Lee Mack, born Lee McKillop, is a 56-year-old British stand-up comedian, TV host and actor originally from Lancashire.

As a child at school, he enjoyed making people laugh with his Bobby Ball impression.

As a teen, he got his first taste of the stage as a bluecoat at Pontin’s holiday parks, before starting his stand-up career in 1994. At the time, he was studying drama at Brunel University in West London. He became a comedian full-time after his graduation.

In 1995, he competed in the So You Think You’re Funny? competition at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and won. Other notable past winners include Dylan Moran, Tommy Tiernan, Peter Kay and Aisling Bea.

Since then he has become a prominent contributor to TV, radio, theatre and on the stand-up touring circuit.

From 2012 to 2014, he won Best Male Television Comic at the British Comedy Awards.

He has been married to his wife, Tara, since 2005 – nine years after they first met while at Brunel University. Together they have three children.

Lee is an advocate for charity and campaign group Alcohol Concern, and has been sober since 2016. He also frequently competes in Soccer Aid, an annual celebrity football match that raises money for UNICEF.

Lee Mack created and leads the cast of Not Going Out, the BBC’s second longest-running sitcom. It has been on air since 2006 and follows a fictional version of himself who is a struggling thirty-something struggling to feel motivated while living in London.

Lee has also been a regular face on TV panel shows and chat shows including being a team captain on Would I Lie To You?, and having guest spots on Have I Got News For You, QI and 8 Out of 10 Cats. In 2021 he competed in Taskmaster.

As for hosting duties, Lee presented The Royal Variety Performance in 2022, and in the same year Freeze The Fear With Wim Hof.

Since 2022 he has hosted ITV gameshow, The 1% Club.

In Sky’s new Original Christmas movie, Lee will play Neil, a whinge-prone family man who has a contentious relationship with his neighbour, Scott (played by Chris McCausland).

Scott knows how to get under Neil’s skin, leaving up Christmas lights all-year round, messing up their bins and proving himself a general annoyance – even though everyone apart from Neil seems to love him.

According to the synopsis: “Tensions escalate when the residents appoint Scott as the new head of Neighbourhood Watch, upsetting Neil who questions his suitability for the role. Their animosity escalates into a series of retaliations, culminating in Neil accidentally triggering a power outage that plunges the entire street into darkness on Christmas Eve!

“Forced to abandon their festive plans, the neighbourhood evacuates, leaving Neil and Scott alone and on guard. When an infamous local crime family decides to rob the entire street in one night, the pair must set aside their differences and collaborate to thwart them.

“They’ve got no lights, no cameras, no alarms, and one of them is blind, which might just be an advantage…”