The Royle Family

A British sitcom about the everyday life of a working-class family in Northwest England: watching telly, smoking, drinking, and bickering.

Genre: Comedy

Cast:Caroline Aherne , Craig Cash , Sue Johnston , Ricky Tomlinson , Ralf Little , Jessica Hynes , Liz Smith , Peter Martin , Doreen Keogh , Geoffrey Hughes , James Hughes , Matthew Hughes , Andrew Whyment , Sheridan Smith , John Delaney , Lorraine Bruce , Joanne Froggatt , Mary Healey

1Season 1

S1.E1 ∙ Bills, Bills, Bills

Mon, Sep 14, 1998

After receiving the phone bill Jim is on the warpath: Who has been calling Aberdeen? Cheryl and Denise are looking in the catalogue for jackets, and Jim buys some jeans off Twiggy.

2Season 1

S1.E2 ∙ Making Ends Meet

Mon, Sep 21, 1998

Jim Royle is getting more and more worried about finding the money to pay for his daughter's wedding.

3Season 1

S1.E3 ∙ Sunday Afternoon

Mon, Sep 28, 1998

Barbara's mum Norma, known as Nana, comes for Sunday tea and to see Denise in her wedding dress. Nana's reminiscing about the old days and long-dead friends sends the usually lazy Jim into the kitchen to do the washing-up, where he is joined by the other menfolk for small talk, though they return to watch "Antiques Roadshow" on TV and place bets on the items' asking prices. Jim agrees to see Nana home on the bus, but makes such a big deal of it that Dave offers to take her in his van.

4Season 1

S1.E4 ∙ Dad's Birthday

Mon, Oct 5, 1998

It's Jim's birthday and the Carrolls from next door come in to join the celebration. A family photo is taken, though Antony wants to appear in profile; he has a black eye after fighting with the Beswick brothers. Jim annoys Denise by implying that Cheryl is fat and Barbara annoys Jim by talking about an old boyfriend, but he is happy to take her to the pub to celebrate--providing that she brings her purse.

5Season 1

S1.E5 ∙ Another Woman

Mon, Oct 12, 1998

Denise and Dave come in from the pub where Dave has had a gig with his mobile disco. Denise is drunk and angry, claiming that Dave has been flirting with buxom Beverley Macca, but Dave takes Jim and Antony into the kitchen and explains that nothing happened. After speaking to her parents Denise calms down and the family has a sing-song to Jim's banjo playing.

6Season 1

S1.E6 ∙ Wedding Day

Mon, Oct 19, 1998

Denise and Dave's wedding day finally arrives. The menfolk are in the kitchen, Jim practising his speech, Twiggy offering to sell knock-off tracksuits at the reception, and Antony being teased about his new haircut. Nana is put out because nobody will take her home for her comfortable shoes, but she does have 36 films in her camera. Antony hopes to move into Denise's room when she moves out. Alone in the house after the others have left for the church, Jim is uncharacteristically tender in assuaging Denise's nerves.

1Season 2

S2.E1 ∙ Pregnancy

Thu, Sep 23, 1999

Denise and Dave turn up and announce that Denise is pregnant. If it's a girl, they'll name her Whitney, and if it's a boy, they'll name him Dave, after Dave, or Keanu. Barbara cries tears of joy, while Jim merely comments on the waste of money for a pregnancy testing kit. Antony is sent to the shop to buy a bottle of pomagne to celebrate. Denise is not happy that Antony has told outsiders her news, whilst Barbara and Mary from next door both recall how useless their husbands were when they were giving birth.

2Season 2

S2.E2 ∙ Sunday Lunch

Thu, Sep 30, 1999

Jim invites Twiggy to Sunday lunch, but after he leaves, he moans about him accepting. Nana turns up and prattles on about illnesses, funerals, and Richard "Branston," to intolerant Jim's annoyance, while Dave and Denise bicker: he wants her to stop smoking during her pregnancy; she is annoyed that he will not move his moped out of what will be the baby's room. At least Antony is happy: he has a girlfriend, Emma.

3Season 2

S2.E3 ∙ Nana's Coming to Stay

Thu, Oct 7, 1999

Dave and Denise arrive to give Jim and Barbara a boring account of their visit to the ante-natal clinic. They all discuss Antony's girlfriend Emma, who may be only 17 and 'a tiny little thing' but she has her own car. When Antony comes in, he announces that he is part of a rock band called Exit, which Jim finds hilarious. He is less amused that Barbara has invited Nana to stay following her cataract operation.

4Season 2

S2.E4 ∙ Nana Comes to Stay

Thu, Oct 14, 1999

Nana is now staying with the Royles, and Jim, churlish as ever, makes no bones about his animosity to her after she walks off with the remote control and accidentally turns off the video. When Barbara announces that she is staying another week, he is not pleased, but the last straw is her obsessing about a television show with a man dressed like a chicken. Antony's band has split up and Emma is going to the cinema with a platonic male friend, but the entire family turns on Jim when he tries to suggest to Antony that she is two-timing him.

5Season 2

S2.E5 ∙ Barbara Finally Has Enough

Thu, Oct 21, 1999

Stressed out by menopause, her bakery job, and--especially--Jim's meanness and selfishness, Barbara confides in Denise before storming out of the house. Denise angrily confronts her father, but Jim only brings up Denise's own laziness and carries on watching 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire'. When Barbara returns, he does make a cup of tea (with her help) and even offers to prepare the next evening's meal--until he discovers that it clashes with his darts night.

6Season 2

S2.E6 ∙ Antony's Birthday

Thu, Oct 28, 1999

Family, friends and neighbours gather at the Royle home for Antony's 18th birthday and to meet his new girlfriend, Emma. Dave brings an unwanted gift into the house and Jim, of course, gets his banjo out.

7Season 2

S2.E7 ∙ Christmas with the Royle Family

Sat, Dec 25, 1999

Denise's water breaks, and the television doesn't, but miraculously Jim still walks upstairs.

1Season 3

S3.E1 ∙ Baby

Mon, Oct 16, 2000

Denise and Dave bring 10-month-old David Keanu Best to visit his grandparents. Predictably, most of the child-minding is left to Dave, rather than his lazy wife, which perturbs Barbara. Antony's friend Darren is also visiting, having been caught trying to steal a fridge/freezer from work. He is delighted when Denise starts to breast-feed Baby David, though Jim is disgusted. The family discuss David's future while Dave announces that he will build him a toy farmyard.

2Season 3

S3.E2 ∙ Babysitting

Mon, Oct 23, 2000

It's Saturday and Jim and Barbara have had Baby David stay overnight with them so that his parents could go to the karaoke at their local, The Feathers. Now both Denise and Dave are hungover, so Barbara fixes them bacon sandwiches. They see Joe and Mary from next door getting out of a taxi--returning from hospital after Joe cut his finger grating cheese--a fact that doesn't surprise Jim. The baby starts to cry and Antony is sent upstairs to pacify him while the others slip out to the pub.

3Season 3

S3.E3 ∙ Decorating

Mon, Oct 30, 2000

Twiggy comes round to help Jim decorate the living-room. He tells Jim about Dave's problems with the police. Dave turns up and tells Jim and Twiggy about Darren's new girlfriend who looks like Tina Turner.

4Season 3

S3.E4 ∙ Funeral

Mon, Nov 6, 2000

Nana's friend Elsie has died, and when she and Barbara return from the funeral she is drowning her sorrows with brandy. But at the same time she goes on about all the things that she will be taking from Elsie's flat for herself. This annoys Jim, who calls her The Living Dead. Barbara declares that she will not be cooking dinner, so she sends Antony to buy fish-and-chips, which pleases Cheryl because it's a break from her diet. While everybody else is downstairs, Jim goes up and talks through Baby David's baby monitor, pretending to be Elsie's ghost telling Nana to keep her thieving hands off her possessions.

5Season 3

S3.E5 ∙ London

Mon, Nov 13, 2000

Antony announces that he and Darren are going to London on a musically-connected business trip and when Jim mocks him Denise uncharacteristically sticks up for her brother, accusing Jim of always putting him down. The Bests' baby is their talking point: Denise tells everybody how he spilled an ashtray over himself, and Dave says he's still building the toy farmyard. Nana is taking forever in the toilet, and when she comes downstairs she complains that she is constipated, but her affliction ends when she breaks wind.

6Season 3

S3.E6 ∙ The Christening

Mon, Nov 27, 2000

It's the day of Baby David's christening so it's all back to Jim's for a knees-up. Twiggy brings his latest girlfriend and Anthony and Emma make an announcement.

7Season 3

S3.E7 ∙ The Royle Family at Christmas

Mon, Dec 25, 2000

On Christmas Day, Darren, Nana, and the Bests--who seem to have raided Baby David's savings for their own presents--turn up at the Royles', but Jim is annoyed: nobody has brought him anything. Later Antony brings Emma and her parents, Valerie and Roger. They are clearly much better off than the Royles--Valerie has had implants and Roger has a boat, a personalized number-plate, and a box at Old Trafford--and, he confides to Jim, a mistress. After they have gone, an embittered Jim rants to Baby David about being a loser. Then he learns that the family has bought him a present after all: a subscription to SkyTV.