A quick glance at social media will tell you two things about Not Going Out. Firstly that it is a very popular BBC sitcom. Secondly that it provokes the kind of fury usually reserved for a new run of Mrs Brown's Boys.

 

The longest running UK sitcom currently on air returned last night for its 101st episode with the cast stirpped back to mainly the two married protagonists. The sit of this situation comedy had moved on a few years. Sort-of-lovey-dovey couple Lee (Lee Mack) and Lucy (Sally Bretton) are now empty nesters. The children had left home (have they had enough of Lee's dad gags?) and in the first episode they were looking to downsize.

 

The plot, filmed in real time, revolved around mishaps and misunderstandings when they went to view a house being sold by an estate agent played by Mike Wozniak (great comic, maybe not a natural actor). There was more than a hint of Alan Ayckbourn about Lucy being mistaken for Lee's daughter and other frantic crossed wires. Although I don't recall anyone in an Ayckbourn play having to hide a turd in their pocket as Lee had to towards the end.

 

Needless to say the pros and cons camps were out in farce, sorry, force. The reviews covered all bases. Rachel Sigee in The i Paper went on the Mack attack and wrote that: "even old faithfuls might start to find their attention start to drift" and gave the show two stars. The Telegraph, on the other hand, awarded it four stars and dubbed Mack "the funniest man on television right now."

 

As for me, here's what I think. Lee Mack is certainly one of the funniest man on TV right now, if not the funniest. This first episode in this new series had some great moments and some utterly childish moments that would make a grown man cringe. After discussing the house's fish pond there was a pun about multi-storey koi parks that was well past its tell-by date. 

 

It might be set in real time but that's the only real thing about it. This is as close to the beating heart of sitcom fantasyland as the aforementioned Mrs Brown's Boys. But it can be funny. To its credit, as well as Mack's top rate performance, it does have some great laugh out loud gags. It's certainly way better that The Power of Parker, which follows it on Friday nights. 

 

Anyway, you might as well learn to like Not Going Out as, sorry Rachel Sigee, it's not going anywhere soon. Any chance of it being put out to grass any time soon is unlikely. A fifteenth series has already been commissioned.