Outnumbering the Awards

Great news that Outnumbered has garnerd 5 nominations in the 2009 British Comedy Awards, deserved receiving an entry into the Best Sitcom category as well as putting forward Claire Skinner as best Actress and all of the fantastic younger cast as Best Newcomers (despite the show approaching its third series).

The great thing about the children – Ramona Marquez, Tyger Drew-Honey and Daniel Roche – is the way in which they seem so realistic. In no small part down to the young actors themselves, it is all down to the approach at the scripting stage…

Star Hugh Dennis:

“In most sitcoms all the lines for children are written by adults. So they are speaking the words of people 30 years older. And you really want kids to have their own voices, and say their own things.”

Writer Guy Jenkin goes into more detail, revealing that it is down to improvisation.

“You rarely get the feeling that children in sitcoms are real. They tend to be the same type of character – the smartarse who says adult things – and they are rooted to the spot, staring at the camera, because they’ve been told to stand in one place and say the lines.

“We decided to attempt to do something that hadn’t been tried before, bounced some ideas around and we got very keen on this idea of involving improvisation very quickly.”

It’s a marvellous show – good luck to all involved at the 2009 Comedy Awards, set to be held in December.