The Windsors

It was first broadcast on Channel 4 in April 2016 and stars Harry Enfield, Haydn Gwynne, Hugh Skinner, Louise Ford, Richard Goulding, Tom Durant-Pritchard, Kathryn Drysdale, Morgana Robinson, Ellie White, and Celeste Dring.

[5] Plots were revealed to include Charles prolonging his half-hour, weekly meeting with the Prime Minister into "an all-afternoon brainstorming session" and demanding a place in the Cabinet, Wills ending up in a "bromance" with a Welsh nationalist, Harry and Meghan rescuing New Zealand from the brink of leaving the Commonwealth, and Beatrice and Eugenie time-travelling and accidentally altering the order of succession.

[13] In April 2024, it was announced that production had been indefinitely postponed on the fourth series, owing to real-life health scares affecting senior members of the Royal Family.

But, despite a number of cast and crew comparing the show to Spitting Image, The Windsors doesn't feel like satire: more a comic drama that makes the odd comment about monarchy.

C4's head of comedy Phil Clarke added: "In The Windsors, our much-loved Royal family is re-imagined through the lens of a soap opera, and although the stories are completely fictional, some are inspired by real events.

Not Jeffrie and Tyler-Moore as they do the obvious and a whole lot less, such as making Edward out to be a lost soul with an empty diary, having William as a square-jawed helicopter hero and Pippa enjoying people constantly gazing at her 'fantastic arse'.

It's certainly gratifying to see some upcoming Fringe comedy acts landing parts, such as Ellie White and Celeste Dring as the all-too predictably shallow Beatrice and Eugenie while Katy Wix has a blast as their tragically pitiable mum.

[19] Sam Wollaston, writing for The Guardian, said of the Royal Wedding Special, "I worried an hour might be a stretch, but I needn't have", and suggested that the characters of Beatrice and Eugenie should have their own spin-off series.

[10] On 9 June 2021, it was announced that a stage play called The Windsors: Endgame would open at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London's West End from 2 August to 9 October 2021.