THE Royle Family is a drama series that looked at the life of a family in Manchester.
It ran from 1998 to 2012, and fans have been wondering what the cast are up to now.
Where are the Royle Family cast now?
Ricky Tomlinson as Jim Royle
Ricky Tomlinson‘s biggest role after The Royle Family was in a fly on the wall documentary about Mike Basset.
He also worked as a comedian and had tours in the late noughties while opening his own cabaret club in Liverpool called the Green Room.
Based off of his character’s famous catch phrase from the show, he released a Christmas single called “Christmas My Arse” in 2006.
In 2020 he worked on a travel series with Ralf Little, his on-screen son in The Royle Family.
Sue Johnston as Barbara Royle
Sue Johnston was just one of the show’s actors that went on to work in soaps for a while.
She played Gloria in Coronation Street, then left to star in Downton Abbey.
As well as TV, she’s starred in films too such as Golden Years.
Caroline Aherne as Denise
Caroline Aherne, the show’s co-creator, passed away from cancer in 2016 which is why there haven’t been any special episodes for the best part of a decade.
She had fallen out with her co-writer and suffered with drink problems and depression.
She won BAFTA awards for her work on The Royle Family.
Craig Cash as Dave Best
Craig Cash was the other co-writer of the show.
He’s focused his career on writing and acting for shows including some BBC titles.
Craig has worked with Gogglebox and has done voice work too.
Ralf Little as Anthony
While continuing to act after the show, Ralf also started playing semi-professional football.
His acting credits include Doctor Who, Inside Number Nine and Death in Paradise.
He retired from football in the 2008-2009 season.
Jessica Hynes as Cheryl
Jessica went on to star in Spaced and Shaun of the Dead with Simon Pegg.
She also bagged movie roles in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Bridget Jones: The Edge or Reason and Paddington Two.
On TV we’ve recently seen her in BBC One’s Years and Years.
Liz Smith as Nana
Liz Smith has starred in The Vicar Of Dibley, Curse of The Were Rabbit and Oliver Twist.
She had already established herself as an actress before appearing in The Royle Family in her 70s.
She was awarded an MBE in 2009 off the back of her acting career.
At the age of 95 in 2016 she passed away in her West Sussex home; she had mostly retired by 2009.
Doreen Keogh as Mary
Doreen Keogh starred in Cold Feet and Father Ted.
She passed away in 2017 aged 93 years old.
Peter Martin as Joe
Peter went on to star in ITV’s Emmerdale Farm between 2001 and 2007.
Peter has featured in Coronation Street and Chucklevision.
He is now 86 years old.
Sheridan Smith as Emma Kavanagh
Sheridan Smith has been a huge success story since appearing on the show.
Not only has she continued to dominate the mainstream channel dramas, she’s had a successful career on stage in the West End too.
Even in the height of lockdown she was still working as she took part in Isolation Stories and in the second lockdown she performed at The Royal Variety Show.
Andy Whyment as Darren Sinclair-Jones
Andy Whyment did well after The Royle Family.
He went on to play Kirk in Coronation Street, one of Britain’s biggest soaps.
He also competed in the 2019 series of I’m A Celebrity, coming second place to Jac Jossa.
When will the Royle Family be back on TV?
Tonight (December 4) a repeat episode will air on BBC One.
There have been rumours around a cast reunion, but some cast members have dismissed this possibility.
It’s unlikely the show will be rebooted, so it’s worth catching the repeats while they’re on.
