Lee Mack on Not Going Out future: 'It's not my decision'
The writer/star of the long-running BBC sitcom confirms that "discussions are ongoing".
Lee Mack has addressed the future of his long-running sitcom Not Going Out, which will air its landmark 100th episode over the festive period.
Speaking at a screening of the Christmas episode, Mack confirmed that "discussions are ongoing" with the BBC about more episodes.
"I'm not sure about another 100 [episodes], but discussions are ongoing now and we will be back with you shortly with some more information, one way or the other!
"We're talking about it now. I'd love to do more, I love doing it, it's great fun, I love the cast but [...] it's not always my decision, these things. I just wait for someone to say, 'There's a bag of money, get on with it.'"
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First airing in 2006, Not Going Out has made a number of tweaks to its cast and format across its 13 seasons.
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Most notably, following a 2015 Christmas special, the show jumped forward seven years, with Lee (Mack) and wife Lucy (Sally Bretton) now parents to three children.
Mack admitted that he is unsure if or how the show will undergo another revamp in the future, but did rule out the possibility of another time jump.
"The truth is, I just don't know what we'll do with the future of it," he said. "I've thought of various scenarios, me and Danny [Peak, series co-writer] have chatted about it, but at this stage, it's early days."
However the show reinvents itself in the future, there's one thing Mack is certain he will never ditch – filming episodes in front of a live audience.
"For me, if the essence of it is there, in front of a live studio audience, that will always overpower everything else, the fact that we're in front of a live audience. I would definitely never lose that. That's the only thing that I know, 100 per cent, I would never change."
The 100th episode of Not Going Out sees Lee and Lucy invite a lonely pensioner from the nearby care home to join them for Christmas dinner, with Lee's efforts to put on a perfect Christmas for his family quickly going awry.
Read more:
- Lee Mack lied to fellow comedy star to keep Inside No. 9 episode secret
- Meet the cast of Not Going Out, Lee Mack's hit BBC sitcom
Not Going Out's 2023 Christmas special airs on Christmas Eve (Sunday 24th December) at 10pm on BBC One.
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