As BBC comedy Outnumbered continues, viewers need to keep one thing in mind: the new episodes are never going to be as funny as the early ones.
It’s a slight problem inherent in a show that once drew so many of its laughs from the semi-improvised observations of its hilarious child actors.
That said, the 2016 Christmas Special proves there’s still mileage in the Hugh Dennis comedy – it’s just that the gags are now all scripted ones from writers Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin.
Fans should be happy – it was never guaranteed that Outnumbered would be back at all, with 2014’s fifth series designed to be its last.
But three years on, the Brockman family have returned for another spin – and you’ll still find yourself thinking, look how grown up they all are.
Karen is a full-on teenager now, FaceTiming in to a house party she’s missing out on. Jake has his first proper girlfriend in new character Kate. Ben, meanwhile, looks like he could eat you for breakfast – in real life actor Daniel Roche is a keen rugby player and it absolutely shows.
There are some chuckle-worthy contemporary nods (a Trump gag here, a ‘no mention of Brexit’ pub sign there), tied in with the usual family scrapes: the Brockmans are involved in a car crash on the way to scatter Sue’s dad’s ashes, leaving them stranded in a dingy pub on Boxing Day.
It’s not the funniest Outnumbered episode ever, but it still brings the laughs – and includes an interesting new take on its young characters.
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Refreshingly Karen, Ben and Jake aren’t just gloomy teenage caricatures – Karen, while glued to her phone screen, is savvy enough to warn her parents that the other driver in the crash is trying to set them up for a big insurance pay-out. And then there’s Ben and Jake, who keep objecting to the seemingly offensive name of mechanic ‘Billy Spaz’.
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Nine years after the show first aired, the kids aren’t just mischief-makers anymore – they might actually be more switched on than their parents.
“Teenagers…” sighs dad Pete. “They’re often kinda right in a black-and-white way.”
BBC One, Boxing Day, 10pm