Outnumbered viewers enraged by ‘awful’ new episode that’s ‘too sad’ for Christmas

Fans are also highlighting one particular issue with the sitcom

Outnumbered viewers are expressing disappointment over the show’s Christmas special, calling it “awful” and “too sad” for the festive period.

The hit sitcom originally ran for six series from 2007 until 2014, but a new BBC episode caught up with the hectic Brockman family, led by Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner’s parents eight years since the last special.

Fans were particularly excited to see Tyger Drew-Honey, Daniel Roche and Ramona Marquez, who plays the three troublesome siblings Jake, Ben and Karen; they were 11, seven and six years old when the show began and now are now all in their twenties.

However, while fellow sitcom Gavin & Stacey received a rapturous response from the public, the overall feeling for Outnumbered’s return was less positive after the episode aired on Boxing Day (26 December).

This was in large part due to the fact that the kids were deemed simply too old for the original conceit to work.

One viewer wrote: “It’s a shame Outnumbered didn’t really work… I really wanted to enjoy it but what made it so brilliant back in the day was all the chaos.”

Another agreed: “This only worked when the children were younger unlike Gavin & Stacey where it doesn’t matter how old the characters are. What made it funny was the natural outspoken nature of children.

“Will love and cherish anything in the Outnumbered cinematic universe but I think the reason the show was so good was that there was no official script and the kids were all just kids?? But now they’re all old it just doesn’t have the same charm,” one person wrote in further agreement.

The Independent’s TV critic Nick Hilton also felt this, writing that the show’s younger cast “have lost something of the natural comedic instinct they displayed as kids”.

He added: “The rambunctious chaos of the Brockman household has given way to a gentleness that could be mistaken for blandness.

‘Outnumbered’ viewers were not impressed by the Christmas special (BBC)

*Spoilers follow – you have been warned*

In the Christmas special, parents Pete and Sue struggle to adjust to their newly downsized home and cope with their three kids, who are now fully grown adults. It’s also revealed in the episode that Dennis’s character Pete has cancer, which left fans complaining that the episode was too sad.

One wrote: “Watching the Outnumbered special expecting a barrel of laughs then getting the most heart-wrenching sad episode ever.”

“Turned on #Outnumbered to have a laugh. Sitting on my own after losing my husband to prostate cancer and had to turn it off. Who the hell thought that this was a good subject for a comedy? Just NO!!” another wrote, although the realistic depiction of sickness affecting family life was praised.

Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner in the 2024 ‘Outnumbered’ Christmas special (BBC)

This included a cancer awareness organisation, who said the episode highlighted the need for men to check their prostates.

After the episode was broadcast, Dennis himself appeared in a video shared by Prostate Cancer UK on X/Twitter, urging men to get checked.

The post read: “Did you catch the BBC’s #Outnumbered Christmas special? If so, you’d have seen Hugh Dennis’ character (Pete) share his own prostate cancer diagnosis, which we’re confident will encourage more men to check their risk of the disease.”