Ricky Tomlinson

A new comedy by Andy Lynch with an astonishingly starry cast: Clive Anderson, Ricky Tomlinson, Martine McCutcheon, Andy Parsons and Emily Head (from TV's The Inbetweeners). And now the plot. Who is this hairy old Scouser who accosts a career-minded female producer in the street? Is he just a stalker? It's directed by Dirk Maggs, the master of feelgood surround-sound.

On the very day the engagement and imminent marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton has been announced, it's only right we celebrate the country's first family. In this special, members of the Royle family share their memories of working on the show, how it came to be, and talk about some of the behind-the-scenes shenanigans. You get the impression that the cast are as close in real life as they are in the show, and Caroline Aherne, Craig Cash, Ricky Tomlinson, Sue Johnston, Liz Smith and Ralf Little share their recollections of a comedy that became a modern classic.

Ricky Tomlinson donates £1m to children's charity

Royle Family actor Ricky Tomlinson has made a £1m donation to a children's charity in Liverpool.

Royle family star Ricky Tomlinson considers MP bid

Liverpool actor and Royle Family star Ricky Tomlinson could make a bid for parliament in the general election.

Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash's wonderful observational sitcom about a working-class Manchester family who seem never to leave their sitting room is now going the way Only Fools and Horses did, with an eagerly awaited one-off episode each Christmas. Tonight's instalment, for which no preview discs were available, is deliberately unfestive, with Jim (Ricky Tomlinson) and Barbara (Sue Johnston) wondering whether to spend a cash gift from their children on a satellite HD box or their first trip out of the UK. Afterwards, at 10.00pm, the final series of Gavin & Stacey - a sitcom which owes more than a nod to the Royles - begins to wind down, as the Essex crowd go on an eventful trip to the beach.

The much-loved Royle Family is back for another Christmas special, so reserve your place on the sofa. In The Golden Eggcup, it's the wedding anniversary of Jim and Barbara (Ricky Tomlinson and Sue Johnston) and Antony (Ralf Little) makes a welcome return to the fold. Being a dutiful son - and the only one with a job - he provides the cash so that they can celebrate in style, but the crucial question is what they'll do with the money - blow it on the holiday of a lifetime or a buy a wall-to-wall HD television set. After the glorious, bittersweet episode The Queen of Sheba, The Royle Family has set itself impossibly high standards that combine acute observation and unforced humour with a deep humanity. Essential viewing.

A Question of Royalty, the Afternoon Play, was a knockabout caper with top notes of topicality. "This could destabilise the whole country!" was an early line, on the day of the G20 protests. "The aristocrats go, the whole bloody lot collapses." And there was a nod to April Fool's gags, with a plotline about the Queen's marriage being invalid as it hadn't been properly officiated, "leaving all their offspring little bas ...", as light-fingered plasterer Bernie (Johnny Vegas) blurted out.

But mainly, Andrew Lynch's drama was concerned with timeless comedy dependables. Toffs versus "the lumpen proletariat", north versus south, skint versus affluent, true love versus a good marriage: these gave the play its structure and mood, and produced hilarious worlds-colliding moments.

Civil servants threw the might of the establishment at the plasterers, who had inadvertently stolen the royal marriage certificate ("you've admitted treason; we can hang you"), and Ricky Tomlinson, as the other bungling thief, tried to bribe them with goods of dodgy provenance ("we might even be able to get you some topsoil"). Every line from Tomlinson was gloriously delivered, and very funny.

Ricky Tomlinson and Johnny Vegas shine as two enterprising brothers, itinerant Liverpool plasterers, contracted onto a refurbishment job at the Public Records office, who stumble on a great State secret when they nick the Queen's marriage certificate. Andrew Lynch's comedy is full of sharp digs about "that nice royal butler we know", knowing insights into the sly life, close encounters with authority, quick glimpses of the difference between what a man really says to his wife and what he tells his mates. Funny, but a bit slow to get going.