Tuesday, August 28, 2007
The writers flipped, we have no script, why bother to rehearse?
IMPROV! Outnumbered, BBC1, 10.35pm Labels: BBC1, Outnumbered, TV
We're naturally wary about getting excited about a comedy on BBC1 (which, on the comedy wariness scale, is slightly less wary that we would be of a new comedy on ITV1, slightly more wary than we would be of a new comedy on BBC2, which is about as wary as we would be of a comedy on Channel 4. We can't remember the last time there was a new comedy on Five, so that one's sort of fallen off the scale a bit), but early writeups of this one suggest it might actually be Quite Good.
The post-news slot suggests it might be one of those daring, grown-up type sitcoms, although obviously this being BBC1, it still seems to be about a nice middle-class couple raising some kids - three, in this case (hence the title). The difference between this and every other sitcom ever, according to all the press bumph, is that it's largely improvised. Speaking as a drama graduate, we'd point out that "improvising with children" is on the list of things we'd prefer to avoid somewhere between "watching another bloody programme about Diana" and "having Gillian McKeith poke at our stools", so sizeable props to Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner for attempting it, if nothing else.
We're giving this our "worth a look" badge, with a "might be surprisingly good" for backup. Of course, if it turns out to be a load of old trot, then pretend you never read this.
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