The programme combined the Royle Family's living room set-up with a reality TV format, showing real-life families and their telly habits - watching the watchers watch.

NB. This piece first ran in September 2018 and has been republished to coincide with BBC One’s tribute to Caroline Aherne, from 9pm on Christmas Day ...

The Royle Family: Originally broadcast from September 14, 1998 to December 25, 2000. Let's face it: The Royle Family is a bit of an odd show. When you turn it on, you're basically watching people ...

The first episode hit TV screens on this day in 1998, and while Jim and Barbara's living room decor may have dated, the humour and family dynamics haven't aged ...

It's been 25 years since The Royle Family was first broadcast from their living room into ours. Featuring the humdrum world of a TV-loving family from Stockport sitting on their sofa, it seemed ...

The sitcom characters created by the late Caroline Aherne, who played Denise, and Craig Cash, who played Dave, kept each other company from 1998 to 2012, elbow to elbow in the living room of the ...

LONDON — British television viewers have recently been captivated by “The Royle Family,” but the spelling indicates, it’s not the one in Buckingham Palace. Creator, co-writer, star and ...

The Royle Family would have been a very different show if the TV execs had got their way. They wanted a studio audience or laughter track - Caroline rejected it. They wanted to have bigger, more ...