Outnumbered/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The Brockmans

The Brockmans as a whole:

  • Anti-Hero: An entire family of them, ranging from Type I (Pete) to Type IV (Ben).
  • Dysfunctional Family: Essentially a live-action, English and more realistic version of the Simpsons without the strangling.
  • Five-Man Band: They are definitely one, but their roles seem to change from episode to episode.
  • Sanity Ball: The position of Only Sane Man has a habit of changing in a matter of seconds. Everyone thinks they are the Only Sane Man.

Pete Brockman (Hugh Dennis)

The father of the family, Pete is a teacher at a fairly bad school and frequently suffering from the offscreen antics of his pupils, as well as the school's Jerkass of a headmaster.

Pete: "D'you know, I think that has to be the worst (insert activity here) we have ever had. Apart from when (insert Noodle Incident here)..."

  • Deadpan Snarker: Frequently.
  • The Hero
  • Iron Butt Monkey: Ben has cracked two of his ribs, broken his nose, catapulted a sharpened chopstick deep into his buttock and stuck a peanut in his ear.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He rectifies a eulogy to mention a deceased man's gay partner and the fourteen years they spent together. While the people at the funeral mostly praise him for this, the partner does not, claiming that he asked the previous writer not to mention it and that he would rather stay out of the limelight so the mourning is not overshadowed.
  • Only Sane Employee: Seems to be so at his school.
  • Papa Wolf: Don't start irritating him if one of his kids is injured. The annoying anti-speedbump campaigner found this out after Karen was hit by a car.
  • Poor Communication Ruins Funeral Eulogies: See Nice Job Breaking It, Hero for more details.
  • Rage Quit: Does this after failing at the Wii.
  • That Came Out Wrong: When asked whether he fancied a woman who kissed him when he was drunk, he said that while drunk he may have done, but he might as well have fancied every woman in the room. Sue is not impressed and Pete mutters this word for word.
  • Totally Radical: Tries this. You can predict the results.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: While this doesn't happen all the time, he and Jake have shades of this as well as the normal father-son relationship.

Sue Brockman (Claire Skinner)

The mother of the family, and wife to Pete.

  • Anti-Hero: Type I.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When she reads Angela's draft of her first novel in series 4, she reads out a paragraph that has Angela accusing her of abandoning her mother, being a drug pusher (in terms of love) and spells the word mother as "mom". Thankfully this isn't brought up when Sue confronts her over it, though she does mention that the bike Angela got was better than hers.
  • Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: After it's revealed Pete kissed another woman, she's angry but appears to realise that the Brockmans are fairly well off compared to Angela, before she subverts this trope once the kids are out of sight. Double Subverted when Karen is hit by a car and she realises the grudge is insignificant.
  • Berserk Button: When she finds out that Pete drunkenly kissed another woman, she refuses to talk to him properly until Karen is hit by a car.
  • Cain and Abel: Rare female and fairly nonviolent version with Angela.
  • The Fun in Funeral: Not on purpose- whenever she goes to one a funny memory of her deceased mother pops back up in her mind, and has ever since her mother's funeral.
  • Girls Need Role Models: Believes this of Karen In-Universe when she starts getting into fashion too much.
  • Mama Bear: Don't ever insult her children. Angela found this out the hard way, after Sue kicked her very hard in the arse.

Jake Brockman (Tyger Drew-Honey)

The oldest of the kids, Jake has a natural desire to do things a regular teenager does while not being stuck under his parents shadow.

  • Adorkable: In the early seasons.
  • Anti-Hero: Type II.
  • Can't Hold His Liquor: Drinks too much for the first time in the Christmas Special (well, before it starts) and throws up in somebody's bin, leaving him with a hangover on Christmas morning. It's implied he wasn't used to it due to not having built a tolerance.
  • Deadpan Snarker: The most out of the three children.
  • Jail Bait: Gets this as a nickname when it's revealed that he's dating a 19-year-old poledancer and pretending to be seventeen. She's not actually 19, she's 16.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold

Ben Brockman (Daniel Roche)

The second of the kids, Ben is frequently known for lying his way out of trouble only to have it bite him in the arse later, attempting odd experiments under the declaration that it is simply science and in series 4 he takes Karen's place as Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant.

  • Adorkable: Has his moments, particularly when he pretends to climb Everest backwards without wearing a jumper and he's really on the stairs.
  • Anti-Hero: Type IV.
  • The All-Solving Hammer: References it every now and then.
  • Blatant Lies: It's all part of his character, but as time's gone on it's become less prominent. It gets mild Deconstruction along with his Iron Butt Monkey status, see that trope further down his section to see why.
  • Can Not Tell a Lie: When dealing with his parents, who are Genre Savvy enough to not keep falling for it.
  • Creepy Child: Very polite nonetheless.
  • For the Lulz
  • Genius Ditz: Ben is actually very clever, and is brilliant at chess. However, his ...{{[[[Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant]] tendencies}} to do odd things get in the way of this a lot. That and he's only eleven/twelve.
  • Iron Butt Monkey: Injured the most out of all the children, for fairly obvious reasons. Thankfully most of it is offscreen. This gets mild Deconstruction as the hospital he frequently goes to begins to suspect abuse on the part of Sue and Pete, and this isn't helped by Ben's exaggeration. It's not followed up on, thankfully.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Gets his moments. The 2011 Christmas Special is a good example.
  • Leeroy Jenkins: Charges at problems headfirst.
  • Mad Scientist: Views himself as one, but is really just a child doing the usual experiments... admittedly stretching the term usual.
  • Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Has taken this position from Karen as of Series 4. Lampshaded frequently.
  • Odd Friendship: Starts one with Taylor-Jean almost immediately.
  • Pay Evil Unto Evil: Frequently.

Karen Brockman (Ramona Marquez)

The youngest and the only daughter.

  • Anti-Hero: Type II.
  • Berserk Button: Don't say girls can't throw.
  • Creepy Child: Used to be this but as time's gone on it's become less notable. It's not gone completely, though.
  • Precision F-Strike: A fairly good example from a nine year old girl (for a show broadcast just after the watershed).

(upon seeing Angela in the house): "Oh, Jesus."

Auntie Angela Morrison (later Angela Bolinger) (Samantha Bond)

Grandad/ Frank Morrison (David Ryall)

Sue and Angela's father, who is now living without his wife after she died a year before the series started.

  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: A lot of his irrational or angry behaviour is due to his memory problems and the confusion that results. He's also very fond of the kids but can't handle them for too long (to be fair, given how dysfunctional they are he does a good job).
  • Mood Whiplash: Any scene with his dementia and Sue struggling to cope often cut to the kids and their usual antics, and vice versa.
  • Noble Bigot: Slightly racist towards the Koreans, Chinese and Japanese. With the former it's because he fought in the Korean War, with the latter it's because they were enemies of the allies in WW 2, when he was growing up.
  • Put on a Bus: Went to an old peoples home towards the end of Season 2, though he has appeared twice since, in both the Christmas specials.
  • Retired Badass: Fought in the Korean war and proudly mentions it, somehow finding a Chinese soldier's jawbone along the way.
  • Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: He's surprisingly foul mouthed for a man his age, though this is somewhat justified when you take into account the fact that he fought in the Korean War. Lampshaded when Ben retells a tale ending with "a prozzie spitting in his rum" and Pete mentions that leaving him alone with Ben was not the best idea.
  • Values Dissonance: In-Universe.


Bolinger family

Brick Bolinger

Angela's husband as of Season 3, who is an American therapist. Revealed to be psychologically abusive.

  • Abusive Parents
  • Big Bad: Of a sort in the last two episodes.
  • Faux Affably Evil: After his domestic abuse is revealed, all his interactions suddenly seem this way.
  • Foreshadowing: There was a hint Brick was abusive, notably the fact that his second wife had been committed.
  • Jerkass: He did reveal himself to be not as good as first thought in his debut appearance, but his abuse of his kids, first two wives and then Angela takes this Up to Eleven.
  • Knight of Cerebus: Becomes one after his offscreen abuse.

Taylor-Jean

The first of Brick's kids that we see.

  • Blatant Lies: Does a competition with Ben about them.
  • Creepy Child: Something about her just seems... off.
  • Odd Friendship: Starts one with Ben almost immediately.
  • Stepford Smiler: She's obviously rather broken. After Pete gets incredibly angry at Brick winding him up and threatens to "shove [Brick's] visa card up his (cuts off)", the following exchange happens.

Taylor-Jean: I want my mom.
Angela: It's okay, sweetheart. I'm here.
Taylor-Jean: No, I want my real mom!

Misty Bolinger

The oldest of Brick's kids and the second one we see.

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