Outnumbered

For a show based on sarcastic back-chat, this last-ever episode turns the tables with a Disney-style finale. Karen's even offering tea and biscuits when dodgy Auntie Angela (Samantha Bond) turns up with her latest toy boy. But how will Spartacus: The Musical go for Ben? And what about the search for Tommy the hamster? Claire Skinner, Hugh Dennis and the kids - Tyger Drew-Honey, Daniel Roche, Ramona Marquez - make a surprisingly sentimental exit.

Preview: Outnumbered finale

The kids are now capable of sorting things out even better than their parents.

Radio Times review

"I think we've finally got to a point where they're all, you know, OK," says a more-baffled-than-usual Pete - because something very odd has happened to the three Brockman teenagers.

Almost overnight they've turned into nice, sensible, reasonably mature human beings. Karen is politely offering to make tea and biscuits for everyone, Jake sensibly stands up to the neurotic Auntie Angela who's arrived with yet another toy boy in tow (she met this one at Sunday school, of all places), while Ben suddenly shows his hitherto undiscovered sensitive side.

"There's the answer to all our problems - just let the kids sort it out," says Sue in a real light-bulb moment as, after a watch-through-your-fingers finale involving the school's surreal production of Spartacus, the show comes to a very neat and tidy end.

Outnumbered: the last ever episode, BBC One, review

I have brought up my children in the time frame of Outnumbered and that is exactly what I hope for them. As it drew to a close, with Spartacus an eccentric and unlikely triumph, I had a tear in my eye as I said goodbye to one of the funniest and most truthful of family sagas.

Outnumbered finale, review

Strained relations provide more laughs as the Brockmans bow out.

Outnumbered series 5 finale review: The Musical

It was a lovely series about the ups and downs of family life that was always funny, inventive and, for those who live or have lived in a home akin to the Brockman's, very true. With star performances from all the regulars and laughs abound, there was rarely a dud episode. Frankly, there won't be a series quite like it.

Outnumbered: 16 of the best moments

As we prepare to say goodbye to the Brockman family, look back over five hilarious seasons of the BBC One improvised family comedy.

We've been dreading this day, the day when we finally have to cut the apron strings and let go of the kids from Outnumbered. Sorry, we thought we'd be able to stay strong but it's just too... *dabs eyes with hankie*

Yes, after five series, the show's child stars Tyger Drew-Honey (Jake), Daniel Roche (Ben) and Ramona Marquez (Karen) are starting to dwarf their on-screen parents Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner, meaning it's time to bring the beloved BBC sitcom to an end. In this final episode, Auntie Angela (Samantha Bond) returns to show off her latest toy boy, there's a cringeworthy performance of the school play, Spartacus: The Musical, and, most shockingly of all, there are signs that the Brockman kids might actually have turned out... alright?!

Outnumbered rises in ratings with 4.3 million

Outnumbered bounced back in the ratings for BBC One on Wednesday evening, overnight data reveals.

Outnumbered: I'll be sad to see you go

It must've been quite a challenge to take a series that was so reliant on the unpredictably of its young stars, and make it relevant now that the those same kids have hit their teens, but in my view they've managed it.