Review: Outnumbered

As a reward for making it through my history A-Level without having a complete mental breakdown, I bought myself the third series of Outnumbered, to go with the first and second series my dad owns (he's as bad, if not worse, than me when it comes to series box-sets). I then sat down and watched all three in two days. In my defence, each series is only six episodes and each episode only half an hour long, meaning I only wasted...*fast maths*...nine hours of my life. Which is worse than I expected.

But you know what, it wasn't wasted, because I loved every second of those nine hours! There are very few kinds of comedy that won't elicit some kind of amusement from me, but it's very rare for anything to reduce me to genuine, uncontrollable, snorty, belly-laughter, and Outnumbered does it frequently. If you're not already aware, it's a family sitcom about the Brockman clan - Pete (dad) is a history teacher at a distinctly dodgy school with a permanently weary attitude and a tendency to do stupid things, Sue (mum) is a nice but short-fused part-time PA with extraordinary determination and resilience in the face of their three children: Jake, morose and (particularly in recent series) moody with an appreciation for women's legs and unnecessary shouting, Ben, a hyperactive, reckless but good-natured compulsive liar and Karen, a take-no-prisoners, sharp and exceptionally witty little girl. And that's more or less it. The comedy lies entirely in those five characters, but my God is it good.

I have to say, I think it's probably funnier if your personal family situation reflects that of the sitcom, but many people's will, and it's fantastic to see it translated onto screen without any Hollywoodifying or polish. It's just normal, chaotic family life given an extra layer of wit. The scenes of the children - particularly the younger two - are largely improvised, which I think is the root of the charm, realism and genuine hilarity the programme oozes. No adult writer could come up with that kind of brilliance.

The little girl, played by Ramona Marquez, is my particular favourite, though the oldest boy (Tyger Drew-Honey) is an extremely good actor for his age (by which I mean, compared to all the other young teenage actors in the world, many of whom are just absolutely and utterly crap *cough* Dakota Blue Richards *cough*), and the adults have that exhausted, wild-eyed look nailed. I intially gave it four stars but, thinking about it, I realised the only obvious way I could think of improving it was for the episodes to be longer. And wanting more isn't much of a flaw.

Basic summary: a fun, hilarious family sitcom with realistic acting, superb one-liners and proof that children can be a blessing rather than a curse to the television industry.

Rating: * * * * * (excellent)