Lee Mack and Andrew Collins were the initial writers, with Paul Kerensa, Simon Evans and Daniel Peak joining the team in later series.

The show was cancelled by the BBC in 2009, whilst the third series was still airing, but the decision was later reversed due to a combination of strong DVD sales and an online petition.

The series focuses on Lee Mack, who plays a fictional version of himself: an unambitious man, initially in his late thirties living as a lodger in a flat in the London Docklands.

[7] Originally from Chorley, Lancashire[8] (which is approximately 20 miles from Southport, Mack's real-life birthplace), Lee is a negligent, unmotivated layabout.

In the first series, this girl is Kate (Megan Dodds), Lee's feisty American landlady, with whom he frequently has conflict but otherwise has a close relationship.

Although his frequent laziness annoys her, Lucy sometimes appears to enjoy Lee's presence in the flat, largely because of his company and his willingness to help her out of an awkward situation.

Later on in the series, Tim forms a relationship with Daisy (Katy Wix), an incredibly dim-witted, but likeable, young woman.

Lee's actions to impress Lucy continue well into Series 5, when they both think they accidentally slept together after drinking potato hooch.

With Tim's absence, Lee often finds himself listening to suggestions from Daisy on how to impress Lucy, which include acting as a test subject for her psychology course.

This leads to Lee both finding out that he was an unplanned child and held responsible for the breakdown in his parents' marriage, and getting a girlfriend, who develops a Fatal Attraction-esque crush on him.

They are also in touch with Lucy's parents, Geoffrey and Wendy, and with Lee's feckless father, Frank, until his death is confirmed at the beginning of the twelfth series.

Lee is a juvenile and lazy slacker, who goes from one job to another, living off the good graces of his Californian landlady Kate (Megan Dodds), with whom he shares a flat in London.

The situation is somewhat complicated by the fact that Lee's best friend Timothy Gladstone Adams (Tim Vine), an accountant from Henley, is Kate's ex-boyfriend (they broke up when he cheated on her with 23-year-old Emma) and he wants to repair their relationship.

Tim's sister Lucy Adams (Sally Bretton), a head hunter recently back from ten years abroad, buys the flat and becomes the new landlady and flatmate to Lee.

In episode 6, Lee meets a ditzy woman called Daisy at speed dating, who later appeared to fall for Tim.

Barbara is seen back in the flat, wanting to go off with Lee's dad, Frank, who is seen in the last episode, which was broadcast as a Christmas Special on 23 December 2009.

Episode 10 features their wedding day, with Lee, Frank, and Lucy's dad, Geoffrey all ending up in jail after a drunken stag night.

There are guest appearances from Tim Vine (who came back for this episode), and Bobby Ball's comedy partner, Tommy Cannon as the vicar.

[15] Talking to BBC News, Mack gave an outline of the special; it follows on from the marriage of Lucy and Lee in "The Wedding", the most recent episode, and involved a gun.

It is set seven years after the events of the 2015 Christmas special, and shows how Lee and Lucy cope with being parents to three young children.

[23] In series 9, two episodes were classically farcical: in Stolen, Lee and Lucy, having broken into their best friends' house, are forced to hide under their bed when their friends return unexpectedly early – and head straight for the bedroom; in Pants on Fire, lies build upon lies, and embarrassment soars to a crescendo.

The premise was that Lee and Lucy were organising a Christmas show for their children's school, and involved Toby and Anna beginning Tom Lehrer's Elements, but veering off as they "forgot" it into lists of supposed ideas, and building into a row.

[28] However, prior to this announcement, Mack stated that since the 2023 Christmas special was the 100th episode, he considered bringing the show to an end as he had no plans to work on the series until early 2025.

[31] From Series 5 onwards, Not Going Out was produced in association with Lee Mack's own company, Arlo Productions (named after his son).

The 2015 Christmas special was filmed on location in Wimbledon, in a department store, and was screened in London to record the laugh track.

This is a comedy style Mack and Vine have used both in stand-up and in The Sketch Show, to the extent that an occasional one-liner from their solo performances is slipped in.

Because the eight episodes of the second series had to be written and filmed in a short space of time, Avalon Television brought in Nick Stacey, Paul Kerensa and Simon Evans to join the writing team.

The third series saw the writing team expanded, with Darin Henry, Daniel Peak, and Simon Dean contributing to the main episodes (all co-written with Mack).

However, due to the success of The Catherine Tate Show, the American actress Megan Dodds was cast in the role and the character developed accordingly.

The episodes Movie and Drunk are slightly extended for DVD, featuring shots and lines cut or censored for their original BBC One transmission.