Outnumbered

This semi-improvised sitcom continues to amaze in that it is an almost unheard-of example of a middle-class family sitcom that's actually very funny. Caustic, believable and refreshingly unsentimental, it boasts more good gags per episode than most mainstream BBC sitcoms manage in a lifetime.

A large part of its success, of course, is due to the natural performances of its child stars, particularly nine-year-old Ramona Marquez as the maddeningly inquisitive Karen. In this typically joke-packed opening episode, she drags the family - nominally led by selfless straight-men, Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner - through a hectic historical daytrip to central London aimed at gathering research for her school project. She dismisses people who throw money into fountains as "idiots" and plays spot-the-lesbian with her anarchic brother Ben. Once again, it makes child-rearing look like an unyielding nightmare, but it's all the more hilarious for that.

Meet Britain's funniest kids

BBC sitcom Outnumbered is hilarious, unscripted and performed by the three child stars.

Andy Hamilton on the secret to Outnumbered's success

Outnumbered is no ordinary family sitcom. Writer Andy Hamilton tells us the little trick that makes it so funny - and so true to life.

BBC's Outnumbered lifts Hat Trick sales

TV production company Hat Trick Productions has seen a sales boom following the success of the BBC's hit sitcom Outnumbered.

If only because it centres so much on the precocious (yet, for the most part, just the right side of annoying) younger members of the cast, there's an obviously limited shelf to this series, centred on the chaotic everyday life of a middle-class south London family. So, who knows, this may well be both the first and last Outnumbered Christmas special.

If it is, it's comfortably up to the standard of the two full series we've enjoyed so far, as we descend upon the Brockman family - Pete (Hugh Dennis), Sue (Claire Skinner) and their unruly offspring Ben, Jake and Karen (Daniel Roche, Tyger Drew-Honey and Ramona Marquez) - on a less than blissful Boxing Day.

Outnumbered: Christmas special

It's good that Jake, Ben and Karen have become less winsome - but they're also genuinely a touch more annoying.

One of the many great things about Outnumbered is that it's lovable without being nauseating; the humour is warm, but not cloying. Everything gels. There are great scripts from Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, and a super cast: Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner as sweetly exasperated parents Pete and Sue, and a trio of astonishing child actors.

Outnumbered Christmas Special Review

I don't know why, but there's something about steadicam, improvising children and lack of canned laughter I find hilarious.

Hugh Dennis on working with the kids of Outnumbered

Hugh Dennis talks about working with the young actors in Outnumbered.