Sitcom gets my vote

CHANNEL-HOPPING:

FED-UP of the election already? Then tune into “Question Time” — the real one. Sparky BBC sitcom “Outnumbered” has made a welcome return to Thursday night viewing — and knocks David Dimbleby into a cocked hat.

The third series was only minutes into the superb Brockman family’s sight-seeing tour around London when inquisitive 10-year-old Ben posted some tantalising questions Dimbleby himself would have had trouble fielding — never mind poor Hugh Dennis, who plays downtrodden dad Pete. He might be the big name here, but it’s the little ones who steal the show.

“In some pictures, it looks like Gordon Brown’s got two eyes — do they paint the other one on?” posed Ben, swiftly followed by: “What would happen if the Queen and Gordon Brown had a fight?” Then came little sister Karen’s belter: “Can the Queen burn Protestants or choose who’s on the Royal Variety Show?” All of this was happening while moody teen Jake had a big sulk on an open-top bus and mum Sue had an argument with gran.

“What’s the point of being Queen when you can’t boss anybody about?” the children continued.

“Outnumbered” can get a bit shouty (what poor old parents Sue and Pete wouldn’t give for a real-life mute button) but as the tour went on around the Houses of Parliament, the embarrassing outbursts grew ever more comical.

And as for the National Art Gallery, Karen wasn’t impressed with any of it.

“The Van Goghs were all wiggly, Turner too blurry, Monet too spotty and Rembrandt — not enough cats.”

In this remarkably true-to-life, surprisingly funny and partly unscripted creation, it just goes to show that children really do say the funniest things.


“FAAMLY” and “business” have always been the meat and drink of Albert Square. So it was no surprise when Roxy’s long-lost little bruv Danny combined the two in “EastEnders” in a bid to clean out the bolshy blonde’s bank account. What seemed an unlikely plot to swindle the new Vic landlady out of Archie’s inheritance nest-egg now looks like desperate Dan has hatched a plan.

Soap roar: How wrong could Ryan have been when he said “Sophie can’t do this,” moments before snogging Sian’s face off? Corrie’s first lesbian scene took place the day after.

Soap bore: Binman Trev and classy factory queen Carla — the most unlikely romance on the cobbles since Molly and Kevin.