Air date for Lee Mack's as-it-happens episode

The live episode of Lee Mack’s BBC One sitcom Not Going Out is to air on December 21, it has been announced.

It will have a Christmas theme with Lee and co-star Sally Bretton trying to organise a festive variety show for their children’s school, but with acts  thin on the ground.   

The official plot summary suggests Toby (Hugh Dennis) and uptight wife Anna (Abigail Cruttenden) might be roped in, while scenes such as raw egg juggling and knife throwing will add to the tensions of the live broadcast.

Mack said: ‘A live episode of a BBC One sitcom…what could possibly go wrong? Loads. Which, let’s be honest, is why you sadists will be watching.  So don’t miss out on seeing me end my career.’

In airing a live episode, Not Going Out is following in the footsteps of Mrs Brown’s Boys, which went out live in 2016, while American sitcoms to have made live episodes include Will & Grace, 30 Rock and Undateable, which broadcast its entire third seasons live.

Mack first revealed the live episode back in March, joking: ‘Talk about jumping the shark, that’ll be it then, won’t it? 

‘When I  heard of other people doing live shows I thought why, "Would you bother doing that?" It’s for your own satisfaction. It doesn’t aid the quality. And then I thought, "Oh go on then, why not?" They showed me the money…’

And he said a live sitcom was a different beast  than live stand-up because of the technical side of filming, as well as the need to stick to the narrative.

‘I do live stuff but if it goes wrong in the sitcom I can’t go to the guy in the front row, "Where are you from?" He shouldn’t be in my front room."’

He also harked back to the days when all TV was live, saying: ‘Geoffrey Whitehead’s in our cast and he was in Z Cars and that was live.’

An Avalon Television production, the series is co-written by Lee Mack and Danny Peak, directed by Nick Wood and produced by Jamie Rix. 

Published: 26 Nov 2018