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14 MediaMagazine | April 2010 | english and media centre
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arguably incorporates elements of the sitcom:
Barrett and Fielding have created a surreal and
strange show, fixed loosely around the running of
‘Nabootique’, with unusual characters and bizarre
storylines. The BBC Three comedy reached out
to less mainstream audiences and found great
success.
Another unusual sitcom is Miranda – almost
a tribute to classic sitcoms. The show is an
adaptation of Miranda Hart’s radio show and first
hit the screens of BBC Two in November 2009.
One unusual aspect is that Miranda is aware of
the audience’s presence and often talks directly
to the camera. A key scene to show this is in
Episode 4 where she repeats her bad joke, ‘not
very annoying, ovary annoying’, to her friend and
mother, then to another friend, and then to the
camera when she fails to get a laugh. The other
characters do not acknowledge the audience
or camera, except at the end when they wave
goodbye in a ‘you have been watching’ sequence
hailing back to Are You Being Served . The show
also makes brilliant use of slapstick and physical
humour, once a frequent occurrence in classics
such as Fawlty Towers and Some Mothers Do
‘Ave ‘Em, but sadly neglected in more recent.
OutnumberedAndy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin’s Outnumbered
is an unconventional sitcom in many ways,
although it does meet a number of the more
important conventions. Produced in series of
six thirty minute episodes, it focuses on the
entrapment of the Brockman family by day to
day life, particularly Pete and Sue (Hugh Dennis
and Claire Skinner) who are truly outnumbered
by their three troublesome children, Jake, Ben
and Karen (Tyger Drew-Honey, Daniel Rocheand Ramona Marquez). This feeling of being
trapped is emphasized by the fact that only a
small variation of settings is used, the house
being the central location. The show is humorous
and features a few main characters along with
additional characters such as family friend Jane,
Auntie Angela, Sue’s father Frank and the unseen
presence of Sue’s bosses Veronica and, in Series
Two, Tyler.
However the programme does ignore some
traditional conventions. There is no canned
laughter or live audience.; the show is filmed in
an actual terraced house making a live audience
impossible. However, the silence helps add totheir isolation, and a tacky laughter track could
have effectively ruined the show. Of course this
is not the only sitcom that doesn’t use audience
laughter; The Office, The Royle Family and
Benidorm all go without. However in these
shows, The Office in particular, the silence is used
to emphasize already awkward silences at points
when the audience are glad they aren’t there, as
opposed to highlighting isolation and making the
show seem more real.
Another aspect of the show’s unconventional
nature is that the acting is semi-improvised.
There is some scripting, mainly for the adults,
but a lot of the children’s lines are their own
responses to situations after being briefed on the
main points of the scene. Hamilton and Jenkin
‘made a point of not getting stage school kids’;
this makes their performances seem particularly
natural. The location is a spacious London home,
the mise-en-scène is scruffily authentic: pictures
on the fridge, family pictures on the fire place and
a mess of toys in the bedrooms. This, along with
the acting style, gives the illusion of a fly on the
wall documentary rather than a sitcom.
The show has been cleverly scheduled so
that it is not competing with already popular
shows that demand a lot of audience attention.
Situation comedies are common in prime time
and so this scheduling is unusual for the genre. It
signifies that the show is aimed at adults, and yet
the show is still firmly focused on the children.
The show is written by two experienced
comedy writers who have also worked together
extensively on projects such as Drop the Dead
Donkey . Hat Trick Productions, producers of
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Outnumbered, are well associated with high
quality comedy such as The Armstrong and
Miller Show and Father Ted so this show simply
adds to their catalogue of success.
Last December, the show picked up three
awards out of five nominations at ITV’s British
Comedy Awards 2009. These were Best Female
Newcomer (Ramona Marquez), Best Sitcom, and
Best British Comedy. As the Radio Times has said,
‘acutely sharp observational writing and three
remarkable child stars’ are much to the show’s
credit.
An episode in close-upMore specifically, I am looking at Episode 5
of Series One, T’he Mystery Illness’. The episodeopens with Sue trying to get the k ids ready for
school. Fibber Ben is claiming to have ‘bovine
TB’ and various other illnesses, Karen is unable
to find her other shoe and Jake is shrugging off
his father’s ‘matey’ attitude. The show has no
opening titles, and opens with Sue cleaning up
in the kitchen and shouting for the kids to get
ready. This sort of opening is odd for a sitcom,
and it’s unusual to see a show run straight into an
episode. Many audience members will prefer this
opening style over the cheesy theme music and
title sequences that many shows have adopted.
In one scene, Ben leaves saying he’s ‘going to
lie down on my bed and watch Little Britain on
the internet.’ This is one of the show’s running
jokes, along with the troublesome task of finding
the phone. However, the show doesn’t explot
regular catchphrases. This helps make the show
less predictable for the audience who can often
spot such repetitive phrases before they’ve
arrived. Also, the show has a relaxed approach
to narratve; although there is disruption and
stabilisation to the equilibrium, there is rarely
a large and climactic event to fill the show.
Storylines will follow mundane events like a trip
to the city zoo or a wedding; it is not all action,
tension and potentially dramatic situations.
Some improvisation is evident in this episode,
for example Pete asking Karen whether she is
knitting with or eating her spaghetti, ‘both’ being
the answer. The adults also seem genuinely
surprised when Ben says the Nazis were led by
‘Addie Hitler’. As Hugh Dennis is an experienced
comedian, this improvisational style is not new
to him and he reacts very authentically to the
children. The acting style helps the cast interact
naturally and convincingly, for example when
Karen greets Pete’s home from work with a run
and jump for a hug.
The whole series is modern in its
representation of family dynamics. This
episode shows it first in Jake’s refusal to accept
his fathers help with being bullied, telling him to
‘just chill, ok?’ Karen shows her usual dislike for
her auntie and leaves the room as Angela is part-
way through answering her question on religion.
Sue also struggles to get along with Angela and
we see her failing to believe her sister will stay
and care for their Dad; notably, Angela bares
all to Jake about her failed relationship rather
than her sister. It’s not all happy families for the
Brockmans. Also, Sue takes on a fairly strong role
as head of the household, symbolised by her
fixing the sink rather than Pete. Typically, this sort
of role would be given to the father of the family.
Co-creator Andy Hamilton has commented
that ‘TV hadn’t really done a proper family
comedy’ and that previous shows hadn’t
‘captured the chaos of life with small children.’
Outnumbered certainly achieves this. The show is
‘absolutely child-centric’ and filming techniques
aim at getting the best from the children.
This show differs greatly from many sitcoms;
it tackles mundane things like how to load the
dishwasher. The chaos and hilarities focus on the
children – yet the show is still aimed at adults,
and we see the typical everyday tasks parents
may encounter, including having to explain
complicated things to children, for example what
a Nazi is, or trying to make your children get
along: ‘He called me lezza, and he called me a
toss piece…but I especially don’t like lezza,’ claims
Karen, providing a fresh look at childish bickering.
The sitcom genre has changed greatly over
the years; it has moulded itself into a reflection
of modern day life and provides contemporary
shows for each audience demographic.
Outnumbered is by no means the only sitcom to
show this development, but it highlights some
great changes that have pushed the sitcom into
a new era. Another hit for the BBC, the show
brings us a thoroughly modern look at family life
and has aspects that will relate to every viewer
watching at home. Shows like this are made to
treasure; and they demonstrate that there’s life in
the sitcom yet.
Lucy Ferguson is a student at Wreake Valley College,
Leicestershire.