Who is Lee Mack? Not Going Out and Would I Lie To You comedian who won a TV Bafta this year

LEE Mack is a comedian and actor who became a household name thanks to the popularity of his sitcom Not Going Out and work on the comedy panel show Would I Lie to You?

And he just won a TV Bafta for Would I Lie to You? But what else do we know about the funnyman? Here's the lowdown…

Who is Lee Mack?

Lee Mack – real name Lee Gordon McKillop – was born above a pub in Southport, Lancashire, in 1968.

He is best known for writing and starring in his hit BBC sitcom, Not Going Out.

But he started out working in a bingo hall and as a stable boy before becoming a Blue Coat entertainer at Pontins holiday resort at Hemsby in Norfolk.

Lee was sacked from Pontins after appearing on stage drunk and calling an audience member an offensive name.

He came to prominence by winning So You Think You're Funny at the 1995 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The cheeky comic featured in the original radio version of The Mighty Boosh and had his own show on BBC Radio 2 called The Lee Mack Show.

What TV shows has Lee Mack been in?

Lee joined ITV's The Sketch Show alongside Tim Vine in 2001 and launched a new show entitled Lee Mack's All-Star Cast for BBC in 2011.

And he has hosted many panel shows including They Think It's All Over, Have I Got News For You and Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

The 49-year-old, who is now the winner of three British Comedy Awards, has been a team captain in BBC One's panel show Would I Lie to You? since 2007, alongside David Mitchell and Rob Brydon – and won the Best Entertainment Performance award at the 2019 TV Baftas for his role in the show.

On March 26, 2018, it was revealed he would be joining the cast of Doctor Who after the fanatic auditioned for a part using his own Tardis.

Lee also starred in the fifteenth series of BBC One's Who Do You Think You Are?, which also features Michelle Keegan, Olivia Colman, Boy George and more.

Is Lee Mack married?

Lee lives in Surrey with his wife of 13 years.

The couple have three children.

What is Lee's show Not Going Out about?

Not Going Out, which is co-written by Lee Mack and currently showing its ninth series, is the longest-running comedy on the BBC after first airing back in 2006.

The comedy, which was cancelled for a short spell in 2009 only to be reinstated by the BBC soon after, follows the jokes, jibes and general misunderstandings of happy-go-lucky Lee – who plays a fictional version of himself – from a "layabout with big dreams" to a married dad-of-three.

Speaking about the latest series to the Express, Lee said: "I decided I wanted to write about my own life, which is man, wife and three children.

"And the options available to us were to slowly progress it or hit the ground running.

"Now I'm actually playing my own age, roughly, rather than younger than I am, which is nice. Also, I was running out of gags about a bloke who fancies his landlady!

"The storylines now aren't so out there – they have to be based on some reality."

The show, which premiered on October 6, 2006, and drew 3-4million viewers per episode in 2015,  won the RTS Break-Through Award and the Gold Rose d'Or award for Best Sitcom.

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