“We don’t really know anything about it.”
Fans of Outnumbered were delivered a major slice of good news last week when it was confirmed that the hit comedy series would be returning for a Christmas 2024 special.
Well, it seems as though all the details about the upcoming festive episode are being kept under lock and key for now, as leading actor Hugh Dennis admits he doesn’t even know much about it.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain today (Wednesday 29th May), Dennis chatted to hosts Charlotte Hawkins and Richard Madeley about returning to the world of Outnumbered, and revealed that filming will kick off in November.
He revealed: “It’s great that it’s coming back. We are doing this 40-minute special, but we don’t really know anything about it. We’ve read in the paper that we’ve got a grandchild, but we don’t know whose kid it is.”
Dennis did also admit that returning to Outnumbered will feel “strange”, but added that he was excited to star alongside his now partner Claire Skinner as the pair also reunite as an on-screen couple.
He said: “I’m really looking forward to it, and we’re all looking forward to it. It’s going to be strange, isn’t it, because I don’t think we live together anymore as a family.
“There’s lots of different stuff to reflect, and one of the great things about the show was to reflect life as it actually was.”
‘It’s going to be strange!’
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) May 29, 2024
Christmas can’t come soon enough now we have an Outnumbered Christmas special to look forward to! pic.twitter.com/LxBaDGfmH0
Of course, one of the major standouts for the series were the witty comebacks that the Brockman kids would come out with – but that could now change as they’re all obviously adults.
Dennis shared: “As the series went through, the thing that I always thought as they got larger and larger is that it must now be obvious that none of these three children are ours.
“We couldn’t be the parents of these children […] Claire and I had a sort of script that we were told to learn but not very well, but the kids were all improvised […] You’ll never get them to sound like real children unless you let them be real children, and the other reason was that when we started, they were so young that they couldn’t read, so there was no point in giving them a script.”
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All the main cast are reprising their roles alongside Dennis for the upcoming special episode, so that means the return of Tyger Drew-Honey as eldest son Jake, Daniel Roche as middle child Ben and Ramona Marquez as daughter Karen.
Of course, this isn’t the first time that we’ve been treated to an Outnumbered Christmas special, but it has definitely been a hell of a long time since the last one, which aired in 2016. So, there’s plenty to cover – and a mystery grandchild to find out more about.
The new episode will follow “the chaos in the downsized home of Pete and Sue Brockman, as they grapple with the challenges of parenting kids who are now adults, with their own lives to lead”.
The synopsis continues: “In a moment of adversity, Sue and Pete gather all their offspring (including one grandchild) to try and celebrate a traditional family Christmas. But fate, neighbours, hyenas and bus replacement services get in their way.”
And there’s set to be some understandable Christmastime chaos for the Brockmans, as co-creator, writer and director Andy Hamilton said at the time of the announcement: “It’s a very exciting prospect to be revisiting the Brockman family – older, but not necessarily wiser – as they steer a path through the perils of Christmas and the rapids of modern-day family life.”
Outnumbered will return to the BBC this Christmastime.
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