DH thinks I’m insane but it gets to me in a way no other show can do.
I grew up a few miles outside Manchester and watching it takes me right back to being a teenager in the late 90s/early 2000s. Even the 2006 Queen Of Sheba episode where Nana dies is nostalgic. So much has happened since then in the word and in my personal life and watching.
It captures the Manchester working class family in the late 90s and early 2000s perfectly without making charicatures of it (like Shameless…). It’s my comfort show. Even the ‘funny’ bits that aren’t supposed to be emotional make me blub because my parents are just like the parents on TRF and my 2 grandma’s are are combined into one for the character of Nana.
It’s cheesy but watching it takes me right back to being 17 in my parents living room, exact same layout house and similar decor to TRF! Comings and goings of my sister and her boyfriend after having their first baby, us babysitting and loving it. Dad in front of the telly making witty jokes about what we’re watching and all of us killing ourselves with laughter. ”Have you had your tea yet?” from mum when I get home from being out with my mates. Genius.