Not Going Out – Series Six – A Look Back

Last night the sixth series of ‘Not Going Out’ came to an end last night with final episode ‘Boat’, rounding off another run of the best sitcom currently on television.

Series six of ‘Not Going Out’ has had its struggles. The departure of main cast member Tim Vine’ prior to this run was greeted with much disappointment from the fan base and continues to be a criticism thrown at each episode on social networks, with Tim only receiving brief mentions in the opening and closing episodes.

Though series six has been a weaker series than NGO at its high points, I don’t think the absence of Vine has had much of an impact. Sure, as a big fan of Vine’s humour, puns and delivery, he was an important factor in the show and was missed, but the writing and characters were strong enough without him and I think he’ll miss the show more than the show will miss him. After all, what has Tim Vine done recently, aside from the game show last summer, that would have stopped him from contributing?

Vine’s absence did allow the supporting cast to come to the fore more, with the parents of Lucy and Bobby Ball as Lee’s dad Frank, getting more air time. Sally Bretton felt very confident as Lucy in this series and Katy Wix got much more to do this time around, enjoying the wackiness of her character.

As a series, the latest wasn’t the best in the collection – that goes to one, two or four – but it’s still funnier than most other comedies on television. Finale ‘Boat’ was one of the best episodes of the run with the confined nature of the boat allowing for the characters and situation to shine, with some of the best one-liners in the whole canon of the show, plus the best inflatable sidekick since Airplane’s Otto Pilot. It was just a shame that there wasn’t more made of two possible endings at the conclusion of the piece as it didn’t feel like an ending where Lee and Lucy got together would have fitted at the end, and it didn’t feel like the ending of a series, but still a thoroughly enjoyable episode.

Highlights of the series were definitely opener ‘Rabbit’, with its ridiculous concept but one that made for some really memorable situations such as the ‘Elephant Man’ moment; ‘Rachel’ with the uber-creepy stalking girlfriend; and concluding episode ‘Boat’ which, at times, felt like Mack was going to do a ‘Blackadder Goes Forth’ with the characters. There were a few episodes that did seem like NGO was treading old ground. ‘Skiing’ successfully adapted the one-location setting made famous in sitcoms like ‘One Foot In The Grave’ but the extra cast member did seem like a retread of the prostitute character from a few series previously (“I was distinctly told that if I took my top off I wouldn’t get hit by a baseball bat”), though the use of green screen, as in ‘Boat’, showed a slightly increased budget and experimentation for the series; “Therapy” an update on “Death” from series one (one of the best episodes of the sitcom); “Conference” having shades of series two; and Simon Farnaby’s character in “Play” feeling like an echo of Duncan Duff’s eco-warrior ‘Pete’ from series one and the shop opener in ‘Magic’ seemingly from the same acting school as Andy Linden’s neighbour from series three. At times the jokes did feel a little forced but, when you’ve run for 42 episodes, there’s always going to be some familiarity.

Overall, series six wasn’t the best of ‘Not Going Out’ but there were three of the eight that will go down as some of the best episodes from the sitcom and the others had enough material to keep them going. I’m looking forward to a seventh series and just hope Lee Mack can freshen it up a little  bit and also perhaps explore an arc-style approach that proved successful in series two and, to some extent, three, to bring a cohesive feel to a collection of episodes, alongside a strong ending.

Series six might not have been classic ‘Not Going Out’ but it’s heads and shoulders above other sitcoms around at the moment and here’s me looking forward to the 50^th episode next year.