The Royle Family

- Season 2

(1999)

Denise and Dave turn up and announce that Denise is pregnant. If it's a girl, they'll name her Whitney, and if it's a boy, they'll name him Dave, after Dave, or Keanu. Barbara cries tears of joy, while Jim merely comments on the waste of money for a pregnancy testing kit. Antony is sent to the shop to buy a bottle of pomagne to celebrate. Denise is not happy that Antony has told outsiders her news, whilst Barbara and Mary from next door both recall how useless their husbands were when they were giving birth.

Jim invites Twiggy for Sunday lunch, but after he leaves, he moans about him accepting. Nana turns up and prattles on about illnesses, funeral, and Richard "Branston" to intolerant Jim's annoyance while Dave and Denise bicker: he wants her to stop smoking during her pregnancy; she is annoyed that he will not move his moped out of what will be the baby's room. At least Antony is happy, as he has a girlfriend, Emma.

Dave and Denise arrive to give Jim and Barbara a boring account of their visit to the ante-natal clinic. They all discuss Antony's girlfriend Emma, who may be only 17 and 'a tiny little thing' but she has her own car. When Antony comes in, he announces that he is part of a rock band called Exit, which Jim finds hilarious. He is less amused that Barbara has invited Nana to stay following her cataract operation.

Nana is now staying with the Royles, and Jim, churlish as ever, makes no bones about his animosity to her after she walks off with the remote control and accidentally turns off the video. When Barbara announces that she is staying another week, he is not pleased, but the last straw is her obsessing about a television show with a man dressed like a chicken. Antony's band has split up and Emma is going to the cinema with a platonic male friend, but the entire family turns on Jim when he tries to suggest to Antony that she is two-timing him.

Stressed out by menopause, her bakery job, and--especially--Jim's meanness and selfishness, Barbara confides in Denise before storming out of the house. Denise angrily confronts her father, but Jim only brings up Denise's own laziness and carries on watching 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire'. When Barbara returns, he does make a cup of tea (with her help) and even offers to prepare the next evening's meal--until he discovers that it clashes with his darts night.

Family, friends and neighbours gather at the Royle home for Antony's 18th birthday and to meet his new girlfriend, Emma. Dave brings an unwanted gift into the house and Jim, of course, gets his banjo out.