Series nine of Not Going Out begins on the BBC early next month, but the show very nearly came to an end following repeats of the show on Dave.
Chatting to the Radio Times, Mack said he took umbrage with the alcohol commercials that Dave was surrounding the show with. Mack hasn’t drunk alcohol for over 18 months and is an ambassador for Alcohol Concern, and noted that “we make it on the BBC but then it ends up on commercial channels and is heavily sponsored by beer”.
“I spend ten months a year doing this, and suddenly I feel like I’m a brewer’s marketing department, and my work is being used to sell booze”.
He thus threatened to stop making the show, unless something was done. Even suggesting that he’d fulfil his contractual obligations to it by changing its names, or making a new show altogether. In the end, Dave relented, and Not Going Out could carry on.
“I’m not opposed to the consumption of alcohol”, Mack explained. “I’m opposed to my kids watching TV at seven o’clock and being told to bet and drink”.