No Bafta? My arse. To say this was a piece of TV gold would be like saying Pete Burns looks a tiny bit different or Simon Cowell is ever so slightly a bighead. I've spent far too much of today reading online forums and blogs about this utter gem of a programme. And do all of the said forums and blogs support this view? Well actually no they blimmin' well don't. So, to nick a phrase from another gargantuan of British comedy - I don't belieeeve it!
"Mawkish sentimentality" bleats someone with a heart carved from granite. "What's so funny about a thick family watching TV and saying 'my arse'? Ponders a busy mum. How long have you got?
The Manchester Evening News telly critic Ian Wylie reports that 7.8 million viewers tuned in, the biggest audience for a TV comedy this year. No surprise there surely? What's the competition exactly? I mean I love Ricky Gervais and all who sail in him, but he's more clever than funny, isn't he? Little Britain mocks the have-nots and Catherine Tate is a lot more miss than hit. Don't you agree? Even if her nan is fab too.
So step forward Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash wearing their hearts on their sleeve to turn out dialogue to rival anything by Alan Bennett or Paul Abbott. The scene with Barbara doing Nana's hair to the strains of Que Sera Sera was so perfect - the most moving portrayal of real family life I've ever seen on telly. This is more like it. But then I'm bound to be affected. Once I watched and this happened.[Linda]
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It was outstanding television and worth paying the licence fee for.
(The last time that happened was when Our Friends in the North aired).
I loved Our Friends in the North. I'm sure I was working in Newcastle at the time. Hey are me and you allowed to invade TV Scoop like this? :)
I absolutely adored this episode of "The Royle Family". You`re both so right about "Our Friends In The North" - they don`t make them like that anymore.
Linda - I am always impressed by the amount of links you manage to cram into your posts ! (Thanks for the A&A link).
I notice that the BBC have released this episode of "The Royle Family" on DVD already. Quick off the mark, or what ?
I loved it too (and Our Friends in the North - can't see the new Bond without thinking of him as Geordie).
Yep, the Que Sera Sera scene made me cry - and also howl with laughter at the soup of the day gag. There were so many great lines and it was all just so real. I demand more. (Is anyone listening?)
I was just thinking that about James Bond this morning. Spooky.