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It's a well-known adage: never work with children or animals. But Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin's comedy series Outnumbered puts three children at the very centre of the story – and allows them to improvise into the bargain.

First screened in August 2007, Outnumbered marked the first collaboration in eight years between Andy and Guy, joint winners of the Royal Television Society's Lifetime Achievement Award and creators of the hit Channel 4 series Drop The Dead Donkey which ran for six series between 1990 and 1998.

The series is based, in part, on their own experiences of bringing up young families. In fact, Andy had written a few scenes for his daughter Isobel, who was seven at the time, in Hat Trick's 2001 ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ sitcom Bedtime which ran to three series: "Co-star Kevin McNally suggested I didn't show Isobel the script – just give her my thoughts. Isobel customised her lines, and it did look very natural."

Guy: "That made us start thinking about the practical possibilities of getting genuine, realistic looking performances out of young children... You rarely get the feeling that children in sitcoms are real. They tend to be the same type of character – the ‘smart arse' 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."

Andy: "We write the storyline and we write the dialogue, but we try to create an environment where the kids will spin off into something or they'll express themselves in a way that's very individual to them. In most cases, the adults don't get any real warning, and then we step into genuine improvisation. So there is a script, but we never show it to the children and they never learn their lines."

Knowing that this would be what would make the project so unusual, and difficult to explain to the commissioning editor at the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳, Andy and Guy arranged for a sample pilot to be filmed at Guy's house in September 2006, co-funded by the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ and Hat Trick. A six-part series was swiftly commissioned by the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳.

The original series was in an unusual time slot – 10.35pm, three nights a week for two weeks. Andy: "When the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ saw the pilot, they thought it would sit quite happily in the Bedtime slot and decided to run it more as an event across three consecutive nights on two consecutive weeks, so that is what they commissioned. It's a good slot to launch new comedy because it's far away from the feeding frenzy of the mainstream slots."

Andy and Guy work by talking a lot, devising storylines. Then one of them does the first draft and the other reads it, together editing it line by line. Guy: "I'm sure our families will recognise a lot of the scenarios, but only in as much as they are the kind of things that happen on a daily basis in every home in the country with small children. And because there are two of us writing it, we can always claim the other came up with a specific idea! Particularly in the scenes which are about people's partners!"

Casting the parents

Hugh Dennis plays Dad with Claire Skinner as Mum. Andy: "We were aware of their strengths, and we thought that they would both have the right mixture of fearlessness and the ability to adapt to what was going on around them. And they've both got great comic timing."

But they knew that the job would offer its own special challenges. Guy: "It's a fiendish job for actors in that you've got to be funny, you've got to be real and you've got to respond to what the children do while staying in character and I suppose we were looking for actors who would relish the thought rather than be scared by it."

Hugh Dennis plays Pete Brockman

The father of two young children – Freddie and Meg – and a veteran of such comedy shows as Mock The Week and My Hero, Hugh Dennis was used to filming in front of a studio audience – but Outnumbered is much more intimate, with no live audience and no laughter track, especially important as there are lots of scenes where everyone is talking over each other.

"It is always a very, very happy shoot and for someone like me who, as a stand-up comedian is used to improvising, it is perfect. Andy and Guy are incredibly clever, which makes you feel very confident. We are sitting there with the cameras ready to roll, and Andy and Guy are over in the corner whispering to the children and you wonder what on earth they are up to – which means your reaction is completely spontaneous."

Hugh admits that as a parent he is a bit of a soft touch: "I find my children very, very entertaining. I'd like to think I'm tougher than Pete, but I can't be cross with my children, which is something my wife gets quite cross with me about!"

He recognises many of the scenarios in Outnumbered: "The mum and dad do the classic thing that parents do – try to present a united front, but in the heat of the moment, they find themselves going off on their own and then requiring the other one to support them, however ludicrous it might be. But what makes it really interesting is that there isn't any obvious strain in their relationship. They're clearly very happy as a couple. They might both be making terrible errors, but as neither of them are very judgmental, they're not blaming each other. They're in it together, but they're both a bit rubbish; as are most parents in real life, which makes Outnumbered very realistic."

Claire Skinner plays Sue Brockman

Claire was a natural choice in many ways to star in Outnumbered as she served her improvising apprenticeship in the early Nineties under director Mike Leigh in two films, Life Is Sweet and Naked: "It was like playing a giant game for months."

Claire loves the relaxed atmosphere on set, carefully nurtured by Andy and Guy: "Being on set is all about ensuring the children don't get bored or fed up. As far as they are concerned, most of the time they are just playing about and having fun. It's great to be surrounded by happy children which makes it a really fun shoot."

She recognises many of the scenarios in the series: "Situations like re-loading the dishwasher just after my partner has done it. I think most people are able to relate to those sorts of things. The family gets pushed to the nth degree, and there are some wonderful observations on family life. I think we all found out a lot about each others' marriages and it was quite comforting to know everyone bickers as much as we do about daft things!"

The children

The casting director avoided stage-school talent, instead undertaking a lengthy audition process which involved lots of game playing, determined to find children who would enjoy the filming process. So the three juvenile leads came out at the top of the fairly exhausting casting process. Andy: "They're all really interesting to watch and they've all got very interesting, funny personalities. Confident, but also excellent actors."

Andy explains: "We try and create an atmosphere on set in which the children can relax and be themselves. Filming comes with a lot of ritual and paraphernalia, and we tried to get rid of as much of that as possible." Crew and equipment are kept to a minimum to avoid pressurising them, and a subtle lighting plan has been devised: "This enables us to follow the action rather than having certain spots where people had to be at certain moments." And there isn't a make-up artist: "Being primped and prodded by a stranger before going on set is one of the things that generates tension."

Two cameras are also used to record the children's performances because each take turned out to be different, and this adds to the documentary feel. The cameras always run on the children first because until they are recorded, no-one knows what they are going to say.

Tyger Drew-Honey plays Jake Brockman

Tyger was born Lindzi James Tyger Drew-Honey, he is now 15 years old, having taken on the role of Jake when he was 11.

His busy and successful career was kick-started after he was spotted by a top London agent when he was performing in his school play. Tyger injected a huge number of laughs into their version of Treasure Island by playing his Squire Trelawney à la Leslie Phillips! The agent was so impressed by Tyger's comedic performance, timing and self-confidence that she signed him up on the spot. Just weeks later Tyger was recording his first voice-over for a television awareness campaign for Philips.

Tyger was seen as a regular character (Tactless Dad's somewhat bewildered son) in The Armstrong & Miller Show for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One.

He was nominated for Best Male Newcomer at the 2009 British Comedy Awards.

He has undertaken more than 100 voiceovers for TV, radio and advertisements, including the voice of Lester Large, an elephant in the CBeebies' animated TV series The Large Family. Tyger is now the gaming and gadget presenter on C³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s weekly show Friday Download. He filmed the first couple of episodes while working on the fourth series of Outnumbered. It started screening on Friday 6 May at 5.30pm on C³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ and is repeated on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Two on Sunday mornings.

Tyger is an accomplished drummer and started playing when he was seven years old. He is also a karate green belt.

Tyger says: "The bits that I enjoy most about filming Outnumbered are the people and the food. On set we are all just like a big family. But OH MY GOD, the food! We have an amazing cook called Pam and every single day we're served delicious meals. My personal favourite is her heavenly banoffee pie."

Daniel Roche plays Ben Brockman

Daniel is 11 years old. He has grown up with Outnumbered, having joined the show at the age of seven. It took him five auditions to land the role of Ben.

He is quite a character and can get up to mischief on set because he is so inquisitive: he freely admits that everyone is always telling him not to touch things.

When Daniel was just four years old, a neighbour asked his mother Judy if he would accompany her daughter to the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School on a Saturday morning. Three weeks later he had an agent and two weeks after that he was cast in his first TV commercial.

At five he played a boy with special needs who threw himself off a roof trying to emulate a superhero in an episode of Casualty.

Daniel was also nominated for Best Male Newcomer at the 2009 British Comedy Awards.

He had to have all his famous long curls cut off when he landed the lead role of William Brown in the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s Just William which was set in the Fifties, and was forced to leave the house in a large woollen hat to prevent a waiting paparazzo taking a photo of his new haircut before the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ were ready to issue a photo of him in character. Dan was particularly pleased to get the part as he used to listen to the Martin Jarvis audio-tapes. He loved the Fifties spud gun he was given at the end of filming and the outlaws' den, which was filled with skulls and Red Indian paraphernalia. But he found the costumes "slightly itchy".

He also played a young Stephen Fry in Sky 1's Little Crackers with Fry playing his own headmaster.

One of the most popular internet searches and forum discussions regarding Daniel is whether or not he is related to Alan Davies. He is actually the son of the Sun's rugby correspondent Tony Roche and of Judy who is a former newspaper picture editor.

Daniel plays rugby for the Saracens Under 11 team.

Over the years Daniel has considered being a forensic palaeontologist, a novelist or a journalist. He would like to go to Cambridge to read either history or English literature after which he might become an archaeologist.

But Daniel still has a dream role: "I'd like to play a mad man, a crazed villain, like the Joker in Batman, someone wild. I bet that would be fun. And I think I'd be pretty good at it." But he definitely has no plans to go to Hollywood and become a film star: "It would be far too hot for me!"

Ramona Marquez plays Karen Brockman

Ramona was just 5 years old when she first appeared in Outnumbered.

The first series of Outnumbered marked Ramona's first acting role. She was spotted by Guy's wife at a birthday party, as he explains: "She had an interesting personality and was sure of herself without being precocious." Ramona quickly endeared herself with her natural and warm performances as Karen. And she learnt a good deal from her on-screen siblings, adding that she now looks upon Tyger as a big brother – to add to her two real-life brothers and sister.

Her father Martin is an actor and starred in Hotel Babylon as the barman Gino Primirola. Her uncle John is also an actor.

Ramona is part Spanish on her father's side, which is where she gets her brown eyes and Spanish name from.

In 2009 Ramona won the British Comedy Award for Best Female Comedy Newcomer, making her the youngest winner of a British Comedy Award in its 20-year history. On receiving her award Ramona made one of the shortest ever acceptance speeches: "I just want to say thank you and I am very happy to have the award."

More recently Ramona played Princess Margaret in the Oscar Award winning film The King's Speech, alongside Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter.

This marked the second time Ramona has played the on-screen daughter of Helena Bonham Carter, previously appearing in ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Four's Enid as Imogen Pollock, daughter of Enid Blyton played by Bonham Carter.

And the writers, cast and crew must be doing something right as all three children, when asked what they wanted to do when they grew up, said that they would like to work in television. Daniel went on to say that he wanted to be like Andy and Guy and write and direct.

Samantha Bond plays Auntie Angela

The explosive on-screen relationship between Claire's character Sue and her sister Angela, continues in series four. Claire describes the dynamic between the two as: "loaded and edgy".

Ramona had been told that she didn't like her Auntie Angela when she first met her and as a result she didn't smile at her for a full six weeks.

Samantha loves playing Angela: "The children have mastered the art of simply 'being' in front of the cameras – and that is an art most of us spend a lifetime trying to acquire."

She has been married to the actor Alexander Hanson for 22 years and they have two teenage children, Molly and Tom.

She is best known for playing Miss Moneypenny in the Bond movies, and is the only Moneypenny to have kissed 007, albeit in a dream sequence.

She always longed to be a ballerina until she reached the age of 15 and was "too big in every way imaginable!"

David Ryall plays Granddad

Sue doesn't just have her volatile sister to deal with. David Ryall plays her dad Frank who is slowly drifting into his own twilight world of confusion: "Coping with her ailing father is very complicated for Sue, and the triangle of Sue, Dad and Angela has lots of interesting tensions." Frank is suffering from dementia and Sue has been forced to move him from the family home into a care home.

During a long and distinguished career of some 50 years, David has appeared in more than 130 film and TV productions, most recently in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 1. He has also acted on stage with The Royal Shakespeare Company, Sir Peter Hall's company and with Laurence Olivier's company at the National Theatre.

Claire loves playing his daughter in Outnumbered: "David is so completely 'Frank' that it makes what happens between them easy to play."

David himself has one son and two daughters, Jonathan, Charlotte and Imogen, who is a jazz singer. His uncle, the late Robert Eddison, was a British actor who is best remembered for his role as the Grail Knight in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade.