BBC One has always had problems with comedy. It wants to have it as an important part of its scheduling, and yet doesn’t really know what sort of comedy to show. The comedies which are commissioned specifically for BBC One tend to be “safe”, thanks to big names (Jam and Jerusalem, say, or Ruddy Hell! It’s Harry and Paul) or a rather gentle theme. Apart from that, they simply appropriate shows which have become too big for BBC Two, or indeed Three to handle, such as Little Britain. As such, we tend to approach new BBC One comedies with some trepidation.
Outnumbered, coming later this month, looks like it has potential, but I’m still loath to promote it too heavily – I’ve suffered at the hands of my premature enthusiasm too many times already. It comes from the guys who gave us Drop The Dead Donkey, though – Guy Jenkin and Andy Hamilton – so that’s a plus, and stars Mock The Week’s Hugh Dennis. I’m not sure whether that’s a plus or not, as it’s been such a long time since I saw him away from the panel show environment, but the fact that Outnumbered “contains strong elements of improvisation” (doesn’t that sound like a warning on a film, like my favourite “contains mild peril”?!) suggests that he’s sticking to his comfort zone.
The name “Outnumbered” refers to the fact that the show will follow parents (Dennis, and Claire Skinner) as they try to deal with their three rather troublesome children. There’s “a regal five-year-old girl with a talent for interrogation and an interest in nits, a seven-year-old boy with a penchant for lying and an 11-year-old who is gearing up for his scary first day at secondary school”. I bet they’re all utterly unlovable little brats, too.
The fact that the show is produced by Hat Trick, a well-respected producer of TV comedy, shows that someone with taste has faith in it, and the improv element certainly makes it a more interesting prospect than it otherwise would be. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that it will be yet another disappointment in my quest for fantastic, new, homegrown comedy. But let’s wait and see, eh?
You can now find reviews of the show here and here. [annawaits]
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I watched outmumbered with my family and we were all in hysterics – espiecally the stranger bit at the zoo!!
It’s funny but dramatic and has a brillant story line. Like the racist part and the bullying! I love it and I’m only 10!
Whoever wrote the script is a genius!!!!!
It’s great! Only shown 3 so far but i’m loving it. It’s got better each episode. I really hope they make a second series. The kids are brilliant.
This is the best programme on TV at the moment, the kids are superb and we laugh from start to finish every episode.
Loving it too, the little 5 year old girl is utterly brilliant and is the star of the show IMO.
We are loving Outnumbered but it’s uncomfortabley realistic. This makes it all the more funny as you laugh with realisation that this is your life1
Outnumbered is one of the best programmes I’ve seen!
And also.. I think Jake (11 yr old) is very cute!
Whoever plays Karen (5 yr old) is really good for her age =]
A really great comedy. I would love to know how they get the children to act so naturally.
This is utterly fantastic – it hits home on all levels and the kids (especially Karen)are just brilliant. They can’t have scripts as they are just too good. I’m telling all my friends to watch – please please please make more (and quickly).
Funniest comedy I’ve seen in a while – especially from the BBC. The kids are brilliant little actors, too! I hope they comission a second series. It deserves a better time slot, though. Maybe 9.30pm instead of 10.30pm or 11pm like it is at the moment. I’m sure that would guarantee this BBC comedy a large and loyal following.
I absolutely love this show…. I thought I was the only Mommy in the country that shouted “Shoes, Hair, Teeth!” and “I can’t hear any movement” when encouraging my daughters to get ready in a morning! My ten year old has roared with laughter, watching another Mother as harrassed as her own.
The children are wonderful – but a lot depends on the adults that interact with them, so well done to all!
I agree, this is great comedy. Very accurate indeed. I too hope that there is a second series in the pipeline.
What are your ten year olds doing up so late lol?!
I love this show. Ive watched it religously.
what a brilliant show, its just so real to life…..its a typical noamal family..what a refreshing change to have a program thats true and down to earth and adds that bit of comedy of fanily life.im hooked, i get happy when i see it and i can also have a tear in me aye when i see the way the kids go on..its true to home ….what a brilliant show…please please dont let it end at this series, ive told everyone about it …the best thing the bbc has done in so so many years ….john glen newcastle upon tyne
The only time hugh dennis ever made me laugh was as a member of The Mary Whitehouse Experience, which I put down to everybody else involved apart from him, however I am now prepared to humbly grovel on bended knee. The producer always takes a big gamble when putting a comedy forward without the(in my opinion, unwanted)canned laughter, Andy Hamilton an Guy Jenkins have got it spot on.
Everyone bangs on about how great,brilliant etc, The Office and The Royal Family were, when in they were the biggest load of televisual tosh I ever watched. ‘Father Dear Father’, ‘Bless This House’ and many more all very good, very funny(for their day) family based comedies but the BBC has finally put something on the screen that taps into the lisence payers psyche. Step outside your front door and you’ll know a family like this in any direction you look. This is simply put the best thing to hit our tv screens in years, and from the BBC, unbeleivable.
Have to echo the above comments.
This programme has brought me back to TV watching, it had all got so boring.
It is a very good observation of life , well executed.
fantastic series.brilliant for everyone.there must be loads more.
Only very few programmes make it to my Sky+ schedule. This one has! Well done to all involved.
This is a fantastic comedy, and I love the little five year old girly, she is so funny….I have laughed so much….hope we get some more episodes….A GREAT COMEDY….
Love outnumbered always watch it. The 3 kids are such brill actors (especially the Karen) what is her real name? she doesn’t look english shes so cute wish she was my little sister lol shes going to be a big star 1 day!
hope it shows for a long time to come!xXx
I found this show on TV while working in Edinburgh this week. Maybe I’m just a naive American who happens to work in the television industry in Los Angeles, and therefore am in the business of MAKING TV shows, but this was the most boring, utterly dull and useless thing I’ve ever watched in my life. The kids went to school, then they came home, then the emotionally distraught sister came home, then the mom fixed the sink, then the show ended. Oh, and the big climax came when we found out someone had stolen the elder child’s cell phone. Oooooooooh.
There was ZERO plot to this thing. It would be just as interested to walk into any house in the country and just sit there and watch the family. Why don’t they put that on TV? Because it isn’t interesting.
You English have given us some spectacular television in the past. This ain’t it. I give it zero stars…and again, I develop TV shows. My whole job is to create the programming that people watch every day, and on NBC no less (one of the top 4 networks in the United States, with shows like E.R., The Office, and Friends.) So I can tell you that anyone who brought this thing to the table in the U.S. would be laughed out of the room, and I’m shocked that didn’t happen here. Someone at Hat Trick must have been drinking when this came across the desk.
Sorry Andrew but you’re American and consequently don’t appreciate the subtleties of our British humour! This is one of the funniest things I’ve seen on TV in a long time and the kids are utterly brilliant. More please!
this has the potential to be a great comedy, up there with Dibley, fools and horses, one foot in the grave, come on BBC give it a chance put it out at a better time, good clean family entertainment for a change, the little girl playing Karen is outstanding everyone will love her.
Andrew be quiet!
Re: Andrew. He’s American, he ‘developes’ TV ‘shows’ and works for NBC no less. Do you really expect him to understand? Say no more.
This is the best programme the BBC has produced in a long time, why has it been scheduled for so late in the evening? so many people will have missed it
The children are absolutely brilliant
more please
This is the best comedy show in years, i could watch it time and time again, i hope it will be back soon with a second series and hope it will be out on DVD even sooner….
How heartening to see so many excellent comments (apart from “Andrew from LA TV” – ’nuff said) about this wonderful programme. Expertly cast – everyone seems to have fallen for Karen, of whom we are almost guaranteed to see more, and quite right – it was British humour at its best. Simply observing the characteristics (and weaknesses) of people we all ‘know’ can be very funny if done well, yes, like The Office. As has been said: no canned laughter, but real characters, well scripted, great cast. Pure magic. (And a superb finish.)
Hi all! Thanks so much to each and every one of you (even Andrew!) for your fabulous comments, I’m glad that this show has been so well received.
Please note that I’ve now added in links to my two reviews of the show at the bottom of this post.
Or I could just put them here couldn’t I?!
Initial reaction:
http://www.tvscoop.tv/2007/08/tv_review_outnu.html
Series overview:
http://www.tvscoop.tv/2007/09/tv_review_outnu_1.html
Anna
I love this programme. I would, I think, cry if they didn’t make any more. As a 14 year old I am finding it very difficult to convince my friends to watch it but one day I will force someone to.
I think that Andrew from LA TV just doesn’t get British humour. What real plot is there to comedies like King of Queens, Everybody Loves Raymond etc.? Comedies don’t need plots. Considering this, it does actually have a plot; mentioned by yourself. Jake being bullied, and the problems with the sister.
You can’t call this programme bad, dull or boring. It’s clearly a hit in Britain, where it’s aired and its reaction matters, as you can see from the many, many other comments.
Your comment about walking into a house and watching a family is great. That’s just what the programme is about and many a family with young children have very funny moments that I would LOVE to watch. Jake’s older, so he’s part is more serious, but the children are outrageously funny.
“Why don’t they put that on TV? Because it isn’t interesting.”
They do put it on TV. In a fantastic show called “Outnumbered”. You might have heard of it?
Ohhh Emmm Geee..i Absolutly LOVE This Show!! Its Just So Adorable!! It has Good Themes And Actors! I Was So Upset When It Finished This Series..Any One Who Wants A Second Series Say I!!!!!
Loves xxx
Excellent series. My wife and I, who have 4 little darlings aged 2 to 10, giggle from start to finish – scarily accurate in a way I’ve not seen on tv before.
Lay off on the Andrew thing – that’s obviously someone having a bit of a laugh by tapping into an american stereotype – no plot, no jokes, too stupid to ‘get it’ – I don’t think so.
Well done BBC, a fine sitcom after so many dire ones.
outnumbered was the most incredible comedy
I have seen for years with that age child actors
the script was amazing and the children all deserve
oscars.
fantastic.
outnumbered had the most fantastic child
actors seen for years. Great.
Karen is my Hero. She is amazing.
Outnumbered!! brilliant, funny, essential viewing, I loved it! I would sit up til 12 to watch it but hope the BBC come to their senses and show it at a more reasonable time so that more people can enjoy it, everyone I tell about it hasn’t heard of it. Please, please make another series, I can’t wait to buy it when it comes out on DVD.This is British comedy and talent at it’s best, and the actors and children are just great, more please!!
when will a DVD come out
I agree with you all – it is brilliant. boy, do I relate to the poor parents.
The question is, has it now finished its run and if so where is it going to be repeated?
If it has not, why can I not find it on the Sky schedules?
Your help is appreciated
Oh please let it not be the end of Outnumbered! I have finally found something decent to watch!!
It has been a long, long time since we have seen anything on TV this brilliant. ‘Outnumbered’ is the work of a genius team at work, and it all falls together and works like a swiss watch. The characters are perfect, the acting is brilliant, in fact when I watched young Karen (Ramona Marquez), she was so good, I initially thought she was either a gifted young actress, or else I was watching a live reality TV show, she was so natural. How can you get plot and characters so understated yet so bizarre at the same time? I don’t know. I look forward to seeing many, many more episodes of ‘Outnumbered’, and please, don’t change a thing!
What an absolutely brilliant comedy – I was on holiday with my parents (I now live in Australia) and I do so hope that I will be able to get a copy of the DVD as those children and their interaction with their parents were so squirmingly funny I would love to show them to my friends over here. It was even worth staying up so late for even when the BBC mucked about with the time slot – unfortunately I missed the last episode.
Outnumbered was the best programme on tv for years. Please repeat it and make another series.FANTASTIC CAST and so funny.
I don’t watch much TV now, (nothing good anymore) but I flicked through the programs last week and found this absolutely funny, mesmerising comedy which was so good, Outnumbered was so different, and totally enjoyable, kids good actors, adults good actors, what a winner, I actually laughed out loud, now there’s a novelty, the only people who won’t like it are those who like violence and swearing and bad manners, which is what the majority of programmes are now on TV, so I use the off switch very frequently, I tried to find it this week and couldn’t, please don’t tell me it has finished, and can we see all the previous programmes at all please
What a superb series and my goodness – by the BBC!
Refreshingly different, so very funny and uncomfortably real. Karen is both frightening and adorable. The children especially are absolutely brilliant and natural in their roles. I suppose it’s their genius and natural approach that makes us watch a little in amazement and even disbelief – “…is she really a five year old?…”.
It’s a hands down winner and needs re-showing please. Issue it on DVD and I’ll be out to buy it.
It’ll be a bit like Fawlty Towers or Vicar of Dibley – hate the repeats over and over again but somehow we’ll be watching over and over again.
Well done indeed to everyone who created and pulled this little gem out of the BBC’s illfitting comedy hat.
I loved this show~please make more!!
Or at the very least release it onto DVD so I can give my sky+ a break.
I loved this show~please make more!!
Or at the very least release it onto DVD so I can give my sky+ a break.
I loved this show~please make more!!
Or at the very least release it onto DVD so I can give my sky+ a break.
is there a dvd for outnumbered cause ive looked everywhere and carnt see it.
And i love outnumbered so much.
Do please issue Outnumbered on DVD in good time for Christmas. I would buy at least a dozen copies to give as presents. The series was truly exceptional, not just because the concept was so original and the actors so talented, but because it had that rarest of qualities – real unselfconscious charm!