The Royle Family. Image shows from L to R: Denise Royle / Best (Caroline Aherne), Dave Best (Craig Cash), Jim Royle (Ricky Tomlinson), Antony Royle (Ralf Little)
The Royle Family

The Royle Family

  • TV sitcom
  • BBC One / BBC Two
  • 1998 - 2012
  • 25 episodes (3 series)

The Royles are a family of couch potatoes who watch television in their dirty living room whilst chatting, arguing, and drinking copious amounts of tea and alcohol. Stars Ricky Tomlinson, Sue Johnston, Caroline Aherne, Ralf Little, Craig Cash and more.

  • JustWatch Streaming rank this week: 754

Episode menu

The Golden Egg Cup

There's a new buzz in the Royle family household as it is a special time for Jim and Barbara and a celebration (including Twiglets and scotch eggs) is planned.

Preview clips

Further details

The Royle Family. Image shows from L to R: Dave Best (Craig Cash), Denise Royle / Best (Caroline Aherne), Jim Royle (Ricky Tomlinson), Barbara Royle (Sue Johnston). Copyright: Granada Productions / Jellylegs

Jim and Barbara have received the gift of money from their loving children but what to do with it? Barbara wants to go abroad for the first time, having only been away once on their honeymoon to Ormskirk. Will Jim persuade Barbara that a satellite HD box is a more appropriate way of spending their children's generous gift? Tension mounts, a family discussion ensues and the question is: Where will they go? Down to the shops as Jim suggests or on Barbara's dream holiday to the Bermuda Triangle?

Notes

A Jellylegs Production in association with Granada.

Broadcast details

Date
Friday 25th December 2009
Time
9pm
Channel
BBC One
Length
60 minutes

Repeats

Show past repeats

Date Time Channel
Monday 21st June 2010 9:00pm BBC1
Wednesday 22nd December 2010 10:00pm Gold
Wednesday 30th November 2011 10:00pm Gold
Saturday 28th January 2012 10:00pm Gold
Sunday 29th January 2012 12:35am Gold
Friday 24th February 2012 10:40pm Gold
Saturday 29th December 2012 9:00pm Gold
Saturday 29th December 2012 11:55pm Gold
Sunday 10th February 2013 1:25am Gold
Sunday 10th February 2013 11:05pm Gold
Friday 5th April 2013 9:00pm Gold
Saturday 6th April 2013 12:20am Gold
Wednesday 17th July 2013 9:55pm Gold
Thursday 18th July 2013 1:45am Gold
Friday 29th November 2013 9:00pm Gold
Saturday 30th November 2013 12:35am Gold
Wednesday 11th December 2013 10:00pm Gold
Thursday 12th December 2013 1:00am Gold
Friday 10th January 2014 10:15pm Gold
Saturday 11th January 2014 1:30am Gold
Friday 13th June 2014 9:00pm Gold
Saturday 14th June 2014 12:15am Gold
Tuesday 19th August 2014 11:00pm Gold
Wednesday 20th August 2014 2:00am Gold
Friday 24th October 2014 12:40am Gold
Friday 24th October 2014 9:00pm Gold
Sunday 30th November 2014 9:00pm Gold
Wednesday 25th March 2015 9:00pm Gold
Thursday 26th March 2015 2:00am Gold
Thursday 2nd July 2015 9:00pm Gold
Friday 3rd July 2015 1:20am Gold
Monday 14th December 2015 9:00pm Gold
Tuesday 15th December 2015 12:35am Gold
Tuesday 22nd March 2016 10:00pm Gold
Wednesday 23rd March 2016 1:50am Gold
Monday 18th July 2016 9:10pm Yesterday
Monday 18th July 2016 11:20pm Yesterday
Monday 12th December 2016 9:00pm Gold
Tuesday 13th December 2016 1:00am Gold
Monday 26th December 2016 10:00pm Gold
Thursday 14th December 2017 9:00pm Gold
Saturday 24th March 2018 9:00pm Gold
Monday 2nd April 2018 1:00am Gold
Monday 2nd April 2018 10:10pm Gold
Monday 10th December 2018 1:30am Gold
Monday 10th December 2018 10:25pm Gold
Tuesday 25th December 2018 2:15am Gold
Tuesday 25th December 2018 9:10pm Gold
Friday 5th July 2019 9:40pm Gold
Saturday 6th July 2019 2:10am Gold
Monday 9th December 2019 10:40pm Gold
Tuesday 10th December 2019 1:50am Gold
Friday 13th December 2019 9:50pm Gold
Tuesday 17th December 2019 10:50pm Gold
Wednesday 18th December 2019 1:50am Gold
Saturday 21st December 2019 10:30pm Gold
Sunday 22nd December 2019 2:45am Gold
Sunday 29th March 2020 9:00pm Gold
Monday 30th March 2020 2:00am Gold
Sunday 12th April 2020 11:00pm Gold
Monday 13th April 2020 2:00am Gold
Monday 13th April 2020 9:40pm Gold
Tuesday 8th December 2020 10:40pm Gold
Friday 25th December 2020 11:55pm Gold
Monday 6th December 2021 9:40pm Gold
Tuesday 7th December 2021 1:35am Gold
Wednesday 15th December 2021 10:20pm Gold
Thursday 16th December 2021 2:25am Gold
Sunday 25th September 2022 12:00am Gold
Sunday 25th September 2022 10:00pm Gold
Friday 7th October 2022 1:30am Gold
Wednesday 7th December 2022 9:40pm Gold
Thursday 8th December 2022 1:25am Gold
Thursday 15th December 2022 9:40pm Gold
Friday 16th December 2022 1:30am Gold
Wednesday 13th December 2023 9:40pm Gold
Thursday 14th December 2023 2:35am Gold
Thursday 21st December 2023 9:40pm Gold
Friday 22nd December 2023 2:15am Gold

Cast & crew

Cast
Ricky Tomlinson Jim Royle
Sue Johnston Barbara Royle
Caroline Aherne Denise Royle / Best
Ralf Little Antony Royle
Craig Cash Dave Best
Jessica Hynes (as Jessica Stevenson) Cheryl Carroll
Guest cast
Peter Martin Joe Carroll (Cheryl's Dad)
Writing team
Caroline Aherne Writer
Craig Cash Writer
Phil Mealey Writer
Production team
Caroline Aherne Director
John Rushton Producer
Caroline Aherne Executive Producer
Craig Cash Executive Producer
Phil Mealey Executive Producer
Saurabh Kakkar Executive Producer
Jon Rolph Executive Producer
Ian Wilson Editor
Margaret Coombes Production Designer

Videos

The Royle Family Sing Lily Allen

The Royle family sing a Lily Allen song in the car.

Featuring: Ricky Tomlinson (Jim Royle), Sue Johnston (Barbara Royle), Caroline Aherne (Denise Royle / Best) & Craig Cash (Dave Best).

Sat Nav

Barbara and the rest of the family get a bit confused about Sat Nav.

Featuring: Ricky Tomlinson (Jim Royle), Sue Johnston (Barbara Royle), Caroline Aherne (Denise Royle / Best) & Craig Cash (Dave Best).

Press

Royle Family 2009 Xmas special had disastrous blunder

After days of hard work filming integral scenes, there was horror when the footage came back from the processing lab. Two days worth of filming was for The Golden Egg Cup was ruined - putting the whole episode in jeopardy. And it came at a staggering cost - £100,000.

Kyle O'Sullivan, The Mirror, 24th December 2020

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