"i spy with my little eye something beginning with M"....."Muslim" (Outnumbered)

Member Name: iamasadlittleboy

Product:	Outnumbered
Date:	08/08/09 (98 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hilarious, innocent, family orientated

Disadvantages: Possible questions on longevity

Whilst waiting for this to come on TV this evening I thought I might as well try to get the show a little bit of publicity that it so definitely deserves as sadly it seems to be a show you either love...or you've never seen. A shame that those that have never seen it haven't given it a go as they would love it's innocent and silly humour, it's simple comedy and the fact the children aren't given lines that fail.

Outnumbered is based on a family in London, the Brockman's lead by the father (Hugh Dennis- My Hero, Mock the Week) named Pete and the mother Sue (Claire Skinner-Life Begins, Bridget Jones) with three kids (that are often the source of the funniest moments). The family often appear to have a financial problem in balancing the books, but hide it well from the kids who unlike other sitcoms aren't really scripted (more about this later). The problems seem to be that of most family's in these days (though the first 2 series were filmed before the current economic problems) where they are trying to provide more to their children than they can actually provide. However this is a secondary feature to give the show some body below the actual humour, the drama if you will.

So apart from Skinner and Dennis the stars (or rather, the real stars) of the show are the three kids, played by Tyger Drew Honey, Daniel Roche and Ramona Marquez (Jake, Ben and Karen). Jake is the oldest, meant to be 11 though seems to be older (though the actor genuinely was 11 for the first series), a rather inquisitive child who seems smarter than his age and cynical to add. Ben is the hyper active one, the typical ADD sufferer who jumps about, he is 7 years old, is silly and asks silly questions, often the highlight of the show. Karen who is 5 seems to be a bit demented and the worrier of the group who says the clever things and delivers them with such loveable innocence that you cant help but smile. The episode (that's started now I'm still writing) is currently talking about blowing up planes "Why does go tell them to do it?"..."God could do it much better".

One thing that needs to be added now, is that the kids lines are almost all improvised, not only are they the star of the show drama wise...but also the comedy gold of it. Now onto part of an episode when it's revealed Ben has had ½ a mug of double expresso...with 5 spoonfuls of sugar and "feels all zingy zangy zoogy". The improvisation means that the kids can actually act like kids, they can act like the childish creatures they are, rather free and open, not tethered to the script of a 40 something year old trying to look through a child's eyes. This freedom allows an expression so rarely seen in comedy that the show stands head and shoulders amongst all of the shows on British TV at the moment.

The shows comedy is thankfully not just monotone childishness and slapstick but clever and wittily done, with jokes ranging from political to social, from relationships to of course, the slapstick silliness. Ben's imagination is always brilliant, with slightly violent and destructive tendency's whilst Karen's innocents and sweetness, an almost angelic little girl is brilliant. Brilliantly it's obvious that these aren't just child actors, but the future comedy stars of Britain.

With the addition of the Granddad played by David Ryall, who is on the verge of senility, the shows family is complete with 3 generations and only 2 on the safe side of sane. A wonderful combination of silly humour, caring drama, and wonderful improvisation that thankfully steps away from the norm and allows the youngsters to have a bit of themselves in the role rather than depend on the script of those the same age as their father.

Thankfully with 2 series already behind them, it seems almost certain that a 3rd will go to air in Autumn and thankfully this wonderful show will continue on for at least a few more episodes. Hopefully though, it won't succumb to the same problems that My Family has, where the humour is too predictable and has become stale, though with the kids making it up as they go along, this is unlikely to be a problem. Hopefully (on the subject of My Family) this will have an equally long run and we can again get to see the children grow up into the fully fledged actors that...do BT commercials...ok maybe not. The children definitely have the potential to be the future stars of British comedy TV. If the show goes to a 5th series I think we will then see what the show is really made of, whether it's still on the air is a real test of it's appeal and it's development as a more mainstay show on the BBC. Though oddly if they quid it after 3 series it could fairly sit up there with Fawlty Towers on GOLD as one of the best, if short lived, BBC comedies of all time.

Summary: Best British Family show on TV