Since it was first aired on BBC One in 2007, Outnumbered has captured audiences nationwide with its witty and realistic portrayal of everyday family life and dramas.

The hilarious storylines are mainly based around the relentless power struggle between Pete and Sue Brockman (Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner), ‘outnumbered’ by their offspring, formed by three unruly children (Tyger Drew-Honey, Daniel Roche and Ramona Marquez).

Shot in London and set in the fictional Limebridge Council, the BAFTA-nominated sitcom is currently on its third series. The new season kicks off tonight with an episode in which the Brockmans attempt to enjoy a day out in the capital.

For location manager Harriet Lawrence it was a delight to be able to shoot a whole episode on location in central London, with many of the capital’s top tourist attractions coming onboard to help with the filming. “The Tate Modern, City of Westminster, Vinopolis and Trafalgar Square were all fantastic” says Harriet, “and the Big Bus Company could not have been more helpful – they really pushed the bus out for us!”

Filming at such popular locations with one of the nation’s most loved TV families of recent times certainly attracted the interest of passing members of the public “The crowd around us when we were filming was often 4 or 5 deep – a testimony to Guy [Jenkin] and Andy [Hamilton]’s brilliant scripts” Harriet remembers.

But despite all the planning there is one element that is beyond the control of the production team. “We had the usual British problem of torrential rain one day and blue skies, no clouds the next – all of which are actually within half an hour in the script. Fortunately that becomes a problem for the editor rather than me – but I have definitely never been as wet as the day we shot on the open topped bus.”

One particular iconic location that threw up a few unusual surprises was the HMS Belfast, “Oh how the crew laughed” Harriet recalls, “the script says HMS Belfast – how difficult can that to be to find? A big, grey ship near Tower Bridge?”

“Getting the equipment up the long gangway was anticipated and plenty of planning had gone into the tricky bridge location but finding a Brazilian war ship moored alongside us was completely unexpected. As well as blocking our view of the Tower of London, every few minutes foreign announcements and whistles would come from the ship – a challenge we could have done without.”

With tight time to finish the shoot, the team resorted to improvised diplomacy to solve the problem: “We deployed our secret weapon, a Panamanian runner who went negotiate with the Brazilian Navy. Despite the setbacks filming on this amazing ship was hugely exciting. It is the most fantastic location and the Brockman family aboard made life a little more interesting, the crew loved being on such an historic location and had to be stopped from fiddling with every knob on board!”

The new series of Outnumbered starts today at 9.30pm on BBC One.