The Royle Family

I watched a 10 year old episode of The Royle Family last night that I don't think I've ever seen before (the one where Nana dies), and it made me cry.  That's the sign of a good episode.  And The Royle Family is a quintessentially British show - shot simply, but with some fantastic characters and dialogue and references that only the British will get.  You just don't get that kind of show in the US, where comedies are generally played for broad laughs and no subtlety (a good recent example, which I saw a trailer for on UK television recently, is The Great Indoors - which despite starring Stephen Fry is quite frankly a dreadfully unfunny typical American comedy - I can only think that Fry is in it for the pay check).  Also, it's sad to think that whilst Liz Smith - the 95 year old actress who played Nana - is still alive, Caroline Aherne is not.  2016 - a terrible year for celebrity deaths in addition to the death of American politics.