The show is a comic and poignant satire of family life. It is most commonly supposed that the series is set in the Manchester suburb of Wythenshawe, where creator Caroline Aherne was raised. In one episode, Dave Best (Craig Cash) asks Jim Royle (Ricky Tomlinson) "did you see County the other day?". This is in reference to Stockport County. It is often assumed that the programme may be set in the Heaton Norris area of Stockport eight miles south of Manchester, birthplace of co-creator Craig Cash.

A modern comedy of manners, the family rarely do anything other than watch television, banter and occasionally eat, smoke and drink. Every episode takes place in the family home, in the living room and/or kitchen, and only in the final episode does the show move outside the family home (with some scenes taking place in a hospital). Most episodes lack a plot but most have a theme or at least a topic of discussion to hold it together. The show lacks conventional, set-piece jokes. Many of the humorous situations involve awkwardness, badly told jokes, crassness (usually on Jim's part), irony and the fact that the Royle family on the television often reflect the lives of the families watching it. In this it has similarities to the docu-comedy format.

It is shot in single-camera style, with no audience or canned laughter.

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