Outnumbered

Outnumbered captures real life perfectly

'Oh God,' I said to my wife as we lay in bed watching an episode of Outnumbered on BBC1 one Saturday night. 'This is... us!'

In normal years, The Royle Family would be the sitcom special to be most keenly anticipated, but after last Christmas's aberration, "The New Sofa", judgement should be reserved on Caroline Aherne's latest reunion, "The Golden Egg Cup" (Christmas Day, 9pm BBC1). For unalloyed excitement, the 'Outnumbered Christmas Special' has me slathering at the chops. It's Boxing Day, and Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin's recognisably modern metropolitan family, the Brockmans, has been burgled - and I don't mean harassed parents Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner getting every scene stolen from under their noses by the improvising child actors, Tyger-Drew Honey, Daniel Roche and Ramona Marquez.

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Thank God for Outnumbered, sitting there like a shining beacon in a fog of tedium on a Saturday night. And the fact it's a repeat makes it all the more amazing. Tonight sees Pete and Sue heading out for dinner, leaving the kids to run rings round the babysitter. It's brilliant, well-observed stuff, and doesn't get tired on repeat viewing.

Why Outnumbered's junior rebel is the ultimate kids' hero

It's just possible that the best cult TV hero for under-10s is a curly-haired kid whose work has never been shown pre-watershed, unless you count an ad for Kingsmill bread. A hugely unscientific survey of children of my acquaintance reveals that those who have seen the BBC comedy series Outnumbered, about a flustered but happy middle-class family, all want to be Ben, the seven-year-old middle son, played by Daniel Roche.

Outnumbered lost out to The IT Crowd at the Baftas this year, which wasn't just baffling it was also a real pity, because Guy Jenkin and Andy Hamilton's winning portrayal of the minor absurdities of family life, and its brilliant, scene-stealing child actors, deserve proper recognition. In a repeat of series two's first episode, the family, including hapless mum and dad Sue and Pete (Claire Skinner and Hugh Dennis), is off to a wedding. As always they hover perilously close to being late as violence-obsessed Ben (Daniel Roche) debates if hitting someone who is attacking you with a shovel would be OK, limpid-eyed Karen (Ramona Marquez) locks herself in the bathroom and Jake (Tyger Drew-Honey) worries. It's achingly funny and packed with lovely moments, including Karen's remorseless quizzing of the increasingly unnerved bride, that always end with the grown-ups being outmanoeuvered.

Don't get too excited about the reappearance of Outnumbered. This repeat of the first episode of series two is just plugging an awkward gap in the TV schedules and the rest of the series won't be following. The family are at the wedding of Sue's cousin Julie - and young Karen (Ramona Marquez), the undisputed star of the show, is chief bridesmaid, quizzing the bride relentlessly on her dubious taste in boyfriends. While we wait for a third series to materialise, there are plenty of other TV shows where Karen's unique world view and unwavering style of interrogation could - and should - be employed. Hosting Have I Got News For You, standing in for Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight, interviewing suspects on The Bill... She's far too good to waste on just sitcoms.

A complaint often levelled at television is that there are far too many repeats slotted into the schedules, which can be a highly valid gripe. But when the repeat in question is another go for Outnumbered series two (which gained decent ratings on its previous Saturday showing), we'll let it go. Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin's heavily improvised comedy is a constant delight as Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner play the average couple with three kids - and it's the kids that steal the show every time. In this first episode, Pete and Sue shepherd their brood to a family wedding - with predictably chaotic results. Highly recommended.

Ah, you lucky things. This is another chance to see the opening episode from the last series of Outnumbered, about the travails of a middle-class couple with three children struggling to do their best and failing miserably. Sharply observed and brilliantly cast, it is accurate, warm-hearted, understated and free of a horrible laughter track. But what makes it so special, above and beyond all those other estimable qualities, is the astonishing acting of the three children. They are the most natural comic performances from children that I have ever seen on television. Sitcoms are usually a form of hell on earth, in which the viewer feels as though he or she is being torn apart by a pack of brain-dead hyenas. This is a glorious, life-enhancing exception.