Everybody knows one or two of those families, where the children seem to be more sensible and mature then their parents. When you come to think of it it isn't funny at all but rather tragic. This is the theme of the BBC childrens comedy Big Kids, where the parents of Simon and Kate Spiller (played with a charming sourness by Matt Adams and Kelly Salmon) repeatedly fall under a mysterious spell and behave like two rather hyperactive kids (varying, for unexplained reasons, from toddlers to early teens). It constantly causes terrible embarrassments, especially for Simon and Kate who have to look after them. The spell was caused by a hypnotist, surely not the most original idea one could think of but if you are willing to accept it, it all works rather well just like the rest of the series. The big joke, kids having to tell their parents of, wears a bit of after a while but the situations stay inventive and the dialogues are wonderfully written. It is all very, very funny and at times the tragedy of being stronger then your own mother and father at at age you have troubles enough in your own little world is even moving. Yet all is down with that great Anglosaxon sobriety and down-to-earthness, which avoids empathic sentiment and corny lessons about family that the Americans probably would have made of it. This series deserves a film of some sort.
Review of Big Kids
