Semi-Detached
- TV sitcom
- BBC Two
- 2019 - 2020
- 7 episodes (1 series)
Real-time sitcom following the hapless Stuart as he struggles between his new family and ex-wife, who lives across the road. Stars Lee Mack, Neil Fitzmaurice, Ellie White, Samantha Spiro, Patrick Baladi and more.
Press clippings
Lee Mack sitcom Semi-Detached axed, as comic makes Soccer Aid film
Lee Mack's sitcom Semi-Detached has been cancelled by the BBC, while the comic has started making an ITV football documentary.
British Comedy Guide, 18th June 2021Less a comedy, more an extended panic attack, Lee Mack's new sitcom doesn't make for relaxing viewing. This week, a journalist is following Kate around in order to write a lifestyle piece. But what could go wrong when the hack runs into her ex across the road? Not unpredictably, everything.
Phil Harrison, The Guardian, 3rd September 2020Why Semi-Detached is the most stressful TV show of 2020
Hallucinatory hummus! Hostages! Hyperventilation! Lee Mack's latest series is a masterclass in chaotic comedy, with a multitude of disasters unfolding in real time.
Stuart Heritage, The Guardian, 18th August 2020BBC2's comedy evening is a hit-and-miss affair, but it's good that the Beeb is now producing enough new sitcoms and sketch shows - after a long barren patch - to stage a cavalcade like this.
Diane Morgan's slack-faced creation Mandy kicked it off with a couple of daft stories - one about a job at a banana factory, and one that pitted her in a line-dancing marathon contest against arch-enemy Maxine Peake.
Call me easily pleased, but I was weeping with laughter at the sight of a woman with a beehive and a fag in her mouth, splatting tarantulas on a conveyor belt of imported fruit.
I'm laughing less at Semi-Detached. It started well but I'm beginning to worry that Lee Mack - shorn of his one-liners - is a painfully depleted sight. He needs to be much more than just a character that things happen to.
Matt Berry rounded the evening off with Squeamish About.... It was funny for the first five minutes. Less would be more.
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail, 14th August 2020The gimmick of this Lee Mack sitcom is that events unfold in real time, which in practice means each episode sees his stressed wedding DJ Stuart absolutely dog-piled by humiliations. Tonight, all Stu wants to do is reclaim his iPad, triggering a blackly comic and often profane cascade of disaster.
Graeme Virtue, The Guardian, 13th August 2020Semi-Detached review
Lee Mack as a wedding DJ having a midlife crisis? It sounds naff, but it's like Birdman - if Birdman were set in a cream sitting room.
Joel Golby, The Guardian, 8th August 2020TV review: Semi-Detached, BBC Two
It's interesting that this is on BBC Two because it's really only a whisker away from being a mainstream BBC One sitcom.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 6th August 2020Semi-Detached with Lee Mack review
The gimmick of Lee Mack's new sitcom is that all the action happens in real time - though whether audiences would appreciate, or even notice, the restriction that writers David Crow and Oliver Maltman have imposed on themselves remains to be seen.
Bruce Dessau, Chortle, 6th August 2020Semi-Detached review
In some respects, this BBC sitcom channels elements of the sadcom - but the moments aren't frequent or long enough to actually make us care.
Annabel Nugent, The Independent, 6th August 2020Semi-Detached, episode 1, review
Lee Mack's suburban sadsack makes for solid sitcom fare.
Anita Singh, The Telegraph, 6th August 2020