Outnumbered fans have slammed the BBC show after its final Christmas episode, with some devotees branding it “embarrassingly bad” and branding the series “the worst TV program of the whole year”.

Earlier this year, TV programmers were full of excitement at the prospect of Outnumbered returning for a Christmas special. It’s been eight years since the Brockman family last appeared on our screens, with the actors already returning in 2016 for a festive episode.

This year the show aired on Boxing Day and saw actors Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner reprise their roles, with Tyger Drew-Honey, Daniel Roche and Ramona Marquez returning as their now-adult children.

However, fans were quick to react on social media and express their disappointment with the episode. One person said on X that the acting was “terrible” and that watching it was a “terrible waste of time.”

A second person also wrote: “Anyone else think #Outnumbered It was the worst thing you’ve watched… ever.”

A third person chimed in: “Sorry, but I had to change #Outnumbered disabled. I loved it the first time, but this one doesn’t land the same way. We feel very flat. Shame.”

A fourth also wrote similarly: “Was anyone else really disappointed by the outnumbered Christmas special??? #Outnumbered“.

However, not everyone agreed and some fans shared positive reviews. One fan commented: “I generally enjoyed #Outnumbered it was always going to be a different dynamic with all of them older, but it felt real and there were laugh out loud moments – my main complaint was the silence and delivery of slightly odd lines for a show that is normally chaotically loud. “

Another fan also wrote on X: “People are doing slats #Outnumbered because the kids are grown up now, what did you expect? Should the writers freeze them to stay young? My family and my modern family kept it up until they were all adults, just enjoy the nostalgia, get that stick out of your ass and relax. »

A third also echoed: “I really enjoyed the #Outnumbered Special. I saw a lot of people complaining about it, but I really liked it.”

During the one-off special, a major storyline involved the Brockmans navigating Pete’s cancer diagnosis and breaking the news to the three children.

After the episode ended, Hugh Dennis, 62, made an emotional appeal to viewers in a video for Prostate Cancer UK. He urged fans of the show to check their cancer risk in 30 seconds using a tool available on the association’s webpage.

OutnumberedThe 2024 Christmas special can be watched on BBC iPlayer.