Lee Mack turned down Red Dwarf role

[Dax101]

Lee Mack turned down a role in Red Dwarf because of his principles about alcohol advertising he has revealed.
Responding to questions from an audience at the Oxford Union in March, uploaded to youtube by the university debating society yesterday, Mack said: “There was one show I regret not doing that I was offered.

“Red Dwarf was on TV when I wasn’t even a comedian, it’s been on forever … it’s a great show, I used to love watching it.”

The Not Going Out creator and star, who grew up above a pub and had family members with severe alcoholism, became teetotal a decade ago.

He previously threatened to cancel the long-running BBC sitcom because it carried alcohol sponsorship when it was repeated on the U&Dave channel formerly known as Dave.

Realising that he was contractually obliged to make more episodes, Mack, an ambassador for Alcohol Concern, threatened to change the show’s name and maintained that he would have done it. But UKTV ultimately acceded to his demand and removed the sponsorship.

However, he told the Oxford event, that as Red Dwarf also aired on Dave, “because we were in that dispute at the time, I didn’t want to go and do that programme on that channel.

 https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/fyi/1080/lee-mack-rejected-red-dwarf/

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[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Oh no….…. Anyway…

[Dax101]

Ah probably Timewave.

[Dave]

My first thought was Timewave too.

[Ben Saunders]

I don’t hate Lee Mack, he’s pretty funny on Would I Lie To You, but Not Going Out is bottom of the barrel shite and he’s shite in it so whatever. He could hardly have made Timewave worse.

[Turk Thrust]

Interesting. I like Lee Mack a lot, but in much of his acting he seems to be playing a version of himself (there were exceptions in The Sketch Show).

Sorry to crowbar in an anecdote, but I remember watching him do his stand up at a village hall in North Wales at the start of his career. “This is the only gig I’ve ever done where people are having a karate lesson downstairs. And there’s more people down there than there are up here!!!” :)

[Warbodog]

He’d have been one of the more distractingly familiar faces that take me out of it, like Vegas, Eldon and how Mark Williams and David Gillespie used to be before I got used to them.

[gerrydelasel]

And nothing of value was lost

[Author]

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