Outnumbered

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Outnumbered
The main characters in Outnumbered. From top left, clockwise: Karen, Ben, Jake, Pete and Sue.
Genre	Improvised sitcom
Created by	Andy Hamilton Guy Jenkin
Developed by	Hat Trick Productions
Directed by	Andy Hamilton Guy Jenkin
Starring	Hugh Dennis Claire Skinner Tyger Drew-Honey Daniel Roche Ramona Marquez
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of episodes	6 (as of 5 September 2007)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jon Rolph
Producer(s)	Andy Hamilton Guy Jenkin
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC One (Series 1) BBC Two (Series 2)
Original run	28 August 2007 – present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Outnumbered is a British sitcom that has aired on BBC One since 2007.^[1] It stars Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner as a mother and father who are outnumbered by their three children. Produced by Hat Trick Productions, Outnumbered is written, directed and produced by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, although the show is also semi-improvised. Most of the improvised lines are given to the child characters, in order to make the performances more realistic.^[2]

The first series was broadcast late at night, over two weeks. A second series is currently being filmed to be broadcast on BBC Two.^[3] The show received mixed reviews, with some praising Outnumbered for its use of improvisation and for the use of a laid back, mundane setting.^[4] Others criticised the show for not being funny enough and the BBC for the way the programme was scheduled.^[5]^[6]

1 Plot
2 Production
3 Episodes
- 3.1 Series One (2007)
4 Reception
5 Other versions
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Plot

Outnumbered is about a family living in South London, where the parents are "Outnumbered" by their three children. The parents constantly try to keep their children under control, but completely fail to do so. The father, Pete, (Hugh Dennis) works at an inner city school as a history teacher, whereas mother, Sue, (Claire Skinner) is a part-time PA.^[7] The three children are eleven-year-old Jake (Tyger Drew-Honey) who worries about everything, from starting at his new school to the world being sucked into a black hole,^[8] seven-year-old Ben (Daniel Roche) who constantly lies to his parents and always wants to watch Little Britain,^[9] and five-year-old Karen (Ramona Marquez) who constantly asks too many questions.^[7]^[10] Other characters who regularly appear include Sue's new age 44-year-old sister, Angela, (Samantha Bond) and their father, referred to as "Grandad", (David Ryall) who appears to be suffering from senility.^[11] Another character referred to is the unseen Veronica, a very overbearing woman that Sue works for, who constantly demands too much.

[edit] Production

Outnumbered is the first collaboration between Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin since Drop the Dead Donkey ended in 1998.^[7] It was commissioned by Lucy Lumsden, the BBC Controller Comedy Commissioning. The executive producer is Jon Rolph.^[12] Originally a 20-minute long pilot was made, which was given to Lumsden who then commissioned six episodes. The setting for the show is somewhere in South London, and the show was shot on location in Wandsworth.^[7]

Outnumbered is notable for using improvisation, in order to get more believable performances from the child actors. Dennis commented on this saying that, "In most sitcoms all the lines for children are written by adults. So they are speaking the words of people 30 years older. And you really want kids to have their own voices, and say their own things."^[2] Jenkin said that: "You rarely get the feeling that children in sitcoms are real. They tend to be the same type of character – the smartarse who says adult things – and they are rooted to the spot, staring at the camera, because they've been told to stand in one place and say the lines. We decided to attempt to do something that hadn't been tried before, bounced some ideas around and we got very keen on this idea of involving improvisation very quickly."^[7]

[edit] Episodes

The first series of Outnumbered aired on BBC One between 28 August and 5 September 2007. Unlike most British sitcoms, where one episode is shown per week, all six episodes aired over two weeks, three per week, at 10.35pm. On Wednesdays it aired at 10.40pm due to the midweek national lottery draw. The episodes contain recurring story lines; the main ones being Jake worrying about secondary school and later being bullied,^[13]^[9] Sue's rivalry with Angela after she begins to look after Grandad,^[14] as well as her relationship with Veronica,^[13] and Pete coming into trouble with his school after he makes a supposed racist comment to one of his pupils.^[14] There are also storylines about Ben's constant lying,^[13] and Karen's dislike of Angela.^[14]

[edit] Series One (2007)

#	Airdate	Overview
1	28 August 2007	It is Jake's first day at secondary school. However, Ben makes the family late because he wants to take an electric drill to school and eventually Pete has to pay him £5 to leave the house. Meanwhile, Karen has nits and wants to keep one as a pet.
2	29 August 2007	Ben, whose lying is getting out of control, brings a friend round. Meanwhile Karen refuses to eat dinner because it is not in her special bowl, which unbeknown to her broke. Pete is in trouble at school after a parent complained about a 'racist' comment made to their son. Sue's sister, Angela, arrives having been in the United States for some time.
3	30 August 2007	To celebrate Karen's birthday, the family, including Angela and Grandad, go to an urban farm. On the way they get stuck in a traffic jam, and when at the farm Sue and Angela argue about their father, who Angela is now living with. Angela annoys Sue by giving all the children money to buy something from the farm. Pete is told by the headteacher to write a letter of "regret" for his 'racist' comment.
4	3 September 2007	Pete and Sue want a night to themselves, but delays constantly arise. Pete watches Ben playing football and Ben insists he is the best player in the school team. Karen has a friend, Alexia, round whose mother Jane is very late picking her and then stays for a drink. Angela then turns up and asks for the spare keys to their father's house. Jake's form tutor rings and speaks to Pete about bullying. Guest starring Matilda Ziegler.
5	4 September 2007	Sue has problems fixing the waste disposal unit, whilst being overworked by Veronica. Later, Sue quits her job. Pete also has problems when a local newspaper reporter asks him questions on the 'racist' comment and they print an article saying he did not want to apologise. Ben tries to avoid school by claiming he is ill. Jake admits his mobile phone has been stolen by the bully, but does not want Pete to sort the problem out for fear he will make things worse. Angela tells Sue she has left her boyfriend Trent.
6	5 September 2007	Sue and Pete hold a dinner party with Angela, Rav and Kuj. Sue and Pete tell them how they plan to travel the world with the children, now that Angela is looking after Grandad. However, Angela then tells Sue that she is going back to America the following morning. She and Sue then have a massive argument. Jake stops being bullied after he gets a bigger child to beat up the bully and Sue makes it clear to Veronica she will not be coming back.

[edit] Reception

The first episode received 4.1 million viewers (25.5%) of the audience share when it began and finished with 2.8 million (19.5%) at the end, which is larger than the average 2.2 million (14%) normally attracted by television shows at its particular time slot.^[15] The audience for the second episode fell by half a million viewers, whilst still being the highest ranking show in its time slot, with 18% of the audience share.^[16] However, it maintained a constant audience throughout the first series, with the fourth episode attracting 2.7 million viewers (20% audience share).^[17]

Reception to the show was mixed. The Daily Mirror found the mundane settings to be similar to the American sitcom Seinfeld saying that "compared to the ridiculous carry-on of My Family, it's much more low-key and realistic. In fact it's so low-key, nothing actually happens, which could well be a nod to Seinfeld - the touchstone of all great sitcoms. The getting ready for school chaos is like Supernanny: The Movie only with nicer children. It's also taken a leaf out of Curb Your Enthusiasm's book with large chunks of improvisation - although the strongest language you'll find here is "ponk"."^[4]

Rod Liddle, in The Sunday Times, also praised the show, although he was somewhat surprised saying, "An exquisitely middle-class, middle-aged domestic situation comedy set in north London – maybe Crouch End or Tufnell Park – and starring one of those bloody stand-up comics who now festoons every network, it really should be hated before it is even seen. Start liking this sort of programme and you are an ace away from enjoying Terry and June and having a house that smells faintly of weak tea, Murray Mints and urine. So, maybe it's just me, but Outnumbered is very funny indeed: despite its current bout of self-flagellation, the BBC still knows how to make people laugh. Comedy may be the very last thing the corporation does well."^[18]

James Walton wrote in The Daily Telegraph that the domestic setting and more mundane storylines were a virtue, saying, "All of this feels both carefully observed and suspiciously heartfelt. More unusually, it’s not contrived. Outnumbered sticks firmly with the mundane, yet manages to be funny about it. It doesn’t avoid the sheer dullness involved in family life either – but, happily, depicts it with a winning mixture of exasperation and affection."^[6]

However, Kevin Maher of The Times attacked the quality of the programme, saying it is not funny or dramatic enough. He wrote, "Outnumbered was at its most meretricious. For every exchange between adult and child was hijacked by a crass sitcommy need for sotto voce punchlines and knowing winks to the wings. A protracted scene in which 45-year-old dad (Hugh Dennis) was unable to wrestle a live power drill from the hands of 7-year-old son Ben (Daniel Roche), and instead had to, ho-ho, pay him £5 for the privilege, was emblematic of the show’s dubious capacity for fake pay-offs."^[5]

Walton criticised the scheduling of the programme saying, "Despite the very specific London setting, the series (shown in two batches of three, this week and next) will surely appeal to the parents of young children everywhere. As long, that is, as they’re not asleep by 10.35pm."^[6]

Outnumbered was nominated for the 2008 "Broadcast Award" for "Best Comedy Programme",^[19] but lost the award to The Thick of It.^[20]

[edit] Other versions

Fox has announced plans to make an American version of Outnumbered. Larry Levin will act as both writer and executive producer. Bryan Gordon will be the director.^[21]