Lee Mack says Not Going Out will end in a different way to other hit BBC sitcoms like Gavin & Stacey
Comedian Lee Mack doesn’t want to end Not Going Out with a huge finale like Gavin and Stacey – as he would rather the sitcom “fizzle out” when the time is right. The 57-year-old comedian is currently writing series 15 and 16 of the BBC sitcom, which has been on air for 20 years.
Lee has no grandiose plans to end his show like James Corden and Ruth Jones did with the 2024 Gavin and Stacey Christmas special, and believes the programme and the characters will just fade away when the BBC have had enough of him.
He said: “I think if we ever ended it we’d just fizzle away slowly, that’s how I’d like to do it. Maybe you do a Christmas special and then another one and before you know it you’re not on anymore. We didn’t make a big fanfare about starting. I think we’ll just do the last episode and then we’re talk about whether we want to do anymore, maybe they won’t want any, and maybe we won’t want any. For now, we’re definitely doing the next two series so we’ll see how it goes.”
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Although one thing about the Gavin and Stacey specials that does appeal to him is only having to write one episode of Not Going Out “every 10 years”.
He said: “Only having to write an episode once every 10 years, yes that appeals to me, a lot! I will be doing a Corden and Jones, having 10 years off you’ve got a long old time to write those jokes. That’s what I’d be doing.”
Lee also told the Mirror he won’t be creating another sitcom once Not Going Out ends as he’ll be pushing 60 and will happy to give someone else a chance at creating new comedy beloved by viewers.
He said: “Oh my god! No one will employ me after this. By the time the show finishes, with the current commission, I’ll be, I think, 58, 59. I think it’s time to let someone else have a go. You can’t go on forever, can you.”
But Lee isn’t confident the great British public will get many more studio sitcoms because he believes it is dying artform due comedy-dramas such as Afterlife and Peep Show killing the format.
He said: “Why do I think there’s a lack of studio sitcoms? There was a surge a few years ago, you had Miranda, us, Mrs Brown’s Boys, I thought this was going to be the start of a new surge of studio sitcoms, the problem is it’s been so long now.
“When I was growing up it was only studio sitcoms that were called sitcoms. I think now we’re getting to the point now where comedians are coming through and writers probably don’t even remember studio sitcoms being the dominant force on television because it’s not been like that for a long time. I think it’s going to be hard to get writers who want to do that, I guess.
“I think what’s happened is comedy drama has been re-labelled as sitcoms, that’s the problem, because people see those and think, ‘That’s the sitcom I want to do.’ But I always see those shows as more like comedy dramas and what we do is sitcom, which is a slightly different thing.”
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