I’ve been writing here at TVScoop for quite a while now, and without a doubt the review I’ve written which has received the most attention and comments was for the first episode of Outnumbered, just last week. And what a surprise that is. It looked as though this sit-com would pass the world by without making any sort of impact – and in some circles, I’m sure that’s entirely the case. But not among us enlightened souls, eh?
I wasn’t completely convinced by the first episode, but it was clear that there was something special going on – and that something special was contained within the children’s performances. The first thing you noticed was Karen, played by Ramona Marquez. As one commenter wrote, you literally sat there open mouthed at this inquisitive, charming, cheeky, little girl. And when you got over the shock of laughing out loud at the ridiculous things she came out with, you noticed that the other kids were just as wonderful.
While the comedy was scripted and storylined by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, the children were not usually shown the script, meaning they could go off on tangents, and react in as natural a way as possible. This allowed for many magic moments which clearly caught Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner off guard – such as the discussion last night about whether a rat-bag is a bag containing rats or a bag made out of a rat. Praise has to go to Tyger Drew-Honey who played the oldest child Jake, and as such couldn’t simply say the first thing that came into his head, as Marquez and Daniel Roach (Ben) were able to do.
There were a few storylines which ran throughout the series – Pete’s inappropriate comment at school, Sue’s nightmare boss, Angela’s flakiness and Jake’s bullying problems – but to be honest, you generally wanted to get back to the random discussions between the kids and their parents. But I guess that it wouldn’t have been possible to sustain that over six half-hour shows, and the creators seemed to understand that a balance between the two needed to be found.
The greatest achievement of this series is that, in quite a short space of time, we learned to love this family, and completely support them in their arguments and problems with other people. We wanted Pete and Sue to keep their jobs without having to grovel, were proud when Jake befriended a bigger boy to keep the bullies at bay, and loved to see Ben’s sensitive side as he hugged his Aunty. Another master stroke was making Karen dislike the shallow new-agisms of Angela – this turned a funny little thing into something of a hero.
I don’t know if we’ll be seeing anymore of this family, but I certainly hope so, and I know that I’m not alone. It came out of nowhere, and has somehow turned out to be one the most special, most memorable shows of the whole year.
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