An Evening With The Fast Show review – chummy chat and catchphrase classics
Ted and Ralph, the ‘Suit you!’ tailors and the rest of the gang’s most fondly remembered characters reconvene for a 30th-anniversary greatest hits sketch show, interspersed with the cast’s reminiscences about their creation
January 2024
Nice! Cast of The Fast Show to reunite for a UK stage tour
The comedy series’ originators Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse will lead a 30th anniversary live show due to begin in March
December 2023
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: Doctor Who; Caroline Aherne: Queen of Comedy; Murder Is Easy; The Castaways – review
The new Doctor dazzles, a tribute to Manchester’s comedy queen is unexpectedly emotional, and a Christie adaptation brings a fresh eye to murder
TV review
Caroline Aherne: Queen of Comedy review – an unforgettable celebration of comedy brilliance
Craig Cash and other friends and collaborators look back at the phenomenal, but sadly all-too short, career of a woman who insisted comedy didn’t need jokes, only people
TV tonight
Christmas Day TV: grab some tissues for the last ever episode of Ghosts
‘She was sharp as a tack but daft as a brush’: friends and colleagues remember the genius of the Royle Family’s Caroline Aherne
Christmas crackers! It’s your ultimate guide to the UK’s best festive TV
September 2023
Carrot crush for all! An oral history of The Royle Family and its ‘gloriously mundane genius’
How did Caroline Aherne’s show about a northern working class family who barely left their house become a hit, blazing a trail for The Office, Gavin and Stacey and Gogglebox? Its stars and makers reveal all
July 2021
It started on stage
Mrs Merton and the naughty nun: Caroline Aherne’s first comedy gigs
She sometimes said she’d rather be a hairdresser but Aherne’s cheeky early appearances in the pubs and clubs of Manchester led her to TV fame
March 2021
Watched with mother
Jordan North: 'Other kids were out drinking – I was watching the Vicar of Dibley'
The Radio 1 DJ and I’m a Celebrity runner up on a childhood spent watching sitcoms with his mum, from the Dawn French classic to The Royle Family and Keeping Up Appearances
January 2021
Observer New Review Q&A
Ralf Little: 'I've been having a midlife crisis since I was 20'
The actor on his first leading role, giving up a career in medicine for The Royle Family, and his new year resolutions
January 2019
‘We’re working on the reunion’: why comedy needs the Smack the Pony comeback
Two decades after the cult sketch show first aired, its creators discuss its inception, near-death experiences and why they were the Spice Girls of turn-of-the-century comedy
April 2017
Tim Lott's family column
Don’t knock status – it’s just part of the struggle to win a partner
There’s a truth to Mrs Merton’s joke about what attracted Debbie McGee to ‘the millionaire Paul Daniels’. Is it really so ridiculous to choose someone on the basis of their status?
December 2016
Liz Smith obituary
Bafta award-winning actor, best known for playing Nana in The Royle Family, got her breakthrough later in life
It wasn't all bad: good news in 2016
2016's best bits: October to December
From Prince Harry speaking out against racism to Ed Balls on Strictly, everything that cheered us up as the year ended
The Observer's obituaries of 2016
Caroline Aherne remembered by Ricky Tomlinson
The Royle Family actor on how the show’s creator had a brilliant feel for ordinary life, but kept her own hidden
October 2016
Caroline Aherne's brother hits back at Peter Hook's 'disgusting' abuse claims
Peter Hook says Caroline Aherne was physically abusive during marriage
September 2016
Brilliant! The Fast Show archive - in pictures
The co-creator of The Fast Show, Charlie Higson, has donated his archive of scripts, sketches and memorabilia to the University of East Anglia, where he met Paul Whitehouse and where the popular and influential series was conceived
July 2016
Viral video chart
Viral video: Get into bed with Justin Bieber and Cheryl for Kanye West spoof
Watch a remake of the Famous video also featuring Meghan Trainor and Craig David, plus Ricky Gervais sings Lady Gypsy
