Outnumbered

I came across this series by chance, after browsing the BBC I-player site. What a discovery.

The whole thing is so true to life, it's scary. Parents who are so involved in their own world they mostly overlook the gems of information their kids come out with. Kids who actually behave like real life kids rather than the usual spoilt little brats (or worse, sugar sweet fakers) that most shows portray.

For me, the star of the show is Karen. The brilliant Ramona Marquez deserves every TV award going..she steals the show every episode. (Her impression of Fiona Bruce in series 2 is hysterical!!) For someone so young she very clearly understands her character, and makes the most of every scene she is in.

IF you haven't seen this show yet, please please please take the time to watch..and then set aside a whole day to watch the full 2 series as I promise one episode won't be enough.

Don't listen to that t*** who gave it 1/10 this is an amazing sit-com and it is one of the reasons I am proud to be British. It may be predictable and clichéd but that is part of its charm. Karen and Ben (the younger ones) are the best part their clashes are so funny and their logic is insane. What I mean by that is Karen is so literal and Ben is borderline nuts and thats great. The fourth series is on soon (When this review was posted) and I for one can't wait to see it and if you see this before Friday WATCH IT. Oh and one more thing that guys says it 'depressing' but it's not it deals with issues that any English family would face and I think it is a good mould for parenting you will not believe how much stuff my parents has taken from it (except they don't work cos we know how to get around them)

There have been lots of attempts to show the comic side of so called "ordinary life" but they always fall into the trap of trying to create gags, as opposed to reflecting what we all know, which is that real life often throws up comic moments if only you let it. This is exactly what the producers, writers, directors, actors have got together to do. After watching 2 episodes I thought these kids are absolutely brilliant - they are being allowed to express themselves with none of the stiffness that a script would bring about. This is especially true for the young actors but it is also true for the excellent Claire Skinner and Hugh Dennis, and you can see the delight on their faces as they react to the children's spontaneity. It just shows how powerful the technique of improvised and semi-improvised filming can be, and whilst it's not a new device, I personally believe it's greatly underused. We all know about Mike Leigh, Ken Loach, Woody Allen etc, and we constantly hear about great moments which ended up in a film which were the result of some spontaneous improvisation, and yet we steer away from this dangerous approach. I don't want to put writers out of a job, and in Outnumbered we can see once again the originality and creativity of Andy Hamilton's and Guy Jenkin's style, but they appreciate that they are part of a creative team which produces an end product greater than the sum of its parts. Let's use the technique more in 'adult' drama and comedy and not think that it only works where there are cute kids!

A word too about the subject matter itself. It is so extraordinarily well-observed and accurate; I recognise 99% of what's going on on screen. Now I realise that this is a portrayal of one particular life style, and not all the truths are universal ones, but the fact that the choice of family is relatively specific should not lead to it being dismissed as a comedy for the chattering classes, as though that somehow negates its worth.

Outnumbered is a sitcom orientated around family life - it is very accurate and very, very funny. The kid's lines - especially Ben and Karen's, are absolutely hilarious, and are something that a child would actually talk about. It does remind me of life as part of a family - though I'm only 17, I remember asking the kind of questions and explaining how I felt about the situation these children were in when I was their age. It's both realistic and hilarious. I'm glad I found this show, and was lucky to do so - I don't remember seeing any adverts on the BBC for this series. Which is a shame - the BBC have produced a sitcom that is of the same quality of Channel 4's Spaced. I believe it's one of Britain's sitcoms, and destined t be a cult classic, like Spaced. If the BBC showed more adverts for it, they'd have a bigger audience - this is the best show they've produced in years, comedy or otherwise.

This easily overlooked series was given an extraordinarily late slot by the BBC. It was shown at around 11pm on three consecutive nights, with the final three episodes shown in a similar manner the following week. Here in the UK we are used to family comedy having a once a week slot at a decent hour. It gives the show time to build an audience through word of mouth. The Office built slowly by reputation. This little masterpiece should have been given the same chance.

There are several clips from Outnumbered on Youtube for those unfortunate enough to have missed it. The children are a revelation. With no actual 'jokes' and no laughter track it is refreshingly naturalistic. I look forward to a rerun at a proper hour and hope for a second series.