Not Going Out: End of Series Review

1st June 2013

Much like its protagonist, Not Going Out may be simple and not very refined, but it certainly is funny. Finishing its sixth series on Friday night, it’s easy to see how Lee Mack’s sitcom survived a brief cancellation and now maintains a steady audience on BBC One. A solid rather than ground-breaking comedy that would never spring to mind if someone were to ask me my favourite comedies, it nevertheless often has me laughing out loud.

The series finale followed the established Not Going Out formula, where episodes play out like extended stand-up routines, and characters exchange punchlines rather than dialogue. Bobby Ball returned as Lee’s father, offering Lee the chance to woo landlady Lucy (Sally Bretton) in the romantic surroundings of his new boat. Naturally, Lucy turns out to have a fear of water, the boat turns out to be an un-seaworthy wreck, and soon enough they are adrift at sea with the hapless Daisy (Katy Wix) sabotaging any hope of return to dry land. The standard hijinks, banter and innuendo ensue; Not Going Out may be none too subtle and several steps removed from reality, but it gets all the bigger laughs for its unashamed reliance on quick fire one-liners.

The series has suffered this year from the loss of Tim Vine, which has resulted in his girlfriend Daisy being given greater prominence in the village idiot role. Her simpleness has proved a difficult tool to master – her misunderstandings can easily and hilariously escalate the many absurd predicaments the characters find themselves in, but used too often she can become wearisome. The sitcom is set to return for another series, where hopefully she can settle into her more central role, and with any luck the development of Lee and Lucy’s will they/won’t they relationship, left unresolved in the finale despite many hints to the contrary, can accelerate.

Its style may not be for everyone, but for mainstream BBC One fare Not Going Out is extremely good at what it does, and when on form the calamitous life of Lee can be hysterical. Though not every episode entirely hits the mark, occasionally a tightly scripted and quick witted gem will come along that demonstrates why the sitcom has continued to thrive. At six series old it still has life in it, unlike many other comedies that struggle on this far, and there are worse things to watch on a Friday night – although a high tolerance for jokes about the North is recommended.

Let's Dance for Comic Relief 2013 - Week 3

Monday 5th March 2013

As the final heats for this year’s Let’s Dance for Comic Relief arrived, it was not only iconic dances that were running low, but celebrities to perform them: one contestant was making his second appearance, whilst another was the landlady from the backstage bar. Guy Levy

Nevertheless, this week arguably showcased the best dancers so far, in talent if not necessarily in comedy value. Luckily, Arlene Philips was on hand to lend some gravitas to the panel, alongside Greg James and Lee Mack (who evidently hadn’t got the memo about being unreservedly positive about everything on stage).

Following the great tradition of BBC newsreaders embarrassing themselves for charity, Newsround presenters Sonali Shah and Ore Oduba took on Outkast’s Hey Ya. Similarly, in the great tradition of BBC dance programmes, the braces on Ore’s trousers broke the second he began dancing, meaning that the pair deserve extra credit for executing several lifts without a) Ore’s trousers falling down or b) Sonali getting whacked in the face by errant buckles.

Keith Duffy was scheduled but unable to appear, and was replaced by Jodie Prenger, West End star and ‘landlady’ of Shenanigans. Her performance suggested she had been physically restrained from launching herself onto the stage every week, such was her evident enthusiasm and step-perfect routine to Word Up. She may have been called upon at the last minute, but she had definitely been rehearsing that one for a while.

Comedienne/ventriloquist Nina Conti performed a decent jungle themed routine, vastly improved by an elaborate costume designed to look as though she had been kidnapped by a giant monkey. It sounds bizarre, but didn’t even come close to being the weirdest thing we’d see tonight. A surprisingly graceful Lee Nelson turned up for a second shot at glory. The brief clip we saw of his previous performance mysteriously showed him in his pants, so this year was a definite improvement as he teamed up with Britain’s Got Talent contestants Twist and Pulse to do a ballet/hip-hop fusion that was remarkably slick.

Just as I was musing on the high standard of dancing we were witnessing, Vanessa Feltz unveiled an homage to Cher which was somewhat less concerned with choreography. Not that it mattered, for she had incorporated flying, a giant cannon and a very revealing leotard into her routine. Top marks for bravery, but as Feltz herself admitted, you weren’t really sure you wanted to see it again.

Let’s Dance may have missed out on big name contestants, but they did manage to secure Nicole Sherzinger and Justin Bieber to provide the music - probably the first and last time Bieber will be sharing the bill with Vanessa Feltz. After much filler, Jodie Prenger deservedly reached the final on public vote, reacting like someone who had simultaneously won the lottery and been punched in the stomach. Lee Nelson was rewarded for his choreography by an Arlene still misty-eyed for her Strictly days, and so the final line-up was complete. With no runaway favourite this year, the only guaranteed winners are Lycra and wig manufacturers.

Would I Lie to You?/Have I Got News For You

April 15th 2012

The BBC Friday night comedy juggernaut rolled back into town this week, with the return of well-established panel shows Would I Lie to You? and Have I Got News For You. Though strikingly different beasts, both abided by the adage ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.

The former kicked off proceedings with the familiar team captains David Mitchell and Lee Mack with Rob Brydon hosting. Now in its 6^th series, the basic format, if you can’t work it out from the title, has panellists reading unseen anecdotes about themselves, or claiming a connection to a mystery guest, while the others interrogate them to sort the truth from the lies. David Mitchell remains effortlessly brilliant destroying newcomers with his pedantry and gunning down their falsities with his ruthless logic machine, and Lee Mack hones his posh jibes in response.

I’ve no idea who thinks up the lies or discovers some of the bizarre truths about the celebrity guests, but at times they can be inspired, and the subsequent cross-examinations can be hilarious – I’ve never forgotten Kevin Bridges’ utterly implausible story of how he once accidentally bought a horse, with his tale being ripped to shreds before turning out to be impossibly true.

But the very nature of this show is that it can be hit and miss – it relies on the perfect combination of inspired lies and quick-witted guests. By these criteria, the opening episode of the series, with the hardly magic combination of guests Alex Jones, Alexander Armstrong, Mel Giedroyc and unfortunately Chris Tarrant, was very much a miss. Then again, all it takes is one brilliantly tall tale and it could feel like a different show next week. And not that I’m biased due to my slight obsession with him since Gavin and Stacey, but Rob Brydon’s short dance sequence elevated the show to possible BAFTA standard.

By contrast, Have I Got News For You, the satirical news quiz now in its 43^rd series, seems like it will always have legs so long as politicians insist on making fools of themselves. With recent revelations of the rich avoiding tax by temporarily leaving British airspace, and the flooding of Greggs by politicians desperate to be photographed with a soggy pasty, Ian Hislop and Paul Merton have plenty to take aim at.

Joined this week by Grace Dent, Miles Jupp and guest host Stephen Mangan, the show adhered to the familiar sequence of rounds that pick apart the news with aplomb. When faced with scandals where you have to laugh or you’ll cry, Paul Merton’s eccentricity is as perfect as ever for highlighting the absurdity of our ruling class, and for deflating Ian Hislop’s occasional pompous rants.

One of the few shows both myself and my parents enjoy (I don’t think I’ll ever convince them of the merits of Desperate Housewives), it is consistently the perfect tonic to depressing current affairs. Compared with a lacklustre edition of Would I Lie to You?, Have I Got News For You demonstrates that often the truth can be funnier than fiction.