Lee Mack

For reasons never really explained - well, beyond the fact that the letters board presents a fine opportunity for puerile mischief - the Cats mob have become a little smitten with Countdown: this is the third mash-up between the shows in little over a year. Jimmy Carr again hosts, though Sean Lock is away on tour, so regular captain Jon Richardson pairs up with gruff Welshman Rhod Gilbert to take on Rob Beckett and panel show pro Lee Mack. Over in dictionary corner, Countdown veteran Susie Dent is joined by the marvellous Tim Key.

Playing the comedy-show mash-up game, afternoon favourite Countdown gets a prime-time makeover, with regular Cats Jon Richardson and Rhod Gilbert pitting their wits against opponents Lee Mack and Rob Beckett. Over in Dictionary Corner, the very funny Tim Key reserves the right to delete any wordy offerings that don't come up to scratch. And maybe he'll treat us to one of his comedy poems - they deserve a show of their own.

Lured by a bargain-basement price, Lee (Lee Mack) books a skiing holiday for three - a skinflint move he regrets the minute he, Daisy and Lucy step foot inside a cable car to take them to the top of the mountain. As claustrophobia, old-time puns and squeamish humour kick in, we're halfway up a slippery slope which sees Lee at 'the business end' of things when heavily pregnant fellow cable-car passenger (Pooky Quesnel) realises her waters have broken.

A cheap skiing holiday in eastern Europe turns into a nail-biting comedy nightmare for Lee, Daisy and Lucy when they become stranded in a cable car far above the piste.

The episode plays out in real time, which helps to build up the hysteria as the group come to realise that the local woman stuck in the car with them is heavily pregnant. You can probably see where this is going, can't you?

What follows is typically ribald, buffoonish Not Going Out fare as hapless Lee (Lee Mack) is inevitably nominated to act as midwife - what with Lucy (Sally Bretton) being incapacitated by an accident and dim Daisy (Katy Wix) being, well, dim Daisy. Throw her a stick and she is guaranteed gleefully to seize the wrong end. Of course it's deeply silly, but as usual there are gags that will make you laugh, despite yourself.

One of TV's most unlikely - but no less enjoyable for that - cross-fertilisations returns as the 8 out of 10 Cats comedy quiz team takes over (for the third time) the veteran words and numbers game Countdown. Once again, Jimmy Carr replaces Nick Hewer in the presenter's chair, while Jon Richardson is joined by Rhod Gilbert to take on fellow comedians Lee Mack (replacing absent captain Sean Lock) and Rob Beckett. In Dictionary Corner with Countdown's Susie Dent is performance poet Tim Key, while Rachel Riley gets less welcome assistance from beardy Joe Wilkinson.

he big difference this time around is that Tim Vine has now left, meaning that Lee Mack has no comic foil. Tim's disappearance was explained early on in this episode as he is apparently on a work placement in Germany. Meanwhile Tim's sister Lucy (Sally Breton) had a dilemma when she ran over the rabbit of a client's daughter after a successful business meeting. As this was Not Going Out, Lucy did the most illogical thing namely to get Lee to return the body of the rabbit to its owner. However due to a number of misunderstandings, Lee ends up returning the wrong rabbit and so the usual string of comic capers begin.

To be fair, not much has changed in the world of Not Going Out and I have to say I really didn't miss Tim Vine all that much. I feel by this point Mack and Breton to have enough chemistry to carry a sitcom together and this episode really demonstrated it. Thankfully Katy Wix's Daisy is still around and in this first episode had some great one-liners though I'd like to see her be the focus of a few more storylines now she's one of the major players.

Not Going Out may not be the most original comedy around but there's no denying that it's still funny after six years. Mack knows how to both write and deliver a funny line while his two female co-stars are also excellent at bouncing of him. So far 2013 has been a dire year for UK sitcoms so I'm glad that there's finally something on TV that at least makes me laugh once in a while.

A welcome return for Lee Mack's likable sitcom, and veritable gag-alanche of pithy one-liners. When Lucy (Sally Bretton) attempts to secure a contract with a client at his house, she ends up accidentally running over his daughter's pet rabbit. It's just the start of a masterclass in situation escalation, encompassing kidnapping, hare-brained helpers ... and beating a second rabbit to death with a torch. "Hopefully, it had Duracell batteries in it. It's what the bunny would have wanted."

At the launch of the sixth series of Not Going Out, its star Lee Mack said the absent Tim Vine - who played Tim, Not Going Out's good-natured voice of reason and a perfect foil for Mack - would be replaced by an "abstract concept". What he meant was there'd be a lot more plot and story to make up for the Vine-sized gap. You'll be able to see what he was getting at in a very farcical opening episode involving dead rabbits.

All the usual Not Going Out tent-poles are in place; the quick-fire gags at which Mack is the unsurpassable master, the silly situations (very silly, as it turns out) and the excellent Sally Bretton and Katy Wix as Lucy and Daisy. It's frantic, frequently funny and refreshingly unpretentious. But you'll miss Tim Vine. I do.

The return of Not Going Out

Lee Mack's Not Going Out returns to the BBC for its sixth series this evening, with an episode that proves there is life after Tim Vine...