2. Laughs
So which of these comedy goliaths gave the biggest belly laughs? The thing about Royle Family is that, while it's brilliantly written and acted to perfection, the laughs are far more subtle - there are no large scale mishaps to speak of. There's also no canned-laughter to encourage the viewing audience to do the same either, and it has certainly dealt with some serious issues at times as well (death of a family member, troublesome births etc), which is something that a show as zany as Father Ted could never really do. The laughs come from Jim's laziness and wisecracks, Denise's lack of intelligence and ignorance, Dave's sheer stupidity, Barbara's return fire to Jim's attitude, Nana's say-it-how-it-is attitude and Antony's poor treatment at the hands of his family, as well as Cheryl's eating habits and the various traits of other supporting characters. The laughs born of Craggy Island's misfit priest trio and their co-stars were much more raucous and audible. Ted was the only individual who was anything like 'normal' in an otherwise very surreal world of people who are hilariously exaggerated caricatures. At times, Father Dougal McGuire had me, quite literally, in tears of laughter with his sheer idiocy. I also feel that Father Ted (partially due to the tragic death of its star) never got old or boring, whereas the more recent episodes of The Royle Family seemed to be running out of ideas (and indeed '
jumped the shark' in the most recent Christmas special in 2012, with the story of Joe having his farfetched dates in the Royle household). Thanks to scenarios like the priests getting trapped in a lingerie department, Father Ted wins this battle.
Winner: Father Ted.