Sally Bretton

The BBC was set to axe Lee Mack's old-style sitcom earlier this year but a public outcry changed all that. So here it is returning for a fourth series with slacker Lee (Mack) still desperate to win the approval of his flatmate Lucy (Sally Bretton) who, despite succumbing to a Christmas kiss last time we saw the pair together, is back to being as unattainable as ever.

Held over from the end of the last series, back at the start of the year, this festively themed episode of Lee Mack's likeably daft sitcom (we demand more, by the way) features Bobby Ball as Lee's estranged dad. Although this man walked out on his family when his son was only four, Lucy (Sally Bretton) thinks her flatmate should forgive and forget.

Apart from the inconvenient fact that Lee Mack isn't gay, Not Going Out almost reminds you of a British Will And Grace. The rat-a-tat gags and setup of unlikely flatmates might be as artificially manufactured and as full of dodgy additives as a market stall hamburger, but you can't get enough of it.

As series three opens tonight, Lee is pondering the urban myth about whether it's possible for a woman to get pregnant from bath water. Why? Well, his landlady Lucy (Sally Bretton) is mysteriously up the duff and there can only be one, disgusting, explanation. As Lee and best mate Tim (Tim Vine) consider the grim implications, the jokes come from all directions. Plus, we discover another reason why Lee is so keen to stay in the flat. Never mind that he fancies Lucy - the bathroom is amazing.

Written by and starring comedian Lee Mack, the flatshare sitcom returns for a new series. Tonight, the gags continue to come thick and fast as Lucy (Sally Bretton) announces to Lee that she thinks she's pregnant or, as Lee sarcastically puts it, "got a muffin in the breadbin". When he goes for a drink with Lucy's brother Tim (Tim Vine), Lee wonders if the father might accidentally be him and we discover how the unusual conception may have happened.