the audience applauded

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The 1990s; The persistence of the nuclear family, The end on Thatcherism, the media-domination of Princess Di and the emergence of the digital age. Yes it's ALL present here in this witty, realistic comedy about the average British family struggling to maintain that status ! Essentially about carnage-obsessed son David, dysfunctional teenage daughter Jenny, semi-juvenile Dad Ben(hence the .4!) and straight- laced Mum and family boss Bill, not to forget UK comedy's mandatory slut-next-door Rona, the 1990s family household was portrayed pretty much EXACTLY as it was in real life, with little exaggeration! Facing all the contemporary family issues of unemployment (hence the extremely realistic jobcentre interview!), teenage relations, 'controversial' youth culture (that's revolting! My son a metalhead!), NHS faults (We lost him...No no,I mean we literally lost him!) and inadequate banking (I'm your Pers-On-Al Bank-Er),the show gave the British public a good chance to laugh off all the everyday chaos of contemporary society ! Family-friendly yet with plenty of innuendo - "I'm waiting for him to pot the pink"; "Aren't We All!" - a universal audience could enjoy the hilarity of flatulent dogs, Bimbo housewives, Star Trek funerals and (unexplicitly portrayed) strip dancers. Not to forget the gloriously kitsch sing-songs at the end of the Christmas episodes !All in all, this light-hearted perspective of the complexities of everyday life was witty and entertaining, yet insightful and loosely thought-provoking; if only they'd known back in 1994 that 15 years later 'Electronic Mail' would be mandatory! I give it 9/10 for being ALMOST PERFECT!

Average family sitcoms have usually been popular with viewers over the years, such as 'Bless This House', 'Bread' and 'Keep It In The Family'. '2 Point 4 Children' is nothing like any of these. In fact, it probably has more in common with Matt Groening's animated classic 'The Simpsons'.The Porter family are an average family who seems to find themselves in all manner of surreal situations. The matriarch of the family is the long suffering Bill ( played the the gorgeous Belinda Lang ), who like Marge Simpson, is able to keep hold of her sanity despite the never ending stream of chaos that takes place around her. Her husband Ben ( were they any relation to 'The Flower Pot Men'? ), like Homer Simpson, was an overweight, overgrown child who worked as a central heating repairman. The children, who could be the Lisa and Bart equivalents, are Jenny and David, her a bright but fiery individual and he a mischievous delinquent with a fondness for horror movies.Bill initially works in a bakery with her man-mad friend Rona ( Julia Hills, who I thought was one of the hottest women on television in the '90's ) but in later episodes they end up running their own catering business.Lang and Hills made a formidable comic pairing however the late Gary Olsen was the one who stole the show as the laddish Ben. He was taken from us incredibly young in 2000 at the age of 42 after losing a battle with cancer. The lovely Claire Woodgate ( now known as Georgina Cates ) played Jenny in the first two series but her place was later taken by the equally sexy Claire Buckfield. John Pickard portrayed tearaway David. Other appearances included Kim Benson as Ben's surly assistant Christine, Liz Smith as Bill's interfering, chain-smoking mother, Patricia Brake ( later replaced by Sandra Dickinson ) as Ben's snooty sister Tina and and Alex Kew as Declan.Andrew Marshall, like his former partner David Renwick, may not have ever created outstanding comedy ( that's my personal view at least ) but he knew how to write funny dialogue and was unafraid to explore darker areas.Among some of the funniest moments included Rona and Bill attempting to bring back duty free alcohol from France, only to end up accidentally smuggling back a dangerous animal, Ben being stuck on top of a piano which ends up careering at speed down a hill, Ben purchasing a life-size replica of the FAB-1 car from 'Thunderbirds' and a very funny spoof of Patrick MacGoohan's '70's drama 'The Prisoner'. Less funny were the Christmas specials, usually featuring a spoof musical item at the end of each episode.The first three series were released on DVD some time ago however clearance issues have prevented further releases. UK Gold ran all eight series a few years ago however it is unlikely to be seen again anytime soon, which is sad as while it is no classic, it is superior to many modern sitcoms such as 'My Family' or 'Gavin & Stacey'. The thought of '2 Point 4 Children' festering away somewhere in a vault whilst something as lame as 'Miranda' gets nominated for an award makes my heart sink

From writer Andrew Marshall who also used to team up and write with David (One foot in the Grave) Renwick comes one of the funniest sitcoms on British television in the 1990s.The 1990s were not a good time for a lot of situation comedies in Britain more a barren mirthless wasteland. 2point4 children had genuine chemistry between the main characters Bill and Ben (Belinda Lang and Gary Olsen) and the children were not annoying.The show was blessed with good writing and good acting and also some of the episodes could be far out or slightly surreal with the writer taking risks and it paying off. The best thing to say about the show was that it was consistently funny and entertaining.

Sorry, but I have to disagree with the previous comment that it was absolute rubbish, unfunny and unoriginal. Whoever said this obviously hasn't seen all the episodes.As for "Unfunny", I think a lot of people would disagree with that! This was a series which got record viewing figures when it was shown. Last night we watched "Porky's", the Christmas Special from 1995. We were in fits of laughter. I've got loads of episodes on tape and have watched them repeatedly. They never fail to make me laugh.True, some of it wasn't that funny, but it most certainly had originality. It's generally agreed by fans that the first two series weren't as good. And some of the episodes were a bit too surreal to be considered funny. But the series did get better as it went on. Perhaps it wasn't considered funny at the time, but being able to watch this show now and compare it to the sitcoms of today (like The Office) only goes to show just how brilliant this comedy was. 2.4 children could have been a classic sitcom if the BBC had given it more airtime. I only hope it will be shown again, instead of endless repeats of Only Fools and Horses and Porridge etc.