» Telly Talk With Victoria Nangle
In the family way
The saying goes, ‘never work with animals or children’. I suppose it all depends how good the animals and children are at their jobs. And how good the team surrounding them are too. What I think I’m really saying is – it depends if you’re working with the Outnumbered team.
The nifty thing about this award-winning comedy programme is the kids. They get to be centre stage without being brats. Well, anymore than your average kids are ever shown up as brats when you deny them chocolate biscuits on a weekly shop. The kids are great, from the seven-year-old, academically competitive Karen to the ‘boisterous’ middle child Ben, and the moody, mobile-addicted teenager Jake. When Karen argues with her Dad, Pete, that she’s only seven so is still learning – whereas he’s ‘older’ so should’ve learnt not to lose his temper – there’s really no arguing with such logic. Or Ben’s convoluted reasoning about how to introduce the lions to Trafalgar Square in an appropriately British way, as, ‘you don’t find lions in fields in Kent’.
It’s fair to say that the part-improvised nature of this programme, combined with the generous nature of the adult actors in letting the kids shine, is to thank for these gems. It allows the quirkiness of ‘kids’ stories’ to come through and prompt bellowy laughs without seeming contrived. We all have those stories from our own kids/nephews/nieces/mate’s kid/cousin: my niece loves vinegar so much she sucks it off the lettuce leaves in the grown up salad, presents it to an adult, and then asks why you’re not eating it. The trick is telling them without it sounding made up.
Also, doing so without a laughter track. Family comedies are not a new idea. My Family has been going for years and has picked up various accolades along the way, but is an entirely different beast from Outnumbered. My Family has its laughter track, relies on older kids, and the parents are the stars. They get themselves into increasingly bizarre situations and have a gag per minute rate. Outnumbered takes the kids on a day out in London and looks like harassed parents trying to stop each child running off in a geometrically opposed direction. No laughter track, just a conversation with a child.
To be honest, I didn’t watch the first series, or the start of the second, as I was fed up with everyone saying how good it was. Anything that’s that highly acclaimed has a strong possibility of being Emperor’s New Clothes and I hate feeling like a numpty. Like when I try and see those magic eye posters and just look half blind with squinting. I’m glad someone foisted it upon me though, and that there’s a new series starting this week. We’re going back to the start and finding comedy in what’s there naturally. Who needs to contrive to have three people on a window ledge when there are bronze lions to play with?
Outnumbered series 3 starts on Thursday 8 April.
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