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Original poster

Outnumbered - is the lifestyle realistic?

419 replies

Mrsemcgregor · 07/11/2020 17:00

So I’ve been watching Outnumbered on Netflix with my DS (he loves it!) and I’m wondering if the lifestyle they have is achievable in London considering their jobs?

Pete is a teacher in a secondary school and is yet to achieve head of department and Sue is part time in what I assume is an admin/PA type role. I’m hypothesising that their joint income is likely to be around £60k? Maybe £70k. Where I live they would be lucky to be on £50k but I’m adding extra for London wages.

The house they live in is huge! I am not sure where in London it’s meant to be, but their is a scene where Pete mentions problems on the tube so I assume they are within the underground network. It’s 3 stories and at least 4 bedrooms and two bathrooms, a massive kitchen dining area, a garden and a nice sized lounge with a big bay window. Even where I live that would set you back close to £500,000. That house must cost a fortune in London?

Pete’s mum and dad are still alive as is Sue’s dad so I’m assuming no large inheritance, and they mention a mortgage so they haven’t inherited the house.

Can any London mumsnetters confirm or deny that this is realistic?

(I know I have far too much time on my hands and have given this way too much thought Grin)

OP posts:
doctorhamster · 07/11/2020 17:03

DH and I have this conversation every time we watch it Grin

There's no way they could realistically afford that house.

TW2013 · 07/11/2020 17:07

They had at least bought prior to 2007 so maybe house prices were not quite as astronomical. Maybe they had help from parents/ grandparents.

LoisWilkersonslastnerve · 07/11/2020 17:08

I think it might be starting to date a bit, it's hard to believe that what was originally supposed to be a show about a struggling normal family is now seen as aspirational. Shows how our standard of living has dropped since it first aired. There's no way a couple with normal jobs could live there now. I still like it though as do my kids, it's really funny.

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Hardbackwriter · 07/11/2020 17:08

DH and I also comment on this and agree it's wildly unrealistic! See also Catastrophe (I know he's supposed to have quite a senior job but she's a teacher and that house is ridiculous - also he seems to finish work in time to meet her after school every day?!), and Motherland.

nosswith · 07/11/2020 17:09

Likely bought many years ago. More realistic than many things portrayed in fiction.

MarthaWashingtonsFeralTomcat · 07/11/2020 17:10

I guessed Sue had had an inheritance from her mum, which is how her useless sister can afford to be so, well, useless.

Oxyiz · 07/11/2020 17:10

It was a long time ago now, and they could have both had better paid jobs when younger, with help from parents maybe? They're always talking about being in debt too.

I loved Outnumbered though. Karen is my dream child Grin

RaskolnikovsGarret · 07/11/2020 17:10

It’s like Friends. They could never have afforded those apartments in real life.

SpookyRhubarbYoghurt · 07/11/2020 17:10

God we have this conversaiton also.

I believe the hosue in in wimbledon or wandsworth (something beginning with W anyway).

It is a million plus property.

LaurieFairyCake · 07/11/2020 17:12

In their 50's so yes

I could have afforded that in many areas 25 years ago (not now though). My friend has a 2 million house, she's a postie and my age - she bought it in 1994, was very cheap then

Circusoflove · 07/11/2020 17:13

No and they wouldn’t have been able to afford that house in 2007 either. It’s recently been in the market for £1.8m. I’d guess it was worth around £1m back then.

It’s got to the point now that you can’t realistically make a drama about normal people in London unless it’s set on a council estate.

ticktackted · 07/11/2020 17:14

Assuming they bought it before they had kids, they bought in the 90s, so yes they could have. But no way they could now, which is just really sad.

dottiedodah · 07/11/2020 17:15

Some Artistic licence maybe ? Dont forget Homes have increased hugely since the 90s when it was made .Even so I see your point! Perhaps they bought it as a "doer upper" and it was a total wreck.Or Great Aunt Mary left them a windfall when she died? No idea what its worth these days!

SimonJT · 07/11/2020 17:15

I live in North London and have one child, I bought on my own last year and my income is higher than your Outnumbered questimate. I live in a two bed flat.

To live in a house their size I would need to have millions in the bank or live much much further out of London.

Original poster
Mrsemcgregor · 07/11/2020 17:16

Maybe they bought on a subprime 100% mortgage? The show started in 2007 and they seem to have lived there for years, I would say that Karen was probably born into the house, so 2001 latest for a date they bought it? Not sure what a house like that would have cost then?

I think Petes always been a teacher so I doubt he ever earned more prior to the kids?

OP posts:
dottiedodah · 07/11/2020 17:16

Sorry thought it was the 90s for some reason .See it was 2007 now!

fizzyp0p · 07/11/2020 17:17

The house is in Chiswick

https://www.chortle.co.uk/punching-ups/2020/07/23/46560/outnumberedhouseeupforrsale

Lunde · 07/11/2020 17:17

I am the same age group as the parents in Outnumbered and I bought my first London 3 bed house in 1984 for £28,500 on 2 trainee accountant salaries - these properties now sell for £500,000.

Also many people get a leg onto the property market by inheriting property.

Circusoflove · 07/11/2020 17:18

@Mrsemcgregor

Maybe they bought on a subprime 100% mortgage? The show started in 2007 and they seem to have lived there for years, I would say that Karen was probably born into the house, so 2001 latest for a date they bought it? Not sure what a house like that would have cost then?

I think Petes always been a teacher so I doubt he ever earned more prior to the kids?

That area has been desirable and expensive for a very long time and it’s a big house. No way a young teacher could have afforded it in living memory.
fizzyp0p · 07/11/2020 17:19

Sorry set in Chiswick house in Wandsworth

NotMeNoNo · 07/11/2020 17:19

If they got on the property ĺadder in the mid 90s it was a different world. Our first house was £64k in 1997 and they are literally 10x that price in that road in zone 2.

littlealexhorne · 07/11/2020 17:23

Possibly they bought it even before Jake was born, and Sue might have been working full time before then?

OrigamiPenguinArmy · 07/11/2020 17:23

I suppose it’s just feasible if they bought in the 90s with some help from their parents and Sue in full time employment. I think what’s more likely is the writers based it on their own lives and they and their spouses were fairly well paid media types. They wanted Pete and Sue to be relatable so they gave them more “normal” jobs, but it didn’t occur to them that the pay drop for these jobs would have meant the house and lifestyle was now unrealistic for that area of London.

Original poster
Mrsemcgregor · 07/11/2020 17:24

@NotMeNoNo

If they got on the property ĺadder in the mid 90s it was a different world. Our first house was £64k in 1997 and they are literally 10x that price in that road in zone 2.
Would salaries have been much lower too? Have the cost of houses gone way ahead of salary increases in London? I assume so, it seems to me (and I could be wrong) that now a middle class family with 3 kids couldn’t sustain a lifestyle remotely similar to that now?

I’m wondering if living standards have reduced dramatically in London or if this show was always fanciful, even for its time in 2007?

OP posts:
Circusoflove · 07/11/2020 17:24

It really is a reflection of falling real wages that ok, there’s bit of artistic licence taken with the details, but broadly speaking back in 2007 we’d accept that a teacher and a part time admin worker with 3 kids were going to be financially comfortable. Today we know that money would be really pretty tight for a family in these circumstances.