The Royle Family Christmas Special– The New Sofa
The BBC have now released a few more details about The Royle Family Christmas special, oh joy!
Two years after The Queen Of Sheba, the last Royle Family Christmas special, Jim, Barbara, Denise and Dave return to our screens for their latest festive episode.
The last time we saw Jim, Barbara, Denise and Dave, viewers – and primarily me – were moved to tears – and me, a near nervous breakdown made worse by the effects of Advocaat – as they witnessed the moving and compassionate passing of Nana. The Bafta-winning writers promise that nobody dies in this episode, but the family is on form in a programme packed with laughs as they treat the festive holiday with their usual irreverence.
Jim and Barbara still bait one another in their cosy (but over-decorated) room. Denise and Dave still aspire to better things as they prepare for Christmas morning and Twiggy barges in on Christmas Eve with his unique take on life. Only poor, down-trodden Anthony is missing who, viewers are told, is babysitting for Denise and Dave at his own home this year. As Denise remarks, “Well, it’s not a day for kids, is it – Christmas?”
I’m devastated Anthony’s not going to be in it but I’m very glad nobody dies this year and I’m guessing they get a new sofa too!
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Wow..really looking forward to this!!!..this caught me completely by surprise,i didn’t even realise they were makig another one. Shame Ralf little isn’t in it..i assume he was busy on something else and couldnt do it i guess. I thought the queen of sheba was good but it didnt have as much humour in it as it was a more sombre affair with nana dying..i hope this one is back to the good ole days off just sitting on the sofa and jim slagging off everything! sounds like it will be more like one of the old eps and not like the wqueen of sheba..can’t wait!
This is the best Chrsitmas present anyone could have given me, when l found out last night, l was telling anyone who would listen.
I was in teasr at Queen of Sheba, but this looks as though its going to be a straight forward Royle Family.
I hope its an hour special, but needless to say, everything
will STOP in our house when this is shown, phone off the hook.
They have kept this so secret.
Thankyou to all concerned, and a special thank you to Carloline!!
I am so looking forward to the Christmas special of the Royles. Got to be one of the best comedy’s on TV. Pity they didn’t make more.
I am so glad there is going to be another royle family instalment.Craig Cash and Caroline Aherne are the best writing talent we have in this country at the moment.Craigs Early Doors was fantastic as was Sunshine.Its only a pity Caroline has not been as consistant.But nevertheless,when she does put out it is fantastic.So this will be a christmas to look forward to !
So pleased its back, but why oh why is Anthony not in it - he is a key part of the programme and it will be odd him not being there!
i have heard that this year, the christmas will be spent at dave and denise’s house. Will be fun to see (: lookin forward to it!
Just got a text of my wife saying a new one was on, i had to check this myself and cound’nt believe it!!! i feel ecited already! LOL!! I cannot wait for this and i hope it is an hour long special. Wish they would make a series 4!!
Whilst Only Fools was brilliant and Steptoe even better, the return of the best comedy ever made is just wonderful news. Caroline Aherne is the most gifted lady on these shores and her writing, along with the rest of the team, is second to none. Utterly magical stuff that I can’t wait to view. To all those responsible for this magnificent television………..sincere thanks.
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I’m so happy that another Royle Family is out for Christmas! I’ve got every episode made on DVD, i could play the part lol. Never gets boring!!! Shame Anthony isn’t going 2 be in it, sure it will still be good tho!
why isn’t Anthony in it it wont be the same.
I think it will be a really good episode and hope that they make more series in the future.
cant wait until christmas
yep with this a gavin and stacey, there is some real top stuff to look foreward to
when is it on the tv??????????? i caint wait
Thursday 25th December 9:30pm - BBC One
Simply AWFUL!
The appeal of the Royle Family has always been the occasional cringing moments of ‘real-life’ recognition. The show has always teetered on the edge of reality and remained within the realms of plausibility, The New Sofa though, was in the main farcical.
Undeniably there are some genuinely funny moments (Cuppa Soup Starters), but the debacle with the frozen turkey became increasingly pathetic and childishly outlandish.
Jim’s character provided sporadic moments of genuine humour, but gone were his admittedly infrequent, sensitive observations of the past that made him human and not purely a cynical, embittered man.
I agree, it was awful. Denise and Dave have always been a bit thick, and terrible cooks, but when did they turn into the Chuckle Brothers?
What can I say!!! Absolutely terrible. It was past the point of being funny within the first 5 minutes. Xmas not for kids was just soooo hilarious (not). The salmonella bath time was equally pathetic, as was the excitement of the recliner. Do you want some more soup!! Yes , lets boil up the kettle and pour it in. Is there really anyone out there so uneducated as to ask stupid questions about how to cut the carrots, how to make punch (with a tropical flavour)and how to thaw a turkey and then attempt to carve it after having had a bath with it!!! I’ve never seen such dribble in my life.
Funny my arse!
Its about time the royle family was laid to rest,the last one was bad enough but this was terrible.And what the hell have they done to the Dave character?
For god sake please dont do anymore!!
At its height, the Royle Family was a great sitcom. Unfortnately, and I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of people who will agree with this, its height ended after the 2nd series. Aherne & Cash have dragged this out too far. The Queen of Sheba was a fitting festive episode, although largely lacking in laughs. This most recent outing, however, lacks the originality and quality writing we saw in when this series first came out on the box. I’m not denying it was a fantastic show, but just because this is the case does not mean it needs to be dragged out of the box for, let’s be honest, the benefit of Christmas ratings.
that chuckle brothers comment about dave and denise is spot on. it was so unrealistic. everything about it. when david snr was talking about nana like he’d never met her.. they was all at david and denise’s wedding weren’t they?! and why didn’t nobody mention the fact that it was david jnr’s birthday?
i was so gutted about this episode! complete let down.
baby david’s birthday rather.
After series one it became hard to tell whether the show was an affectionate take on their lifestyle or a vicious attack on their inadequacies. With this christmas show the writers have put the boot in. It was not funny, it was embarassing. This is nothing more than an out and out attack on the poor and uneducated. Juvenal, eat your heart out.
it did not make me laugh, this was ment to be one of my telivision highlights for christmas, what a shame. at least Gavin and Stacey was good.
What went wrong BBC. Having been a fan of the The Royle Family series, this Christmas edition was absolute rubbish, a shame, and should never have been considered worthy of transmitting.
It bore no resemblance to it’s proven comedy formula, for instance the stupidity/ignorance of the characters was no longer believable.
In relation to comedy, you have the reputation for producing such excellent material, yet this was embarrassingly bad. Furthermore, it was so transparent in content that you should have shown an ending scene where the producers and actors were given their hefty Christmas bonus for producing this tripe.
An embarrassment, and I’m sure you realise this now.
I have to agree with all the comments above. Aherne and Cash should have gone out on a high after their first 2 series rather than get greedy and produce this unbelievably unfunny tripe. Either they have dried up as comedy writers or were given an afternoon to knock out the script. I really think I could have written a better episode than this! Why would anyone with an ounce of sense defrost a turkey in a bubble bath while they were in it or kick the frozen turkey through the hall into a storage cupboard - did the writers ACTUALLY think this was somehow funny? Maybe in a Tom&Jerry cartoon but can’t believe they’d do it in what should have been an ‘intelligent’ British comedy! If I were you BBC, I’d make sure that any compilation DVD leaves this episode out - maybe in time people will forget it was ever made and they’ll just remember the original classics of the first two series!!!
I agree,this was totally rubbish.
It was one of the biggest disappointments of Christmas 08.
However I do think that the Christmas special of series 3 (with Emmas mum and dad and the dyson ) was one of the best ever Royle Family episodes. Nana was the best.
My expectations were not high this year without her in it,but I am quite shocked that they could do an episode this badly.
So disappointed! Either the writers were completely drunk when they wrote this and thought it was hysterical or they had limited time to write it. I normally like Jims character but he was just plain nasty and not funny. I just don’t know what to day about the turkey ……
I have been a completely loyal fan to this show so it grieves me to admit how bitterly disappointed I was! True there were a few good moments, Jim being the one providing these, the majority of the show felt a little forced. To be honest, what I think it lacked was the family atmosphere which made the show so remarkable. Christmas isn’t Christmas at the Royles without Jim and Nana having a bitch at each other or Anthony being moaned at and without these, well it just didn’t work. I think it’s a shame that a show which used to have me in tears of laughter, left me with tears of sorrow!
First off… I hate when people take a ” I prefer their old stuff” attitude automatically to anything new.
I am a huge Royle family fan and love every minute of every series and special up to now…..
However.. I need to burn this episode from my mind.
Ahern is such a perfectionist … so why!… oh why!!!! did she allow this tripe to go out?
I actually enjoyed David Snr as a character, but he is so inconsistent with mentions of him in past shows (suing the council/Never working etc… now it turns out he was actually in insurance for 40 years?)…he seemed to be the life and soul of the party in this episode, not at all consistent with mentions of the man who goes to bed at 9 at his own birthday party and why does Dave have such a working class accent (and mentality) when he had ”Mondeo” parents? This -well written- out of place character did not fit in.
For me this episode was just a shameless indulgence by the writers.
They were obviously fed up with recieving praise for the type of things they had done in the past, so they tried to show off a little of their comic range.
Ricky Jervais did this in extras’s but cleverly created a plausible context in ‘When the Whistle blows’ thus not cheating loyal viewers of extras.
… Unfortunately the RF writers seemed to hurriedly cram slapstick comedy in with classic (inconsistent) quality Royle Family writing.
This special is nothing short of a LAZY, SELF-INDULGENT BETRAYAL of its fans ! ! ! It should never be shown again.
The writers should strongly consider releasing an apology….. (yes I’m serious!)
I totally agree with all the above comments. This was one of my favourite shows and I was really looking forward to the Christmas special. But what we ended up getting was one relentless childish slapstick scenario after another. Dave’s character has been increasingly turned into a moron - he bears little resemblance to his character in series 1. As for Denise, since when has she become quite this stupid? When she broke down in the kitchen after she failed to have the Christmas dinner like Nigella’s, this was such a missed opportunity - but because of the stupidity that had preceded this you just didn’t buy into it, you didn’t feel any sympathy for her, it was so different from when she broke down the time she was pregnant. The show lacked any pathos, any wit, just a string of ludicrous scenes and characters. David’s father - why would anyone call someone “Bar-bear-a”? Just dreadful, really made me sit there with my mouth wide open unable to believe this was written by the same people who had done such fantastic shows before. It was like someone at college had been asked to write a Royle special as part of their coursework and they got it very wrong.