Inside Outnumbered parents Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner's real-life romance after divorces

Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner play doting parents Pete and Sue on Outnumbered, but they ended up falling for one another in real life after meeting on the set of the comedy

Outnumbered stars Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner are a couple in real life.

Hugh and Claire have played stressed parents Sue and Pete Brockman for years on the beloved BBC comedy. But sparks flew in real life as they have now been a couple in real life for several years.

The sitcom originally ran for five series between 2007 and 2014 before its first Christmas special in 2016. It returns with its Christmas special on Boxing Day (December 26), in which Pete will reveal he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Hugh and Claire will returning to the screen as the parents of now-unrecognisable kids Jake (Tyger Drew-Honey), Ben (Daniel Roche) and Karen (Romona Marquez) tonight at 9.40pm on BBC One. And fans may be wondering just how they got together in real life.

Outnumbered stars Claire Skinner and Hugh Dennis are together in real life(Image: BBC)

It turns out both actors were married to other people during the show's initial run. But by the time the Christmas special came around in 2016, both actors were divorced.

Claire was previously married to director Charles Palmer and they share two sons together, but their marriage ended in 2016. Hugh married his second wife Catherine Abbot-Anderson in 1996, and they welcomed a son and a daughter.

The Outnumbered Christmas special airs on Boxing Day(Image: BBC/Hat Trick Productions/Adam Lawrence)

However, their marriage ended in divorce in 2015, which means both were single by the time the first Christmas special aired. After filming wrapped on the festive special in 2016, the pair began dating and entered a relationship.

Discussing the origins of their relationship in 2018, Hugh said: "That happened I suppose about a year and a half ago. We did an Outnumbered Christmas special about three years ago and then met up again about a year and a half ago."

Both Hugh and Claire were married to other people when they first met on set(Image: BBC/Hat Trick Productions/Adam Lawrence)

He said the relationship left him feeling "very, very happy", and he described the relationship as "lovely". Claire has also opened up about their romance and spoke fondly of her bond with Hugh.

During a 2019 interview with The Times, she said they were together for a while before the news was announced. Claire said: "Nobody really noticed when Hugh Dennis and I first got into a relationship. The news didn't come out until a year later, which was great.

The series originally ran for five series between 2007 and 2014(Image: BBC/Hattrick)

"People said to us that someone will notice soon but I kept telling them, 'We're both over 50. Why would anyone be interested in that?' We've got families we wanted to protect, but everybody's pretty cool and happy with it."

Claire also described her relationship with Hugh as a "a lovely little life surprise" during a chat on ITV's Lorraine that same year. Lorraine joked: "If you know somebody really well, it cuts down on all of that going out on the first date malarkey," adding: "You know what his favourite colour is, and you know whether they like brown sauce," to which Claire agreed: "Absolutely, we can just move on."

Just like their characters Sue and Pete, Hugh and Claire live together in London. The actors reportedly share a £1.2million London penthouse.

The brand new episode of Outnumbered will see Sue Brockman (Claire Skinner) and Pete Brockman (Hugh Dennis) welcome their family into their house for Christmas. Hugh has admitted the cancer storyline is one close to his heart, saying: "Pretty much every family has been touched by cancer in some way… my dad had cancer at 66. So I’m pleased to have done this storyline".

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