Outnumbered

Hugh Dennis' character sends sex txts

Outnumbered dad Pete follows in the footsteps of Ashley Cole and Vernon Kay as he gets caught sending sex texts.

It's wonderful to have Outnumbered back on our screens for a third series. If you've only just returned from a shopping trip to Mars, it is based on the life and times of two besieged middle-class parents (Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner) who are doing their best to raise three precocious children. It follows a comic tradition that goes back to Joyce Grenfell, but the brilliance of the show is the accuracy of the children's dialogue and the naturalism of their performances. Because so much of it is improvised, it is inevitable that some episodes won't be as strong as others. But tonight's, in which all the family (including the grandmother) go on a day trip to London, is a delight. I was enjoying it so much that I forgot to take notes in order to steal the best jokes.

At last - the family sitcom that reinvented family sitcoms returns for a third series. Back in 2007 Outnumbered was a blast of suburban fresh air; with its knowing kids running rings around bewildered adults, it felt dramatically and hilariously more real than anything that had gone before. It feels fractionally less fresh now but just as funny, as we rejoin the Brockmans on a sightseeing day out in London. Very soon, scarily precocious Karen (Ramona Marquez) is grumbling that she wants to go somewhere "more World- War-Two-ish" while uncontrollable Ben (Daniel Roche) is climbing on one of the Trafalgar Square lions and stabbing it with a ruler. "Die!" he shouts. "Die, Aslan, die!" Throughout, dad Pete (Hugh Dennis) wears his fixed expression of pain and confusion, like a baited bear. As a portrait of parenthood, it's terrific, even when the plotting, which includes a weary old joke involving a disabled loo, lets the side down. And the dialogue is as sharp as ever. "Look mummy," insists Karen, "I used to believe in wishes and all this nonsense but then my wish about Ben and the hyenas didn't come true."

Controversial series in that a lot of people think it's original and funny and a lot of people think it's a load of cliched nonsense. Well, grow up people. It's both. The sitcom narratives are rubbish old hat, the child actors are funny and Hugh Dennis is Hugh Dennis. The first ep of a new series sees them travel to London sight-seeing and have tired, weary problems with a disabled loo.

Time for series three, and yet again we ask the same question - how is it possible for child actors to be this funny? Episode one opens with Ben and Karen on a London sightseeing trip pondering how lions assisted during the Battle of Trafalgar and 'that king who thought he was made of glass', while parents Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner do an excellent line in bewildered.

The funniest kids on TV are back for a third series. But has Outnumbered become a victim of its own success? Back in 2007, when this was buried apologetically in the schedule's nether regions, there was a real novelty about small children being allowed to dictate proceedings. Now, after bagging three gongs at the British Comedy Awards last year, tonight's episode feels like an extended stand-up gig for Karen and Ben (Ramona Marquez and Daniel Roche).

You sit, arms folded, thinking, "Come on, then. Say something outrageous." Naturally, you don't have long to wait but the bits with the adults in between can feel like a distraction from the main event. That's not to take anything away from the show - just a sign of how hard it is to stay ahead of the game in comedy.

The Brockmans are on a sight-seeing trip around London tonight - an opportunity for Mum and Dad and Gran to be mortally embarrassed in front of a variety of internationally-recognisable landmarks. And from the one-liners the kids come out with, it really can't be much longer before they're invited on to the Have I Got News For You panel.

There are jokes about Gordon Brown tonight and the death of Diana that might have provoked howls of outrage if they were uttered by an adult. They still might but the power of these kids is that they can get away with anything - as their beleaguered parents (Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner) know only too well.

Outnumbered Series 3 review

Outnumbered isn't the best sitcom of last year but how encouraging is it to see a popular, award winning mainstream comedy that doesn't resort to overblown situations, pointless cameos and a laughter track to somehow remind people it's supposed to be humorous?

What I love about being in Outnumbered

I'd have to say my favourite scene of series three was one featuring myself and Kelly, a young good looking waitress that Jake has his eye on.

The stars of Outnumbered are the children

Outnumbered the hugely popular semi-improvised BBC1 sitcom about the chaotic Brockman family which returns this week for an eagerly awaited third series.

Outnumbered Review: One Too Many?

Unfortunately the programme-makers over exploit the kids' skills with little effort of their own, meaning the show turns out very similar each time. Has it got the shelf life for a whole new series? Fans will be pleased to hear it's just more of the same but many will be tired of it by now.