There’s clearly hard work behind Not Going Out. It never seems to rely on one of its actors filling in gaps in the script with a bit of over the top performing, nor does it attempt to do things it can’t realistically do. Instead, the show works once more as it always has: with a good, witty script as the foundation of it. Furthermore, it’s a script that’s got the willingness to invest time in a gag early on, knowing the pay-off may yet be 20 minutes away as it does so. Lee remains jobless, still has a thing for Lucy, Tim is still a middle class snob… well, you know all of this. In Band, then, the first episode of the new run, Tim joins a band, and Lee gets jealous, wanting in. That’s the guts of the idea there, but as regular viewers of the show know, once it has its outline idea, its joke hit rate proves high. Instead, I’ll say this: as Not Going Out always manages, by the time the credits role, you’re left feeling you’ve had a really good half hour of entertainment. It’s testament to the commitment of Mack to the show, and to the key performers, that Not Going Out continues to work. It’s refreshingly gimmick-free in its approach, living or dying on how well each episode is written and played. And fortunately, on the evidence here, it’s a programme that’s still got a lot of laughs left in the tank.
