It's possible that the language on the set of the Royle Family's Christmas special has been slightly choicer than usual, after a camera fault ruined two days of filming... at a cost of around £100,000.

Although 'arse' is habitually the order of the day (not literally though, who orders 'arse'? Ed) the swearwords at production firm Jellylegs were possibly amped up a little when the footage, taken at MediaCityUK's Pie Factory, came back from the processing lab looking like someone's "holiday photographs."

The show's co-writer Phil Mealy, who also co-owns Jellylegs, told the Daily Telegraph that "a ground glass piece or something had dropped in the lens," adding: "It was like going to Boots with your wedding snaps ruined, but on a massive scale.”

'Re-shoot the lot? My arse'

"Everything was lost. We were absolutely gutted."

The fault led to the two days having to be completely re-shot, involving pulling some of the actors out of other commitments and back to the studio (Jessica Hynes, who plays neighbour Cheryl Carroll, had already headed back to London to appear in The Priory at the Royal Court Theatre).

Thankfully the insurance on the shoot should cover the £100k expense, providing Jellylegs with some very welcome support.

The hour-long Royle Family special will beam out at 9pm on Christmas Day.

This year's outing is called The Golden Egg Cup and focuses on Jim and Barbara's 50th wedding anniversary - celebrated, in suitably regal style, with Twiglets, Scotch eggs and a caravan holiday.

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