The late Queen was a big fan of The Royle Family and watched it with a teenage Prince Harry, according to star Ralf Little.
Ralf, who played Antony in the BBC sitcom from the late 90s, claimed he was told of his fans in high places some time ago by friends of Harry.
The Death in Paradise actor, 42, said: “Years ago, I happened to be at a party where Prince Harry was. I got talking to a lot of Harry’s mates and one of them was like, ‘All of us love The Royle Family.’ I went, ‘Even the big man?’
“He went, ‘Loves it. Him and his gran watch it all the time.’
“Maybe it’s not true but I like to believe it is. It went from being this maybe being a Northern thing, to maybe it’s a working class thing, to apparently the Queen watching it.”
The show ran for three series from 1998 to 2000 on BBC2 and then BBC1, with specials from 2006 to 2012, starring Ricky Tomlinson as Antony’s dad Jim and Sue Johnston as mum Barbara.
Ralf told the White Wine Question Time podcast: “We genuinely believed that we had something special, we felt it was working and that people should love this.
"It’s always a difficult thing, I’ve also been in shows where you think, ‘This is great,’ because we’re all making the crew laugh, we’re making each other laugh so much and you think this is gonna be great because if we love it so much then everyone else is going to, and then no one watches it, no one gives a s**t.
"But sometimes you can just feel a bit of magic happening. We were tentatively hopeful.
“We sort of hoped and figured that it might be a success up North because it would be so familiar. Then, we were surprised that it was a success down South as well. And then we thought, ‘Well maybe it’s just a working class connection?’ Then we were surprised to find that it was a success with middle class people, I mean we’re obsessed with class in Britain anyway.
The actor went on: “I think what linked [the show] to everyone is that family dynamics tend to be very similar and it’s interesting that it transcends class, age, everything.
"Also it felt like there was only one other show at the time where people on television watched television and that was The Simpsons. I can't think of another show. "
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