Lee Mack's sitcom Not Going Out gets two more series

The BBC has commissioned two more series of the sitcom – taking the total up to ten. The news comes ahead of the launch of series eight in the new year. It is a mark of confidence in Not Going Out, which will return to BBC1 in January after a break of over two years.

The new series is set seven years after we last met Lee and Lucy (Sally Bretton), but now they have three young children and live in suburbia.

Bobby Ball will return as Lee's dad, while Hugh Dennis and Abigail Cruttenden will reprise their roles as friends Toby and Anna. Geoffrey Whitehead and Deborah Grant will play Anna's parents.

The sitcom was originally cancelled in 2009 in the middle of series three, but the decision was quickly reversed - giving it a new lease of life.

With ten series now commissioned, Not Going Out will soon outstrip even the likes of Dad's Army, which ran for nine series. Mack's show is already the BBC's longest-running sitcom at 10 years and counting.

At a screening of the new series in London, Mack told the audience: ‘When we started I thought it might run for just one or two series.

"I started the show in my 30s and currently I’ll still be doing it in my 50s, even if we don’t do any more after that."