Denise Royle: Caroline Aherne
Barbara Royle: Sue Johnston
Jim Royle: Ricky Tomlinson
Anthony Royle: Ralf Little
Dave Best: Craig Cash
Norma Speakman: Liz Smith
Mary Carroll: Doreen Keogh
Joe Carroll: Peter Martin
Cheryl Carroll: Jessica Stevenson
Twiggy: Geoffrey Hughes
In 1990 and 1991,
while Mariella Frostrup was the sexiest voice on TV, so was
Caroline Aherne the sexiest voice on radio appearing on KFM Radio,
a local radio station in Stockport before it was taken over by Signal Radio.
Also with his own excellent programme, playing the best of indie music
such as The Cranes and the AC Marias and comtemporary classics from
Michael Penn and Don Henley, was Craig Cash, his sarcastic comments
complementing the output perfectly.
Other stints into TV include the excellent Mrs Merton and Malcolm
- well I thought it was! - and a documentary, Back Passage To India.
So, what do the Royle Family get up to? They sit about the house and watch TV.
That's it. But.. it's exceptional observational comedy and many of us will
know a family like the Royles, even if we don't like to admit it.
The head of the household is Jim Royle (Ricky Tomlinson), frequently
commenting negatively with "My arse!" and his ex-Brookside screen
wife Sue Johnston as chain-smoking Barbara Royle. Caroline Aherne
takes the role of their lazy wife-to-be daughter Denise, engaged to dippy
mobile disco DJ Dave Best (Craig Cash).
Runt of the litter is teenage son Anthony (Ralf Little), always being
forced to answer the door or make a brew, while the eldest is Nana, aka
Norma Speakman (Liz Smith), always a favourite of Jim's (NOT!) as she's
his mother-in-law.
Their next-door neighbours are the Carrolls, Mary (Doreen Keogh),
Joe (Peter Martin) and their overweight daughter Cheryl (Jessica
Stevenson, recently seen in Channel 4's Spaced). Finally,
ex-Coronation Street actor Geoffrey Hughes appears as wheeler-dealer
Twiggy, always with a bargain knock-off to hand and there's also the
local slapper Beverly Macca who we never see but hear plenty about.
In this first series, with all six episodes present, Barbara's getting a
veruca and preparing to work in a supermarket, Anthony has a girlfriend
("his hand", says Denise), the phone bill is playing on Jim's mind,
Dave has printed up cards for his mobile disco and Denise is preparing for
her wedding.
When Anthony complains about his chips being soggy,
Jim states:
"Oh, just get them ate, they all go to make a turd!".
Shot in 4:3 fullscreen, that's how the whole series is presented, but there's
an odd level of grain present through the first three episodes which makes
no sense as I certainly don't recall that being there when it was
originally broadcast. The last three look a lot better.
The average bitrate is approximately 7.1Mb/s for the first three episodes and
4.99Mb/s for the last three. I wonder why there's such a big difference when
the last three look better?
The sound only gets half-marks too, but not because there's anything wrong
with it, it's just because it's only used for basic dialogue which is clear,
with the TV occasionally blaring away in the background. Oasis's
Half the World Away plays loud and proud at the start and end of each
episode.
Denise on how she looks for her wedding:
"Yeah, but does me 'air look like shite?".
Extras :
There are none. The chapterings also a shoddy affair too - there are none
of those either! You only get the chance to select the start of each episode.
There are no subtitles and the menus are static, although there are a few
seconds of the Oasis track playing acoustically over the top.
Jim on being nervous:
"I'm just going for a quick tom-tit!"
So, no extras and an iffy picture during the first three episodes, but should
you still buy it? Damn right. It's one of the best sitcoms made in the last
few years and still has me laughing out loud no matter how many times I watch
it.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
