I am so glad I watched The Family on C4 last night and what a brill family they are! If you missed it, you can catch up for free on 4OD. In brief, last night’s first episode of this new series focussed on the Hughes family; mum Jane, dad Simon and children, Tom, Emily, Jessica and Charlotte.

One of the things that stuck me throughout the show was that Simon, bless him, is a lodger in his own life and it’s his wife Jane who clearly wears everyone’s trousers. Simon says of himself, “I’m the one who has to pretend to be in charge” but the truth is, he’s pretending to pretend to be in charge. I can totally relate to the poor man because my own family has always been dominated by headstrong females and Simon had that hunted look that’s one which I’ve seen on the faces of many of my sisters – and my own at times – partners.

Tom is a very sweet boy who is at the moment sailing through life relatively unscathed by the wrath of parental disapproval due to the overwhelming amount of time and energy Jane and Simon are devoting to Emily. He’s very loving towards his parents and unlike many 14 year old boys, isn’t repulsed by displays of physical affection. That will probably change in the near future though!

We didn’t get to see much of Jessica and Charlotte other than to witness Charlotte having a brief row with Emily at the dinner table but I imagine we’ll get to see more of them as the series progresses.

One of my favourite parts of the programme last night was when Jane, Simon and Emily were engaged in an argument about the fact that she had falsely called in sick to work and Simon, trying to put a point across, was met with a simple ‘STOP’ hand-in-the-air gesture from his wife Jane. She and Emily continued to argue about the fact that Emily goes out clubbing nearly every night and then calls in sick for work, which Jane disapproves of.

She told Emily that it was only a matter of time before Emily’s long suffering employer Pauline gave the boot, to which Simon unwisely said, “Yeah, so then you won’t have a job. How’re you going to pay for taxis then? Maybe you’ll get a job in one of the clubs you love so much!”

Had they been on Family Fortunes at that moment, Simon would have heard the ‘eeeeee errrrrrrrr’ sound that means ‘you got that completely wrong – couldn’t have been more wrong.’

His face fell, Emily’s eyes lit up briefly at the suggestion and Jane locked Simon into a glance so lethal, he should by rights have shrivelled up and melted on the spot. The poor bloke is clearly trying awfully hard to do the parenting thing but he’s way out of his depth. For me, the best line in last night’s episode was uttered by Simon when, as the row was drawing to a close, he said, “Can we stop now? There’s duck for dinner.” God love him.

I’m really looking forward to getting to know this family; they’re interesting people. All three of the girls are the living image of their mother and it would appear, just as headstrong, but I’m quite surprised that a woman who is as strong of character as Jane allows her children to tell her to shut up. With my children, just as it was with me and my parents, there are two things that are verboten; never tell your parents to shut up and never say no when you’re told to do something. Granted it wasn’t the case that we all hopped to and immediately did what we were told but we paid lip service to it and I literally cannot imagine what would happen if I – or my kids to me – ever said ‘no’ to a parent!

I had some good laughs last night, such as when it was Jane’s mother’s day breakfast and all the family were sipping champagne but a very pale Emily quietly refused even a small glass. She looked as if she may hurl at any moment having been out until the early hours partying.

Roll on the next episode of this – so far – splendid series! It was made the better for having no commentary from either a disembodied third party or the family themselves. I had been expecting that as it’s something of an accepted formula for reality TV shows but this was simply footage, sans commentary or explanations, and it made it very different from comparable programmes. I’d also expected footage where various members of the family talked to the camera in a kind of video diary thing, but again, watching rather than hearing their day to day lives evolve was much better.
Next week’s episode sees both Emily and Charlotte in big trouble for keeping secrets from their parents. Charlotte’s been bunking off school while Emily has apprently been after a job that her parents wouldn’t approve of. Maybe she took Simon’s unfortunate clanger ‘advice’ about getting a job in a club?