diveinthedark-89834 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!

Jane Ridley Typical 90's comedy, situational comedy similar to our modern day "My Family". Thatcher being the height of most political jokes, Bill (Belinda Lang) blames Thatcher for anything she can. "Bloody Thatcher" possibly shared with most of us. David the typical teenager, cutting up brains with bread knives, Jenny, the moody older teenage child, only interested in boys and more boys. Bill and Ben working as much as they can to keep their family afloat struggling within the economical climate of the early 90's. Granted the first two series were not as successful as the latter however, series 3 onwards is where it all kicks off with more laughs that i care to count. overall this show didn't get the best viewing times and they ought to have held on a bit longer. clearly they couldn't have carried on after Gary Olsen died but i think they should get rid of "catherine Tate" "the office" "little Britain" and bring back the classics!

rzg-1 No rubbish - no where even near rubbish. Not an original? thats the last thing that could be said of "2.4 children".Predictable? certainly not! Although it was somewhat an unusual series for the BBC, it was hilarious, funny, and witty. I particularly liked Belinda Lang and John Pickard - who I believe preformed wonderfully.Gary olsen was also very good and so were all the other cast members..I never quite new why it was can-celled till reading here today about Gary Olsen's death at a relatively young age. I do wish that they would make more of comedy of this type, much more of them (and show them here in Israel).Thumbs way up!

Julia The BBC has brought us many exceptional programmes which have broken the boundaries of comedy. Unfortunately this was not one of them. It was completely predictable, devoid of originality and lacking in any comic capacity. It was a nice try and the actors had some skill which was completely wasted. Perhaps they should consider pantomime of which they are ideally suited. I only thank God its over and hope the BBC can finally bring us good comedy.