The Royle Family

With the sudden death at just 48 of Simon Carlyle in August 2023, the curtain came down on a hitherto unsung sitcom that was finally getting the attention it deserved.

A decade earlier, Two Doors Down – created by Carlyle and writing partner Gregor Sharp – received its first outing as a one-off Hogmanay special. It was a slow-burn success before becoming a Scottish institution (winning RTS and Bafta Scotland awards along the way) and finally earning a deserved promotion from BBC Two to One for its 2022 Christmas special and seventh and final series the following autumn.

Fittingly for pantomime season, comedian, actor, writer and director Caroline Aherne was something of a fairy godmother.

In Caroline Aherne: Queen of Comedy, previewed in Manchester shortly before its Christmas Day transmission on BBC Two, Passion Pictures celebrates and explores her private life, exceptional work and legacy.

The story of Aherne’s beginnings on a Manchester council estate, through her first forays on the local stand-up scene, to national stardom is told exclusively by the people whose lives she touched and enriched, personally and professionally.

In the past quarter of a century, few UK sitcoms have been as influential as The Royle Family, the startlingly original and unusually naturalistic comedy that, over three series from 1998 to 2000, mined the mundanity of northern working-class life for BBC Two.

The Royle Family, made by Granada Television, was the precursor of The Office, Gavin & Stacey, This Country and, yes, Gogglebox.