The Royle Family - The Complete Collection (2010) [DVD]

I've loved "The Royle Family" for years. I was lucky enough to be in the UK whilst some of the episodes were originally airing, and some of the moments I saw, Jim scratching himself, the family peering out the front window, and lines like "I'm goin' for an Eartha Kitt" and "Bye bye Dabry Bavid!" have remained with me through the years. Bizarrely, this show has not gained a large audience in the USA, and over there, only Series 1 and Series 2 have been released on DVD. I decided to take the plunge with this box set, (even though just months after release, it is now incomplete as there has been a 2010 Christmas special: The Royle Family - Joe's Crackers [DVD]) as it was discounted to £10.97 (VAT included) at the time I purchased it in November 2010. While it was lovely to revisit the series and to finally see the later Christmas specials, this box set comes up short in the extras department.

Here is what you get:

All three series (twenty episodes) of the program (1998, 1999 and 2000);
The 2006 Christmas special "The Queen of Sheba"
The 2008 Christmas special "The New Sofa"
The 2009 Christmas special "The Golden Egg Cup"

and

The 2006 hour-long documentary, "We Love The Royle Family", which also contains a very brief extra sketch from a Children In Need special on its DVD.

Only English HoH subtitles are included.

The box set is attractively packaged in a sturdy, thick, light blue slipbox, which contains three standard DVD cases inside. The first case contains the three series DVDs, The second case contains the three Christmas special DVDs, and the last case contains a single DVD with the documentary, for a grand total of seven DVDs.

As an aside, this box set carries a '15' solely because of uncensored gag reels on two of the specials, and a few f-words in the documentary. Foe those who don't know, all of the series and the Christmas specials in this set are no stronger than '12' material.

The documentary, which is made up of various famous fans (amongst them, Jimmy McGovern!) praising the show and reminiscing about it, is a nice addition, but simply not enough. Aside from some gag reels and deleted scenes on a couple of the Christmas special DVDs, and additionally, brief cast interviews on "The Queen of Sheba", there are no other special features. Indeed, what is missing from this set are extras for the series itself, and, one would hope, some interviews and audio commentaries from the cast and writers. Also absent are the two 2010 documentaries "Behind the Sofa" and "Royle Family Portraits", both of which premiered on UK GOLD in November 2010, shortly after this box set release.

For those few who have never seen "The Royle Family", or those others outside the UK who are curious, this box set, at its heavily-discounted price, is well worth a blind buy. Obviously, it is PAL-encoded, and you would need special equipment or a computer with a DVD drive to watch it if you live outside Europe. Fans of the series who already own previous box sets and releases should hold out for a more definitive edition, as this is essentially a bundle of the previously-released DVDs with a tribute documentary.

First of all i am a huge fan of the Royale Family, it is one of the best and ground breaking comedies ever shown on TV, it has all the specials up to the golden egg cup (there's been a murder), but it's Christmas, and lo and behold this means that this will be re-released again with the updated special included.a bit annoying (it has ben released 4 times already) but a great show all the same

These dvds were brilliant. I have never laughed so much in all my life. I had never seen these programmes before, but i am glad i bought them. The best one for me, was the Queen of Sheba, where Nana died. It was great acting by all the cast. Liz Smith who played Nana was fantastic. Well done to them all. And well done to Amazon for such a quick delivery.