Outnumbered - is the lifestyle realistic?

[Mrsemcgregor]

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 )

@stevalnamechanger @LilacPebbles

isn’t it interesting how hugely different the expectations are in different parts of the country.

To me, as a reasonably affluent early 40s Londoner, the outnumbered house is the sort of aspirational house that is only owned by older people (who bought in the 90s), people which large inheritances, celebrities or banker/lawyer type couples.

One of the best parts of the show for me is swooning over their huge kitchen dinner!

The past was another country.

Who does live in all these houses now? Paddington lived at 32 Windsor Gardens, which I assume would be near Notting Hill as he used to go and meet Mr Gruber in the Portobello Road. Who can afford a townhouse round that way?!

My childhood home in the Home Counties, which cost £7k in 1965, recently sold for £1.1m. My mum sold it years ago though .

Paddington Bear was written in 1958, the year of the Notting Hill race riots, @Babdoc and @Fizbosshoes. Slum landlord, Peter Rachman, probably owned half of the houses on "Windsor Gardens". Notting Hill was a very different place, not the gentrified neighbourhood of houses with basement extensions for swimming pools and home cinemas it is now. Paddington is a refugee taken in by a family living in what was one of the most diverse communities in the UK at a time when Mr Curry probably had a "no blacks, no Irish, no bears" sign in his window.

Mr Curry was brilliant! I loved it when Paddington made a guy out of the clothes Mr curry left out for the laundry... I live next to a Mr Curry now. I even saw him peering through the fence this morning !

It's crazy. I know someone who has the most incredible townhouse in Clapham which she paid 180k for back in the 80's (before my time!).

I've got friends who just paid 750k for a 2 bed flat on the same road...

@IrmaFayLear

The past was another country.

Who does live in all these houses now? Paddington lived at 32 Windsor Gardens, which I assume would be near Notting Hill as he used to go and meet Mr Gruber in the Portobello Road. Who can afford a townhouse round that way?!

My childhood home in the Home Counties, which cost £7k in 1965, recently sold for £1.1m. My mum sold it years ago though .

The house that was filmed for the outside of the Paddington house was on the market last year for £3.2million. But it is no where near as nice (or big) as the insides in the film (which were a set, not a real house).

If the actual Paddington house existed in full who knows what it would cost? £5million? It is clearly supposed to be fantasy.

I remember this very same discussion about Outnumbered when it first aired! Even then it was seen as unrealistic that their salaries would buy that house in that particular part of London. I also remember an episode where the characters commented on the financial situation or house of some well to do parents of one of Karen’s friends who lived nearby. I think they were well aware that they lived in a house beyond their means, but how they initially afforded it is pure telly fiction

The facade of the Paddington house is filmed in Primrose Hill, possibly the prettiest street in the area. A City Risk Analyst for a top tier bank could definitely afford that back in the 50’s and even more so in Notting Hill which was a dump back then. Today not on one salary in either area.

@zigaziga

I think they tried to address the fact that they were on a low-ish combined salary in a (even back then) £1+ house in the first season didn’t they? They had it on the market (quietly dropped that story line I think?) and were talking about cancelling holidays.

As Time Goes By house in Holland Park makes sense because Jean and her late husband (and we never know what he did) probably bought in the 60s.

Bridget Jones made no sense.

My Family - I’m not sure.. he was supposed to be a very average dentist wasn’t he? She had random part time I think at a museum? His salary would have been ok but the house was huge and I assume West London too.. they would also have bought in the 80s though I guess. But your average dentist now would be on i assume £100-150k a year and that’s not really enough for that nice house.

I think they all are plausible but probably on the upper end of plausible. I can’t think off the top of my head if there are any modern day sitcoms set in London with young families?

Not Going Out had them having their first baby in London, then moving out to Surrey, which sounds like it's reasonably realistic?

Mind you Lee never seems to do a day's work 😊

Yes they could pre the ridiculous quite recent price hikes, and the progamme is OLD now, plus its not a big house, just average terrace and they have an extension. The only thing I don't get is that door on the right from the kitchen that seems to be at the side of the living room but goes down to cellar I think, perhaps its just the camera but it looks to the side, but perhaps it is in front of the room and goes under it.
In 1998 my house was about £65-70 grand, not all of London has the same prices, we are in a cheaper bit although now my house is around £700grand. If I were in Hackney you could pay 1.5 mill for my house. Utterly mental for a bog standard victorian terrace.

I meant re the odd door that there is nothing on the outside of the house to reflect it.

There was a prog on with utterly ridiculous houses a while ago, the people were supposed to be on very ordinary incomes and not full employment and the houses they showed would have cost several million... can't remember its name though, The interiors were to die for, very original.

S2......"after 17 years....." so Jake was 12 and they had been together 5 years when they had him so yes, perfectly feasible that they got an arse-end of the market bargain. I always thought Sue was a City career woman who made ££££ and then gave it up for the kids. A common story. It would explain her drive to succeed with the kids and herself despite the SAHM limitations.

Also....anyone else know who Tyger Drew-Honeys parents are? And admire him so much for owning it instead of distancing himself? [Cue lots of MNers googling]

@PyongyangKipperbang

S2......"after 17 years....." so Jake was 12 and they had been together 5 years when they had him so yes, perfectly feasible that they got an arse-end of the market bargain. I always thought Sue was a City career woman who made ££££ and then gave it up for the kids. A common story. It would explain her drive to succeed with the kids and herself despite the SAHM limitations.

Also....anyone else know who Tyger Drew-Honeys parents are? And admire him so much for owning it instead of distancing himself? [Cue lots of MNers googling]

I already mentioned about his parents earlier in the thread.

@PyongyangKipperbang

S2......"after 17 years....." so Jake was 12 and they had been together 5 years when they had him so yes, perfectly feasible that they got an arse-end of the market bargain. I always thought Sue was a City career woman who made ££££ and then gave it up for the kids. A common story. It would explain her drive to succeed with the kids and herself despite the SAHM limitations.

Also....anyone else know who Tyger Drew-Honeys parents are? And admire him so much for owning it instead of distancing himself? [Cue lots of MNers googling]

Found on a news article: Lindzi Drew and Simon Honey. I am not googling any further!

Ben Dover!

So who lives in all those houses now?
Are there whole neighbourhoods in London full of empty nesters in their 60's?

I didn't think the house is huge. It looked quite cramped to me. I did wonder about them living so close to London though.

Totally agree, and re Catastrophe, although at least in that they acknowledge that the house cost too much and crippled them financially.

It is kind of funny, isn't it?

I guess we just have to imagine the house was inherited. Or came cheap coz it was riddled with asbestos etc.

@7Days

So who lives in all those houses now? Are there whole neighbourhoods in London full of empty nesters in their 60's?

A lot have been turned into flats/ HMOs. My ex lived in what was once a gorgeous Victorian terrace that was a shared house. They even turned the living room into an extra bedroom. I remember being horrified at his £400 a month rent for one room. That's probably a bargain now.

A lot of my Dad's family are old Cockneys. They love to talk about how if they hadn't moved to the new towns in the 70s, their houses would be worth £x million now. It's weird to think of London once being a place where people with normal jobs could live.

I think a lot of older people are still in their big houses.

Lots of media folk and luvvies.

I read a theory that because so many older people are still in the bigger, more expensive houses that in 10 or so years time (can't remember the actual amount) there would be a glut of family properties on the market all at the same time as that generation die, need care etc. Not sure how true that is but certainly the road I grew up on & surrounding are dominated by 60 plus yr olds who have been there years & house sale turnover is pretty low.

I saw the house was up for sale this year and it looks beautiful.
I agree with others that they probably bought it in the 90's, when they both worked full time.
I love the show, I wonder how they would film, and adjust to today's life eg being in lockdown. Now that would be a great Christmas one if. Here's my idea.

Sue on the phone 'yes I know there's been another confirmed case of covid at Karen's school/college. No she is not going in. What do you mean, you are not following the school's advice. You shouldn't be taking Holly to see her grandparents.
What. (Raises eyebrows are Pete)
Ok bye

“Just for fun, where in central London would a teacher and part time admin assistant with 3 kids live today? And what would their house/flat be like?”

We have friends with 3 small DC in Mottingham - small 3 bed terrace from the 60s/70s.