More laughs at a dysfunctional version of The Windsors Coronation Special

If the Royal Family is not really your thing, then Channel 4 is the place to be over the next week or so.

As well as offering a different schedule to provide an escape from the pomp and ceremony on the Coronation day itself, the broadcaster is also showing a number of programmes, offering viewers “alternative coverage” of the occasion.

One of the most highly-anticipated is tonight’s The Windsors Coronation Special, in which we join the deluded and dysfunctional versions of the royal family for more laughs and lampoonery.

It’s been three years since the last episode of the satirical sitcom, written by the co-creators of Star Stories, Bert Tyler-Moore and the late George Jeffrie.

In that time, it has spawned a stage play, The Windsors: Endgame, and a full fourth series is scheduled later this year.

With the small matter of one of the Windsor clan being crowned King, the family are back with a bang.

Charles’ (Harry Enfield) whole life has building up to this moment, and now he’s desperate for the UK’s first Coronation in 70 years to be a spectacular occasion with all the pomp and circumstance he thinks he deserves.

Of course, Queen Consort Camilla (Haydn Gwynne) agrees with her hubby, mainly because she can’t wait to drape herself in diamonds and fur.

Sadly for them, the UK is in the middle of the Cozzie Livs (cost-of-living crisis), and Wills (Hugh Skinner) and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (Amit Shah) think the Coronation should reflect these more frugal times.

Meanwhile, with an eyebrow-raising book and Netflix series in the can, Harry (Richard Goulding) and Meghan (Kathryn Drysdale) are finally free of Windsor family politics and concentrating on their simple life in California.

But can the celebrity couple really afford to miss Harry’s dad’s crowning moment?

Elsewhere, Meanwhile, Kate (Louise Ford) and her new best friend, Sophie Wessex (Anna Morris), manage to offend Pippa Middleton (Morgana Robinson) – with disastrous consequences.

Beatrice (Ellie White) and Eugenie (Celeste Dring) are worried that they are no longer essential members of the royal family and look for a way to prove otherwise.

And finally, Charles’ siblings, Anne (Vicki Pepperdine) and Edward (Matthew Cottle), have some unique thoughts about their big bro’s big day – but will the King take them on board?

Although many of the actors playing the alternative versions of the royals have been in the cast since the beginning of the show in 2016, Windsors fans will be looking forward to the debut of Shah as PM Sunak.

The actor, whose previous roles include The Other One, The Rebel, Stag and Happy Valley says: “I thought I was socially awkward until I had the chance of playing Rishi Sunak in The Windsors.

“As well as making my hair turn grey (quite literally), I had the opportunity to work with one of my childhood heroes – Harry Enfield.

“We both had a laugh about the fact that he had prosthetic big ears fitted to look like King Charles and I was cast as Rishi because of my big ears!

“This is the closest I’ll ever get to being a multi millionaire with a heated pool in my back garden.”