Outnumbered
A part-improvised comedy about a couple bringing up their three young children.
Cast:Hugh Dennis , Claire Skinner , Tyger Drew-Honey , Daniel Roche , Ramona Marquez , Samantha Bond , David Ryall , Hattie Morahan , Rosalind Ayres , Anna Skellern , David Troughton , Emily Berrington , Jonathan Cullen , Michaela Brooks , Lorraine Pilkington , Danni Bennatar , Georgina Buckle , Alex Macqueen
S1.E1 ∙ The School Run
It is a Tuesday morning for the Brockmans, and the children are getting ready to go back to school.
S1.E2 ∙ The Special Bowl
Dinner-time at the Brockmans is a noisy affair, as Ben's friend Deion joins them and proves to be another liar - with his stories of a drunken father who puts rats in his bed, and a mother in jail for attempted murder. Ben doesn't help by wrapping him in toilet paper to make him into an Egyptian mummy, and blaming him for hiding his meal under a cushion. Karen refuses to eat as she has not been given her usual bowl - in fact it is a replacement for one Sue broke, and hoped Karen wouldn't notice. A remark from Jake forces Pete to admit that a joke he made about a Muslim boy's eating habits has had him reported as a racist. After Deion has left, trick or treaters turn up - but are sent away as it is only September. Sue's unmarried sister Angela also arrives, back from America and intending to look after their widowed father.
S1.E3 ∙ The City Farm
On Karen's birthday, Sue brings the family to a farm park along with Granddad and Auntie Angela.
S1.E4 ∙ The Quiet Night In
Sue and Pete aim to have a quiet night in, but this plan is disrupted by delays.
S1.E5 ∙ The Mystery Illness
Ben makes a claim he is too sick to go to school, and Auntie Angela pays a visit to the household explaining her boyfriend dumped her.
S1.E6 ∙ The Dinner Party
Sue and Pete hold a dinner party, but when Auntie Angela states she will be leaving to go back to America without caring for Granddad, she gets into a feisty argument with Sue.
S2.E1 ∙ The Wedding
The Brockmans go to Cousin Julie's wedding, and trouble ensues when Auntie Angela comes over. Karen asks troubling questions to the bride, while Ben disturbs the vicar by asking him hypothetical questions about Jesus.
S2.E2 ∙ The Dead Mouse
Karen is outraged when Sue kills a mouse, and Jake invites a girl over to the household.
S2.E3 ∙ The Old-Fashioned Sunday
Sue aims to have a traditional family Sunday by banning TV and computers for the whole of the day. Meanwhile, the Brockmans cope with Granddad's stay when his house was caught on fire.
S2.E4 ∙ The Airport
The Brockmans get stuck in a Spanish airport for hours with three bored children and a bewildered grandfather.
S2.E5 ∙ The Night Out
Pete and Sue have a quiet night out, leaving the children and Granddad with a new Croatian babysitter.
S2.E6 ∙ The Football Match
Pete becomes a referee for Ben's football match, while Karen gets worried about the whereabouts of Satan.
S2.E7 ∙ The Long Night
The Brockmans have a restless night when the next door neighbours have a riotous fight.
S3.E0 ∙ The Robbers
It's Boxing Day and already Karen is making New Year resolutions - chiefly for others - and the family have been burgled,though selectively,causing Sue to cheat on the insurance claim. Sue and Jake go to collect Grandad from the retirement home where he now lives,only to find he has sloped off to the pub again with Scots mate Mac. Sue ends up asking Mac back for dinner though his thick accent creates a language barrier for Karen. Sue's divorced friend Jane is also invited and though the children fail to appreciate her present for them,a goat donated to Oxfam,Pete feels sorry for her and is glad that the Brockmans have given a Christmas to lonely strangers - until a W.P.C. turns up with another old boy who has gone walkabout.
S3.E1 ∙ The Family Outing
Pete's mother Sandra takes the family to London for the day to help Karen with her Second World War project, though Karen as ever ends up asking precocious questions, this time about the monarchy. Ben is disruptive, pretending to 'kill' the lions at Trafalgar Square whilst Jake is merely bored. Sue is horrified when Sandra, having offered money for the children's schooling, announces that her marriage is on the rocks and she is getting divorced, especially as Pete refuses to get involved. Back home the children continue to the bane of their parents' lives.
S3.E2 ∙ The Internet
After finding an image of a woman's bare breasts on the computer Sue accuses Ben though it turns out to be a photo of Jake's teacher sun-bathing topless. Sue also finds that somebody has logged onto a cancer website and wonders if this is why Sandra is giving money to Pete and his sisters as she is terminally ill. In fact it was Pete - Sandra is giving money away because she is hooked on on-line gambling and fears she would lose it otherwise. Ben wins a chess tournament by bizarre means whilst Karen spreads the word that the family is rich when a Readers' Digest 'cheque' for half a million pounds arrives.
S3.E3 ∙ The Tennis Match
Pete is due for a colonostopy,awakening the kids' curiosity as to whether he has cancer and leading to Jake and Ben fighting. Sue and Pete then fight as to who should have the morning out with friends. Pete wins the toss to play tennis but has Karen and Ben dumped on him and their attempts to umpire do not go down well with his opponents. Sue accuses Jake of sexism by referring girls as objects but plays the dumb female card when asked to sign a petition.
S3.E4 ∙ The Pigeon
It's Friday the Thirteenth and,whilst Pete recovers from a hangover following a work's do and Sue tidies the house for prospective buyers, Karen tries to get out of going to school, fearing that she will be ripped apart by wild bears, though she survives to have an argument with Ben about crucifixions. Pete is surprised that the estate agent knows about his colostopy but then Karen did put it on Facebook. The prospective buyers arrive and, whilst Pete assures them that it is a happy house, Ben's quizzing of the pregnant wife and an almighty row between Karen and Sue as Sue and Jake try to shoo away a pigeon that has got trapped in the kitchen ensure that there is no sale.
S3.E5 ∙ The Restaurant
Pete has freaked out a friend of Karen on a sleep-over by appearing nude and Karen,having seen off a telephone canvasser,is in trouble for hitting the boy at school who stole her sausage roll but worse is to come. Not only did Pete kiss Mimi,a sex-starved parent,during a slow dance at a leaving do but Angela has returned from America with Brick,her new man,an annoying therapist who fits in with all Jake's stereotypes.They have brought Taylor Jean,one of his five children,which prompts Karen to ask Angela why she has suddenly obtained such a large family 'at her age'. At the Italian restaurant where Kelly,the object of Jake's schoolboy crush,works,Brick's attempts to reconcile the sisters falls wholly flat,Karen mystifies the know-all American with her childish logic and Pete's indiscretion with Mimi is revealed,leading Brick - already peeving Pete by calling him Hugh Grant - to offer therapy and Pete to offer threats. At least Sue and Pete have closed ranks against Angela and Brick and so by evening domestic harmony is restored.
S3.E6 ∙ The Hospital
Despite the truce when they allied against Angela and Brick Sue is still angry with Pete for kissing Mimi and,whilst Ben attempts to climb Everest on the stairs, Karen is quick to pick up on her mother's feelings and grills Pete about his infidelity whilst also worrying about her important triangle solo in the school orchestra. Pete makes it clear to Howard from down the street that he will not be joining his campaign against speed bumps when Karen is hit by a car whilst Sue is arguing with another parent. Whilst the parents anxiously wait in Casualty Kelly looks after Ben and Jake but the latter is embarrassed to learn that the girl of his dreams is training to be a child psychologist to whom he inadvertently confesses that he is not sixteen after all. Whilst Karen questions the same nurse who was always present on Ben's many hospital trips over her right to compensation the trauma brings Sue and Pete back together again and they are happy to return home with Karen,promising to help her with her thousand piece Sahara jigsaw rather than sue the motorist who hit her.
S4.E1 ∙ The Funeral
Sandra interrupts a particularly competitive Wii session between Pete,who has rashly resigned his job,and the boys to ask Pete to read the eulogy at his Uncle Bob's funeral. His brief is not to mention Bernard, Bob's gay lover of fourteen years for whom he left his wife. However,flustered by Sue's giggling,Pete pays tribute to Bernard,earning praise from his mother and wife,as well as finding out something about the vicar. Bernard,however,is less pleased.
S4.E2 ∙ The Girls' Day Out
Now a supply teacher Pete gets grief from his daughter and wife for not helping more about the house. Angered by her menfolk's laziness Sue leaves them to do housework and cook Sunday dinner whilst she takes Karen out for a day at the local shopping mall. Here Karen makes short work of a charity campaigner before asking Sue to buy her clothes to keep up with her shallow school contemporaries. Returning home Sue finds that Ben has broken the washing machine and also has a peculiar idea of the ideal Sunday lunch.
S4.E3 ∙ The Labrador
Karen and Jake are both staying the night with friends whilst Ben is at an adventure camp,terrifying his school-mates with ghost stories. Sue and Pete find themselves dog-sitting Archie for friends of friends. He seems cute but nobody warned that he would go after next door's guinea pigs and run up a ninety pound bill. Pete loves having the kids out of the way and muses on a child-free future. Sue cannot wait to have them back again.
S4.E4 ∙ The Parents' Evening
When Ben tells them that a boy called Oliver is selling drugs at school they wonder if they should report him. Their dilemma grows at Ben's parents' evening when Oliver's mother and father tell them about the drugs problem at his last school,which has now stopped. However,given Ben's teachers' reports of his bizarre behaviour and the fact that Karen is found wandering in the school playground,they decide against making a formal complaint and leave an anonymous note - in capitals.
S4.E5 ∙ The Cold Caller (Part One)
Ben is perfecting his ventriloquist act for the school talent contest and annoying everybody as usual but this is the least of his parents' worries. First they find out that Jake is dating a nineteen-year-old pole dancer who,due to fake I.D., believes he is eighteen. Then Angela arrives,having split acrimoniously from Brick and bringing his daughter Misty - whom she claims Brick mentally abused - with her. She is writing a book on surviving families and Sue does not like the references to herself in the sneak peep she takes. With Brick having invalidated Angela's credit cards,it looks as if the family is stuck with her . . . and then Brick's solicitor rings the doorbell.
S4.E6 ∙ The Exchange Student (Part Two)
No sooner has Brick's solicitor served papers on the Brockmans accusing Angela of abducting Misty to bump up her divorce settlement - and them of aiding a felon - than the bell rings again and Ottfried,Jake's German exchange student,whom noone was expecting,turns up. He is understandably perplexed by the whole set-up ,though he does regard Boris Johnson as a wonderful comedian,and offers Sue and Pete advice. Fortunately Angela decides to return to Brick but that still leaves the problem of Jake's nineteen year old pole-dancing girlfriend,who turns out to be only sixteen and therefore an illegal performer...
S4.E7 ∙ Christmas Special 2011
The Brockmans hope to get away for the holiday, but Granddad's sudden illness and trip to the worst hospital ever threatens their plans.
S4.E8 ∙ Christmas Special 2012
The Brockmans throw a Christmas party with jubilee bunting for decorations but Pete is not happy. Of the kids only Ben wants to help whilst Sandra gets drunk, tactless Norris from next door reminds former TV weather-man Ray of his nervous breakdown and Pete gets shut in the bathroom with neurotic, flu-ridden Jane when the door handle falls off. As the evening progresses Norris's wife runs off with her Lesbian lover, Jane takes an accidental over-dose and is rushed to hospital whilst Jake brings the police to the house. This will certainly be one party for everybody to remember.
S5.E1 ∙ Rites of Passage
Karen has started secondary school but is not settling in as she feels academically inferior, plus she is worried that her missing hamster may be trapped under the floor-boards. Ben on the other hand is over-joyed as he has landed the lead in his school play, a musical version of 'Spartacus' whilst Jake is in disgrace for getting a tattoo which looks like a spider. Sue sends emails to the parents of Karen's school-mates , which does not help but Pete comforts his daughter with a heart to heart.
S5.E2 ∙ K for Victory
Karen indulges her competitive instincts, Ben delves into the mysteries of human psychology and Jake appoints himself as a parenting expert. Meanwhile, Mum falls victim to a dysfunctional printer and Dad is hounded by a vigilant Daily Mail reader.
S5.E3 ∙ House of Hormones
Pete's 21 year old god daughter Stacey from Australia is staying and sets Ben's pulse racing as she walks around the house in only a towel. Pete thinks it time for Ben to have a chat about the facts of life - from Jake but Jake is more interested in persuading his parents to let girlfriend Alex stay over. Everybody except Pete is delighted when Sue agrees to mind a friend's baby - nicknamed the Werewolf - overnight, prompting Karen to ask awkward questions about child-birth and again raise the topic of her lost hamster. Ultimately Jake regrets his decision when other girlfriends get in touch, possibly tipped off by Sue, whilst Pete is happy to give the baby back to his mother and Ben is happy with a final revealing glimpse of Stacey.
S5.E4 ∙ Into the Wilderness
Pete and Ben go on a bonding trip, camping in the woods, while Sue and Stacy don't exactly see eye-to-eye over the empowerment of women.
S5.E5 ∙ Communication Skills
Sue is trying to organize a conference so it falls to Pete to let Karen in after school but he has to go to buy a central heating pump so rings Jake to come home. Jake has lost his Oyster card and has no cash so this requires a call to Ben, only for Pete to find himself speaking to a Chinese tourist who has found Ben's lost phone. Karen is delayed as the headmistress keeps her back to upbraid her for rubbishing the school rules. Nonetheless she still manages to get in ahead of Pete whilst Ben ends up asking the Chinaman and his wife round for tea.
S5.E6 ∙ Spartacus the Musical
Grandad is very ill, bringing Angela back from America, with toy boy Tommy, whom she met at Sunday school. Sue is immediately rattled when Angela makes plans for their father as well as claiming that he recognized her when he failed to recognize Sue. After Tommy and Stacey decide to tour Europe Angela returns to the States and the family goes to see Ben in his school musical, 'Spartacus'. Ben is surprisingly nervous but a pep talk from Karen gives him the confidence to put on a good show. Sue and Pete also learn that, thanks to Jake, Angela has been persuaded to write a huge cheque that will solves all their worries about Grandad.
S5.E7 ∙ Christmas Special 2016
The Brockman family are on a special mission at Christmas time.
