PVR Wire

This post probably belongs on our sister blog, TV Squad (which I also write for) but there is a point to it.

On Sunday night here in the UK, a special one-off episode of an immensely popular BBC comedy show called The Royle Family was aired, following an absence of almost six years, and was watched by almost 8 million people.

To try and explain the premise of The Royle Family is pretty much pointless, because there isn't one. It's a comedy about absolutely nothing -- but not in the Seinfeld kind-of way -- it's more subtle than that. It's a comedy about a family of working-class people who sit around and watch television.

It's widely regarded as one of the best comedy shows ever to emerge from the UK, up there with The Office, Only Fools and Horses and Fawlty Towers, yet it's nothing like any of them (well, apart from The Office, maybe).

So what's the point of my post?

Well, apart from the fact that the special episode was both heartwarming and exceptionally funny, a character said something that gives me good reason to believe that a word (or rather, a phrase) has well and truly entered the British lexicon, with reference to PVRs, and Sky+ in particular. (Sky Digital was mentioned in a previous episode of the show, when the central character, Jim Royle, received a Sky DigiBox as a gift).

When one of the lead characters, Denise Royle, mentioned that she had some catching up to do (she meant missed television shows, rather than work), her husband remarked that she had "Sky plussed them."

So, there you have it -- from a classic BBC comedy show: 'Sky Plussed'; the British version of the verb "to TiVo", which can be used to describe the recording of a television show on a Sky+ PVR (or otherwise).