet which causes some sufferers to eat unhealthily because they don't see the point of trying. I don't know which was Cheryl is meant to be but she's certainly not very thin!