Outnumbered Xmas special

[Rollergirl11]

BBC1 9:40 pm. Who’s watching?!

This line actually made me cry, I found it really touching! (DC are 1 and 3 and I am very tired 😅)

In general though there were only a few laughs in the episode - it just misses having 3 little kids!

I found it pretty dull and depressing and really awful acting on all sides. And that screaming kid and the screeching was awful.

Nope from me.

Andy especially takes his inspiration from his past collaborations, hence referencing Hughs Velceraptor impression. And Jane overstaying her welcome....they are both "if you know, you know"

Beat the horribly predicatable and bad to the point of contact embarrassment Gavin and Stacey into a cocked hat.

It was a bit dull and I only laughed once. IMO the comedy was about being outnumbered by three children and obviously they are not anymore so where are the jokes going to come from, if those incidences and interactions are no longer a possibility.

But sometimes you have to tell your kids shit news. Be it at Xmas or other t times. Is it funny? Not at first glance. Can it be? Yes, sometimes!

Outnumbered has always been about "telling it how it is" and sadly, sometimes that how it is.

Absolu terrible. I’m surprised this turgid episode was given a prime time slot on Boxing Day!

What was the BBC thinking- can they not see how unfunny and boring it is?

It was a bit shit and not very funny. Also felt like a bit of PSA for prostate cancer (pun not intended). Having had both parents with cancer, I don't really need that at Christmas thanks. It could have been really good but just felt a bit thrown together for the sake of it.

It was shit

Yes all of this.

It always worked by being a snapshot in to their lives, rather than an intricate plot.

I enjoyed it. I don't get the Gavin and Stacey comparisons, but then I haven't watched an episode of that ever so I was hardly going to start now!

What a let down. Very disappointing!

Yes but the joke was from the snapshot of family life when you have many children outnumbering you, it's the chaos being depicted that is funny but that doesn't exist anymore as the chaos is manufactured e.g nobody has to have a neighbour to take in their packages anymore do they, especially if you have a house, just assign a safe place.

@samarrange I guess you're young. VHS cassette players (predecessor to DVD players) can record off the TV too onto a blank cassette tape (or record over something you've already seen). I guess the poster you quoted still owns one.

I really liked it. I liked the cancer storyline- and I've had cancer. It's part of life, and it was done in a sensitive and positive way. I thought it was much better than G and S.

I used to love Outnumbered, but this episode tonight was absolutely pointless! Ben was the best character by far tonight, Jake looked as if he was at deaths door and like a good wash would kill him, the rest of them, nope! And didn't Jane leave at the beginning? Did I miss the reason she suddenly came back?! She was an awful character throughout all the series, always the same story and in it far too much.
Lovely that Claire Skinner and Hugh Dennis are together now in real life.
But I think they should have just left the show where it was, the magic has sadly gone...

It was awful! They need to leave it in the past where it belongs.

I enjoyed it. The last few specials could never be as funny as the early series when the children were young and ad libbing but I still smiled a lot.

I preferred it to the Gavin and Stacey special which my daughter made me sit through. I found that pretty boring and the ending was so predictable.

Yes to this.

Those of us of a certain age will also say 'tape it' out of habit to mean record it - although it's likely on to a hard drive in some kind of device.

Just like we have 'car mixtapes' on an SD card or memory stick.

Recording something also has the benefit of being able to keep and re-watch the programme for as long as you like, should you so wish; iPlayer and other catch-up services usually have an expiry date for all programmes - whether a month, a year or whatever - and they can remove them suddenly at a whim for any of various reasons.

I think that programmes like Outnumbered and Gavin & Stacey are always going to be different, if they bring them back after a lot of years have passed.

You must realise that a lot of circumstances will have changed; but many people often like a nostalgic retrospective and 'closure'.

If you feel like they should have left things as they were, you're absolutely at liberty to choose not to watch any many-years-later finales, updates, reboots or winding-up episodes - that way, as far as you're concerned, they did leave things as they were, so you've got what you wanted and your memories of the endings that you want to remember it by!

We liked it. As with all of them it was a snapshot of an ordinary life. Shit happens and as a family you deal with it best you can. Loved that Ben is now the sensible one

Very disappointing. I don't think they should have bothered.

The cancer storyline was unnecessary for this sitcom. It just brings cancer front and centre for those of us trying to grab a break from such serious things over Xmas. And I don’t think the kids’ reactions to the cancer news were especially realistic either.

I missed the crazy Aunt. The substitute crazy friend was just annoying.

The actor who plays the eldest son looked unwell.

I thought it was awful. The only funny bits were the November 23rd and phone contracts.

I imagine Samantha Bond (Angela);read the script and refused to be in it.

There should have been more grandchildren, that could have been funny.

it was ok
bit of a disappointment but not totally bad

It wasn’t good. I had high hopes that it would be funny, but it missed the mark completely. Both adult DC went to bed about 15 minutes in, DH persevered for slightly longer and I watched to the end. I also didn’t find the cancer storyline funny. As someone who has also had to tell their adult DC that they have cancer, I struggled to see any way that could be comedic.