Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Lee Mack, Sally Breton, Deborah Grant, Geoffrey Whitehead, Hugh Dennis, Abigail Cruttenden, Jason Donovan, Rick Astley.
The trick is to so all you can to stay fresh whilst never betraying the core values of what made you popular in the first place; if you can master that then the world of entertainment and art is at your beckoned call.
It is perhaps not a lesson many need to learn, for art has always led the way when it comes to the matters of the heart, of redemption, and forgiveness, and if we can turn that into comedy, if we find a way to show that salvation can come through the delivery of humour, then the point has been made that all can be saved whilst retaining the ability to be vigorous and inventive.
It is to invention that Not Going Out has managed to skilfully retain its place in the public’s affection, and whilst a lot of that comes from the dynamic created between Lee Mack and Sally Bretton, arguably one of the finest on-screen comic partnerships to exist within the domestic dwelling, and from the entire cast that has endearingly woven their way into this relationships, not least the admirable Hugh Dennis and Abigail Cruttenden, but from the ability to overcome the current state of the national health by adapting the sitcom procedure to that of one of timely joy.
By placing the situation into the sentiment of a panto, with all its possibilities, with the pleasure of having Jason Donovan turning up as Prince Charming to Sally Bretton’s Cinderella, with all the innuendo you can muster as a truly superb side helping, it is on reflection, with all that has happened over the course of the year that could have swept aside Lee Mack’s writing, one of the great half hours of comedy caught on television during the last twelve months.
Endearing, testing, timely, provocative, and yet fully enjoyable, there are not many comedies that can make you feel as though you have spent time fully invested in the lives of those you watch on screen. Not Going Out, why would you need to when this is on the screen.
Ian D. Hall