Comments on: The Royle Family Christmas Special– The New Sofa

By: Iqbal

Iqbal — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:51:42 +0000

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.

By: Ian

Ian — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 13:48:06 +0000

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!)

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:15:49 +0000

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!

By: Natalie

Natalie — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 20:48:49 +0000

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 ……

By: donna

donna — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 20:37:12 +0000

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.

By: Mat

Mat — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:06:14 +0000

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!!!

By: Chris Bowles

Chris Bowles — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:58:42 +0000

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.

By: Luke Slomka

Luke Slomka — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 10:05:27 +0000

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.

By: Ray

Ray — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 09:29:31 +0000

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.

By: emily

emily — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 01:13:25 +0000

baby david’s birthday rather.