Before the highly anticipated comeback of the sitcom, outnumbered actor Hugh Dennis hinted of a massive – and possibly disastrous – narrative.
The sitcom, which centres on the chaotic Brockman family, was brought back for a holiday special, the BBC revealed last week.
In this 40-minute special, Hugh’s character Peter and Sue (Claire Skinner) will attempt to have a typical Christmas celebration by getting their family together.
But in a devastating turn of events, Hugh, 62, host of Mock the Week, hinted on GMB today that the family had split up.
Discussing Outnumbered’s comeback, he said: ‘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.’
Hugh did neither confirm or refute the claim, but said that he had “heard in the paper” that Peter and Sue were the grandparents in the Christmas special.
He said: ‘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 who’s kid it is.’
In Outnumbered, Hugh will co-star with Claire, his real-life lover. The duo announced their relationship in 2018 following their breakups with their respective partners.
They will be starring in a show together for the first time since they declared their love.
Hugh said he “did not know yet” in response to Richard Madeley, co-host of GMB, when he was asked about his experience filming with his “missus.” Production is set to begin in November.
The sitcom is original child cast, which included Ramona Marquez as Karen, Tyler Drew-Honey as Jake, the middle child, and Daniel Roche as Jake, is returning in addition to Claire.
From 2007 until 2014, Outnumbered has five series before debuting.
After that, on Boxing Day 2016, a final Christmas special was shown. It had an average audience of seven million viewers, and audiences have been pleading for more ever since.
The programme quickly gained popularity due to its humorous yet accurate depiction of family life, which propelled young performers Tyger, Daniel, and Ramona to stardom.
Every sequence with the children was done on the fly. The writers gave the younger cast members last-minute instructions rather than scripts, which allowed for comedy to arise because it was unpredictable what the adults would say.
As a result, the show won multiple accolades from the Broadcasting Press Guild, the Comedy.co.uk awards, the Royal Television Society, and the British Comedy Awards.
Outnumbered is returning to the BBC later this year.
