Hugh Dennis

Series nine of the panel show hosted by Dara Ó Briain continues to offer amusing satire on the week's events, although topicality appears to be less important than good jokes if the popularity of the recycled earlier series on digital channel Dave is anything to go by. Ó Briain will be joined as usual by stand-ups Andy Parsons, Russell Howard and bishop's son Hugh Dennis.

With the departure of the notorious and sometimes offensive Frankie Boyle just a distant memory, the satirical panel show - a sort of fusion of Have I Got News for You and Whose Line Is It Anyway? - returns for its ninth series. With much of the show based on the week's news, there's no way of knowing what topics the panellists will be poking fun at, but Dara O Briain is back in the host's chair, presiding over Hugh Dennis, Russell Howard, Andy Parsons et al like a twinkly-eyed, indulgent uncle, while the irrelevant scoring system and weird mix of sit-down/stand-up rounds is intact. The show is undoubtedly a bit softer without Boyle but, along with BBC2's QI, it always manages to deliver intelligent comedy.

Outnumbered's spot-on portrayal of middle-class family mayhem is the very thing that can tip it towards the irritating. Over its three series, the joke has remained resolutely the same: given the right socio-economic background, precocious children will say the funniest things. And while there's always enjoyment to be had from the eccentricities of the Brockmans, there's now no escaping the faint whiff of the formulaic. In the final episode of the series, Pete (Hugh Dennis) deals with the fallout from his drunken infidelity and Jake (Tyger Drew-Honey) embarrasses himself with the baby-sitter. And there's a rare moment of tenderness when Sue's (Claire Skinner) latest obsession leads to Karen (Ramona Marquez) having an accident. "I've nearly killed the kids loads more times than you have," comforts Pete.

The youngest son Ben (Daniel Roche) is in trouble at school for re-enacting the running of the bulls at Pamplona. Back in the relative safety of the home, he busies himself playing games inspired by Bear Grylls, one of which involves climbing up the north face of the wardrobe - until it is struck by an avalanche. Dad (Hugh Dennis), meanwhile, is still in the doghouse after the night of the bright green cocktails when he kissed a stranger. But all of this pales into insignificance when little Karen (Ramona Marquez) is hit by a car on the way to the school concert and rushed into hospital. Fortunately it isn't serious - just a few bumps and bruises. It's the unsuspecting nurse at the hospital you need to worry about.

The fifth episode of the third series of the family comedy maintains the good form of last week's, fuelled by an early confrontation between Pete (Hugh Dennis) and Sue (Claire Skinner) and the typhoon-like arrival of Sue's sister Auntie Angela (Samantha Bond) and her ghastly American psychologist of a husband, Brick (Douglas Hodge). That's before an awkward restaurant meal dredges up Angela and Sue's acrimonious history. As usual, daughter Karen (Ramona Marquez) has her own opinion on the matter, deftly using her ingénue quips to throw a cold light on adult hypocrisy.

This is one of the funniest episodes to date. Last week, you may remember, Dad (Hugh Dennis) had woken up with a crippling hangover after a night out that involved green cocktails. It gets worse. It turns out that he danced with a woman called Mimi who kissed him - and he kissed her back - and now his wife (Claire Skinner) has found out. One way and another it could hardly be a worse time for the unspeakable sister (Samantha Bond) to arrive for a visit with her new boyfriend, an American therapist with a ponytail called Brick (Douglas Hodge). They all go out for a meal and the evening degenerates into a classic middle-class bloodbath, during which little Karen (Ramona Marquez) dissects the ponytail's psychobabble with lethal precision.

Pete has disgraced himself. In a moment of drunken folly he has brought shame on himself, on Sue and possibly on the whole family. As you'd expect, the scene tonight where Sue confronts him about it is one of the best in the series so far. Claire Skinner does simmering rage better than most - just look at the way her eyes shoot daggers at Pete. And look, too, at the way Hugh Dennis saves Pete's most panicky look for when he realises he'll have to discuss the whole thing with 13-year-old Jake. This little contretemps serves as backdrop for the return of one of Outnumbered's old hands - Samantha Bond as Sue's infuriating sister Angela. Since we last saw her, Angela has married a pony-tailed American therapist (Douglas Hodge) and become mother to his children: "We have five kids," she announces to Sue, with classic sisterly oneupwomanship. The comedy in the awkward restaurant meal that follows is a teeny bit forced, but there are plenty of choice moments in the episode. As Angela says, annoyingly, "There's such wonderful energy in a big family."

The family-centred improv' comedy has been a bit patchy of late but this episode is a corker. Tonight it's not just the kids who have been misbehaving, as Sue (Claire Skinner) discovers when she checks Pete's (Hugh Dennis) mobile for messages. But there's no time for a heart-to-heart when the kids are about.

If it's not Jake (Tyger Drew-Honey) turning the garden into a watery war zone, it's Karen (Ramona Marquez) asking if it's ever OK to hit a classmate.

Meanwhile, Pete's worried about the impending clash as Sue's sister Angela (Samantha Bond) turns up with her new husband (Douglas Hodge). While the adults struggle to remain civil, the children call a spade a spade - or, in Jake's case, reel off 18 names for a part of the male anatomy. Nudity and toilet habits also feature - but that's kids for you.

Indeed, some families might see this comedy more as a documentary. A funny one, mind.

Dad (Hugh Dennis) has woken up with a crippling hangover having being ambushed by bright green cocktails. His youngest son, Ben (Daniel Roche), is bitterly disappointed that he missed the sight of his father being sick. "Your face is all grey," he says, "like someone shaded you in with a pencil. You smell like the relief teacher who didn't last very long. The one with the shaky hand who kept bursting into tears for no reason." Because the day of Dad's hangover also happens to be Friday 13th, Karen (Ramona Marquez) is refusing to leave the house in case something bad happens and she is eaten by bears on the way to school. And to cap it all, this is the day that house hunters are coming round to view the house. Once again, Outnumbered provides half an hour of pure happiness.