Although the episode was more than acceptable, I think Caroline and Craig would do themselves and everybody else a big favour if they set next year's episode in the house for the hour. Next year's is the only confirmed episode at the moment, so who knows if it'll be the last for good?
I hope not, some characters are best just imagined, the real character would probably be completely different to what has been said over the years.
This year's was better than the slipstick heavy 2008 episode, but nowhere near as good as the original series'. Some scenes dragged on and on as if they were padding for time.
Some scenes dragged on and on as if they were padding for time.
My thought's exactly... things like the "Morning Jim, Morning Barbera, Morning Dave" and so on really dragged on. Things like that and the arial adjustments could've made the show 20 minutes shorter at least if they weren't so repetitive.
Saying that, a VAST improvement over last year. Although the show really should've stayed in the house. If the show managed it for the series runs, and the first special was wonderful [the hospital scenes were actually given reason]... everything since just seems to be thinking outside the box too much.
I wasn't sure what to make of it, to be honest. Even though it wasn't, it felt a little as if it was written by somebody else. Some of the usual mannerisms were exaggerated to the extreme!
And Joe seemed to be an entierely different character.
I noticed that. What happened to the deadpan, cut off mid-sentence Joe? It was almost as if he was still playing Len in Emmerdale.
Was he drinking? He's usually more alive after he's had a drink.
the 2009 special was good although i agree that joe was different from usual & that we didn't see enough of anthony & cheryl. it would have been good to see mary & twiggy aswell but there were maybe reasons why they didn't feature.
regardless,the royle family is the best sitcom of its era & id love to see another series or 2 made featuring all the regular characters although it would be a tough call to match the succsessful early episodes simply because norma isnt in it any more.jim & norma were a legendary tagteam & she has been missed in the last two specials.maybe they could write in a new norma type character ie a long lost great aunt or something & dare I suggest played by liz smith?? I know,maybe a bit far fetched but would certainly rake in the viewers!!
Oh no - it's struggling enough with these specials, never mind a full series. I think one of the problems is that Craig and Caroline seem to be writing it a lot for themselves at the moment, rather than for the viewer. They seem to have put their characters at the centre of things, rather than Jim and Barbara.
