Category: TV Entertainment; 91Èȱ¬ ONE
Date: 25.08.2006
Printable version
Not Going Out is a brand new 91Èȱ¬ ONE sitcom co-written by Bafta-winning comic Lee Mack and Sony Award-winning writer and broadcaster Andrew Collins.
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Meet two flatmates, Lee (Lee Mack) and Kate (Megan Dodds: Viva Blackpool and Spooks), who have a problem.
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Their easy-going, comfortable friendship is steadily moving into uncharted waters - a situation complicated by the fact that Lee's best mate, Tim (fellow Bafta winner and stand-up, Tim Vine), is Kate's ex-boyfriend.
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Unburdened by ambition or drive, Lee drifts from one ill-advised job to another, living off the goodwill and generosity of his landlady, Kate, a clean-living Californian.
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Kate is determined to push Lee into making something of his life - whilst also trying to coax him into eating some of her disgustingly-healthy homemade food.
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Meanwhile, uptight accountant Tim struggles to get over his break-up with Kate and cope with her rapidly blossoming friendship with Lee.
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Not Going Out was commissioned by Peter Fincham, Controller of 91Èȱ¬ ONE, and Lucy Lumsden, Controller, Comedy Commissioning.
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About Lee Mack
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As well as being an award-winning live performer, audiences will know Lee Mack from The Sketch Show (ITV1), which ran for two series (the first of which was awarded a Bafta for Best Comedy, and the second nominated for the prestigious Rose d'Or Award at the International Rose d'Or Television Festival); he then worked alongside Kelsey Grammer in an American version of The Sketch Show, which aired in a primetime slot immediately before The Simpsons (Fox Network).
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He also wrote and starred in the Sony Radio Award-nominated and immediately recommissioned The Lee Mack Show (91Èȱ¬ Radio 2); hosted the last series of They Think It's All Over (91Èȱ¬ ONE); and headlined on Jack Dee Live at the Apollo (91Èȱ¬ ONE).
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Last year saw Lee win the Best Stand-Up award at the Loaded Laftas, while Zoo Magazine named him Britain's number one rising comedian.
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He has also previously received nominations for the prestigious Perrier Award, Time Out Best Live Comedy Award and Best Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards.
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"A very funny gentleman. He is the pivotal guy in the [Sketch] show. He's got that manner about him."
Kelsey Grammer
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"Lee Mack's star continues to rise, with the host's chair in They Think It's All Over, a US sketch show and his own series on Radio 2. Go and see what all the fuss is about."
Stephen Armstrong, Sunday Times
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"Mack is undoubtedly a great teller of unadulterated gags who can time a joke to Rolex perfection."
Bruce Dessau, Evening Standard
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"The solution to the country's looming energy crisis is quite simple - we just need to harness the natural resources of Lee Mack and Lee Evans, our two most hyperactive comics. Mack, the lesser-known of the two, equals Evans in cheeky, childlike physicality but tends to generate more interesting stand-up material."
Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph
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"If it's a barrel of belly-laughs and an achy jaw you're after, Lee Mack cuts to the funny bone like a knife."
Mickey Noonan, Metro
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"Mack is the kind of savant showman whose skill reminds you why the one-man-and-his-jokes format is so popular in the first place: boundless energy, crackling improv creativity, knife-sharp material, nanosecond timing and a smut-tempered friendliness that never jars. Mack's act is like a masterclass in pure comedy."
Sam Healy, The List
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"There's nothing esoteric about his humour, but beneath the blokeish bonhomie, his live act is far more sophisticated than it first appears."
William Cook, Guardian
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"I was knocked out by Lee Mack's talent."
Daily Express
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Megan Dodds biography
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Television, film and stage actress Megan Dodds is best known for her role as Christine Dale in series two and three of the 91Èȱ¬ ONE hit series Spooks.
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She has been a regular on our screens since moving to the UK in 1997 and earlier this year she starred in Peter Bowker's Viva Blackpool (91Èȱ¬ ONE), alongside David Morrissey.
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Her considerable television credits also include Poirot (ITV1): The Hollow (ITV1); Malice Aforethought (ITV1); and Love in a Cold Climate (91Èȱ¬ ONE).
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Megan broke into Hollywood with a small role in the film movie So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993). Other film roles include the Bafta-nominated Festival (2005) and Ever After (1998), alongside Drew Barrymore.
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A graduate of the prestigious Julliard School, Megan is an acclaimed stage performer who made her Broadway debut in School for Scandal at the Lyceum Theatre in 1995 and her West End debut in Ben Elton's Popcorn in 1997.
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Recently she performed the stage monologue My Name is Rachel Corrie to widespread acclaim.
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Other credits include leading roles in This is How it Goes, Up for Grabs and Hamlet.
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Tim Vine biography
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Since co-starring with Lee Mack in both series of the Bafta-winning series The Sketch Show (ITV1), Tim is also known as a TV host, having devised and presented Fluke (Channel 4), which was nomitated for a Rose d'Or Award at the International Rose d'Or Television Festival.
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He also became the first man to appear on Channel Five when presenting quiz show Whittle.
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Tim has also starred in The Tim Vine Christmas Present (Five), Saturday Live (ITV) and The Stand Up Show (91Èȱ¬ ONE).
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Tim recently became the Guinness World Record Holder for Telling The Most Jokes in an Hour - smashing the previous record with a total of 499.
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He has appeared on the Royal Variety Show (ITV1) alongside Shirley Bassey and Kylie Minogue, and has also played to sold-out venues across the UK with his The Joke Machine Gun tour.
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Tim burst onto the stand-up circuit by winning the Perrier Best Newcomer Award for The Tim Vine Fiasco at the Edinburgh Festival in 1995.
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That followed a runner-up prize in the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition in 1993.
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Tim has gone on to play more hit solo shows in Edinburgh, including Tim Vine Flat Out (1998) and I'm Vine Thanks and Tim Vine and the Minotaur (both 1999).
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Other show credits
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The series is produced by Alex Hardcastle and directed by Nick Wood. Executive Producers are Lee Mack, Jon Thoday, Richard Allen-Turner and Sally Debonnaire. Not Going Out is made by Avalon Television.
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