User Reviews

I applaud Lee Mack for doing something a little different, rather than the usual Christmas format, he opted to write something, a little different. It's a hybrid panto sitcom, the question, did it work....

It's a mixed bag it's fair to say, after some initial routine jokes, we get the best scene, a mention to the much loved, much missed Bobby Ball, who leaves a serious gap, that was a nice moment.

The jokes, some were good, some landed very badly, I think many of us are done with Covid jokes.

There was an element of fun here, and the presence of Jason Donovan did add something, even if lots of the laughs were telegraphed.

I wish I'd watched this pre Christmas, I think it would have landed better, watching it on a cold January night, it was a good effort, sadly it's not going to be an episode to repeat watch.

Imaginative, if flawed, 6/10.

Not Going Out goes Panto in a rather laboured way.

Lucy is sick and tired of doing all the housework. Lee contributes nothing but wisecracks.

Lucy dreams of being swept off her feet by Jason Donovan or Rick Astley.

This could be Lee's worse nightmare.

A panto edition of Not Going Out and Bobby Ball was not forgotten.

Jason Donovan got into the spirit of it all. Some of the jokes work better if you know the lyrics to his songs. That does rule out a large segment of the audience!

It was certainly different, a fair few crude jokes but not the funniest Christmas specials of Not Going Out.

For those like myself who still find the idea of returning to a Theatre in the current climate difficult I was pleased to see Lee Mack and co bring it to my living room through 'Not Going Out'.

I enjoyed this episode, I thought it worked well, being played seriously enough for it to be Cinderella, with lots of nice twists along the way.

Much better than other things that have been dubbed 'entertainment' over the festive period.

A bit of an annoying format but I respect the fact they tried to do something different. There were definitely some funny gags and I loved the names they gave the sisters. The cameos were cool, in fact it's the first cameo that stopped me turning it off the first time that I saw it. It just got very tedious and irritating at times but at least there were a laugh or two.

I would say that Wendy in particular stood out as entertaining in this episode with her dialogue and I like that they interacted with the audience in a way you would usually see in a panto. Also it was nice to have a tribute to Frank here as Bobby Ball is an absolute legend. We sure do miss him!

I'm a big fan of Not Going Out. I was looking forward to this Christmas special and I was really disappointed with it.

Some of the past episodes have been hilarious, but I'm finding each season now is worse than the previous ones. This once great comedy is quickly becoming a borefest.

I thought this was hilarious and brilliant and I laughed all the way through! A fun trip down memory lane with the Jason Donovan songs too. I really enjoyed the way Lee interacted with the audience as actors do in a real panto. Great job!

I love this show and I love Lee Mack but this Christmas special was awful. I hate to even say this. It was cringey and hard to watch, I switched off after around 15 minutes. This was the first time i didn't finish an episode. The whole panto / dream thing is played out.

Another really disappointing entry in Lee Mack's long running sitcom.

Dream sequences are nothing new to the series and in this episode Lee dreams he's part of a Cinderella pantomime with the other cast members playing the other roles.

An interesting concept but poorly executed with poor topical jokes that are a far cry from the days of witty one liners we were used to a decade ago.

There's also a supporting role for Jason Donavan as Prince Charming, but in reality it could have been any other actor playing the role.

A minor annoyance for me was that Lee breaks the 4th wall and regularly interacted with the audience (like a real panto), it felt really out of place for a studio sitcom, and made it feel like one if his stand up shows.

The only positive was the nice mention of Lee's Dad played by the late Bobby Ball. Hopefully he'll get a proper send off in a later episode.

I hope the next series improves on this episode. The bar has been set low, but the show has rapidly declined since series 7 for me, with more duds than great episodes.