Not Going Out

Did You Know?

• The original pilot featured Catherine Tate as Kate, but due to the success of The Catherine Tate Show, American actress Megan Dodds was cast instead.
• The theme song is performed by Frank Sinatra impersonator Stephen Triffitt.
• The flat where Lee and Kate/Lucy lived from 2006 to 2015 is No. 17, and 'Number 17' was originally considered as a title for the series.
• In series 6, the episode 'Boat' was partially filmed at the Port of Ramsgate in Kent.

Production

Lee Mack and Andrew Collins originally wrote the series, with Paul Kerensa, Simon Evans, and Daniel Peak later contributing to the writing team. Mack remains the sole original cast member still appearing, and he is the only performer to have featured in every single episode. The BBC cancelled the programme in 2009 while its third series was still being broadcast, but reversed that decision after strong DVD sales and an online petition prompted a renewal.

A fourth series consequently began airing on 6 January 2011. The eighth series, broadcast in 2017, jumps forward seven years from the 2015 Christmas special, depicting Lee and Lucy managing life with three young children. On 19 May 2025, a six-episode fifteenth series was confirmed for a 2026 release, featuring another time jump in which Lee and Lucy, now without children at home, relocate to the countryside. A sixteenth series is also being planned.

The show now holds public pre-production script read-throughs at the Chiswick Playhouse, with the cast performing for an audience. Episodes are recorded live at Elstree Studios, supplemented by location footage. As of 2025, Not Going Out is the longest-running sitcom currently on UK television and ranks second only to Last of the Summer Wine in longevity among British prime-time sitcoms.

Synopsis

The show centres on a fictional version of Lee Mack, a lazy and unmotivated man in his late thirties who lodges in a London Docklands flat. He comes from Chorley, Lancashire, about twenty miles from Mack’s real hometown of Southport. Lee is a negligent layabout who is often unemployed, spending his days on the sofa watching TV or at the pub with his best friend of fifteen years, Tim Adams, played by Tim Vine. Tim is an accountant from Henley-on-Thames and owns the flat where Lee lives.

Lee has a sharp, cheeky wit and a difficult relationship with his father, who shares many of his traits and has said Lee was unplanned and caused the end of his marriage. The main thing that gets Lee off the sofa is trying to win over the woman he fancies. In the first series, that woman is Kate, played by Megan Dodds, a feisty American who owns the flat and is Tim’s ex-girlfriend. Tim left Kate for a 23-year-old named Emma, who Lee and Kate often said looked much younger, but Emma later left him.

Kate and Lee frequently clash but are otherwise close. When Megan Dodds left the show after series one, Kate moves back to the United States. Lee then sets his sights on Tim’s sister, Lucy, played by Sally Bretton, who is ten years younger than Tim. Lucy buys the flat, much to Tim’s annoyance, after living in Switzerland for a decade.

She has the same feisty nature and quick wit as Kate, and her interactions with Lee are similar. Though his constant laziness frustrates her, Lucy sometimes seems to enjoy having Lee around, especially when he helps her out of awkward situations. Tim often gets pulled into Lee’s schemes to impress Lucy, which usually backfire, fail, or get them into trouble. Lee frequently confides in his friend and cleaner, Barbara, played by Miranda Hart, about his problems.

Episodes

The sitcom's central figure is Lee, an immature and unmotivated man who drifts through various jobs while relying on the kindness of his Californian landlady, Kate, played by Megan Dodds. They share a flat in London, and their friendship soon begins to evolve into a romantic connection. This development is complicated by Lee's best friend, Timothy Gladstone Adams, an accountant from Henley portrayed by Tim Vine. Timothy is Kate's ex-boyfriend—their relationship ended after he was unfaithful with a 23-year-old woman named Emma—and he is eager to win her back. Lee finds himself caught between pursuing his feelings for Kate and staying loyal to his friend, who grows increasingly suspicious.

By the second series, Kate has returned to America, leaving Timothy unable to afford the flat and its lodger. His sister, Lucy Adams, a headhunter who has just spent a decade abroad, steps in to buy the property, becoming Lee's new landlady and flatmate. Sally Bretton plays Lucy. Timothy also brings in a cleaner named Barbara, played by Miranda Hart, to look after the flat.

In the second episode, titled "Gay," a 51-year-old character named Guy is introduced and quickly becomes Lucy's boyfriend. Lee, now working as an ice-cream seller, develops feelings for Lucy. The series finale sees Timothy and Lee convinced that Guy is a gangster smuggling diamonds, but it emerges that he was actually having a diamond engagement ring made to propose to Lucy during a romantic holiday. Lee leaves the airport believing Lucy accepted Guy's proposal, but she later returns, explaining she felt too young for marriage and had ended things with him.

A 2007 Christmas special introduced Timothy and Lucy's parents for the first time: Wendy, played by Deborah Grant, and Geoffrey, played by Geoffrey Whitehead. In episode six, Lee meets a scatterbrained woman named Daisy at a speed-dating event, and she later seems to fall for Timothy. Though initially appearing as a one-off character, Daisy reappears in the Christmas special as Timothy's girlfriend and continues into the third series.

Home media

The DVD releases of the series have been handled differently from the broadcast versions. Even though the show was filmed and transmitted in high definition, no Blu-ray editions have ever come out. For the first four series, the DVDs applied a different video post-production process that gave the episodes a US-style 'filmlook' effect, but this was abandoned starting with the Series 5 DVD. Two episodes, Movie and Drunk, run a bit longer on DVD, including shots and lines that were removed or censored for their original BBC One airings.

Some of the music tracks have been swapped out for soundalikes on the home video releases. The first three episodes come with an audio commentary featuring Lee Mack and producer/director Alex Hardcastle. There is also an 18-minute Making Of documentary that includes interviews with Lee and Tim on set, behind-the-scenes footage from Series Two, and clips from Series One, the pilot, and The Sketch Show, plus a photo gallery. Various compilation sets have been released: Series One & Series Two on 2 February 2009; Series One, Two & Three on 27 September 2010; Series One, Two, Three & Four on 14 November 2011; Series One, Two, Three, Four & Five on 21 May 2012; The Christmas Specials on 1 December 2014; The Complete Series 1–7 on 1 June 2015; and an HMV Exclusive version of The Complete Series 1–7 on 22 January 2018.

Notably, the Series 6 DVD does not contain the 2013 Christmas Special, The House, but that special is included on The Christmas Specials and The Complete Series 1–7 sets.