Outnumbered: Trailer, certificate and where to watch
A naturally funny family in a partially improvised sitcom
Year: 2007-2016
Certificate: 12
Watching comedy with canned laughter feels very old hat these days. That's partly down to the trend for more naturalistic comedies like Tom Basden's series Here We Go, and the grandaddy of them all, the partially improvised Outnumbered.
Both shows mine the endless drama and angst of family life, with children who often come across as more together than their permanently harassed parents. Over five series you can watch the Brockman children from Outnumbered grow up, and there was even a fairytale ending for Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner, who played parents Pete and Sue, when they confirmed they'd been in a relationship since 2017. The children, meanwhile, are the making of it - Ramona Marquez as Karen, Tyger Drew-Honey as Jake and Daniel Roche as Ben.
If you're looking at the Christmas specials, 2012 is the peak of those but, for Christmas 2024 - after a gap of eight years since the last episode aired - the cast came together again for a new festive episode that saw Pete and Sue as grandparents. (Five series)
