The Royle Family Christmas specials

About the show

Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash's sitcom about a working-class family in the north west of England who rarely leave their living room, where the television is always on and the talk runs from the trivial to the life-changing without anyone getting up. Three series ran from 1998 to 2000, the first on BBC Two, before the show became a Christmas Day fixture on BBC One: two festive episodes closed Series 2 and 3, and four more one-off specials followed between 2008 and 2012, each drawing a Christmas night audience of around eight to ten million. They are some of the best-loved festive episodes in British comedy because nothing much happens: a family, a fug of telly and food, and the odd big moment arriving in the middle of it.