Such a frustrating disappointment

Absolutely brilliant

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

And all the fuss about this show is about what? Because all I saw is a weak comedy that boasted good performances from those involved in the first few years and then went far beyond it's natural run to become the occasional show that pops up now and again only to prove that it was a far better one when the kids were young and cute.I know the BBC aren't exactly blessed with many comedy options that don't involve Mrs Brown or Citizen Khan, but this show is weak and not worthy of being heralded every time the cast 'reunite' to do a Christmas special.I don't get the hype, sorry.

This DREADFUL mish-mash of poor acting and ridiculous situations could ONLY be useful as an instructional video on how to be a terrible parent. Are there REALLY parents out there that permit their 5 year old to play soccer in the house or contemplate whether or not to allow their 6 year old to take a cordless drill equipped with a 10 inch wood bit to school? BTW...They finally veto the idea not based on the reality that he might injure someone else or himself.....destroy property or that it might actually be illegal BUT because it isn't show and tell day.....that's on a Friday not a Tuesday. But by Friday he might have changed his mind and wants to bring a running chain saw.....stay tuned for the answer! How ANYONE with a functioning brain could find this even remotely amusing is completely beyond me but the high ratings absolutely astound me....perhaps it's not so much a generation gap issue as a cultural one.....in Canada this would not have made the cut for a late night documentary on poor child rearing. God help us if this is what Brits think is entertainment

Outnumbered is a sitcom orientated around family life - it is very accurate and very, very funny. The kid's lines - especially Ben and Karen's, are absolutely hilarious, and are something that a child would actually talk about. It does remind me of life as part of a family - though I'm only 17, I remember asking the kind of questions and explaining how I felt about the situation these children were in when I was their age. It's both realistic and hilarious. I'm glad I found this show, and was lucky to do so - I don't remember seeing any adverts on the BBC for this series. Which is a shame - the BBC have produced a sitcom that is of the same quality of Channel 4's Spaced. I believe it's one of Britain's sitcoms, and destined t be a cult classic, like Spaced. If the BBC showed more adverts for it, they'd have a bigger audience - this is the best show they've produced in years, comedy or otherwise.

There have been lots of attempts to show the comic side of so called "ordinary life" but they always fall into the trap of trying to create gags, as opposed to reflecting what we all know, which is that real life often throws up comic moments if only you let it. This is exactly what the producers, writers, directors, actors have got together to do. After watching 2 episodes I thought these kids are absolutely brilliant - they are being allowed to express themselves with none of the stiffness that a script would bring about. This is especially true for the young actors but it is also true for the excellent Claire Skinner and Hugh Dennis, and you can see the delight on their faces as they react to the children's spontaneity. It just shows how powerful the technique of improvised and semi-improvised filming can be, and whilst it's not a new device, I personally believe it's greatly underused. We all know about Mike Leigh, Ken Loach, Woody Allen etc, and we constantly hear about great moments which ended up in a film which were the result of some spontaneous improvisation, and yet we steer away from this dangerous approach. I don't want to put writers out of a job, and in Outnumbered we can see once again the originality and creativity of Andy Hamilton's and Guy Jenkin's style, but they appreciate that they are part of a creative team which produces an end product greater than the sum of its parts. Let's use the technique more in 'adult' drama and comedy and not think that it only works where there are cute kids!A word too about the subject matter itself. It is so extraordinarily well-observed and accurate; I recognise 99% of what's going on on screen. Now I realise that this is a portrayal of one particular life style, and not all the truths are universal ones, but the fact that the choice of family is relatively specific should not lead to it being dismissed as a comedy for the chattering classes, as though that somehow negates its worth.