Lee Mack "begged" for his role in ‘Semi-Detached’.
The 51-year-old comedian was only meant to be giving writers David Crow and Oliver Maltman some feedback on their script for the new BBC Two sitcom, but he was desperate to take on the lead character.
He told RadioTimes.com: "I first read it just because someone wanted my opinion of the script and I said not only do I love it, I really want to play the part of Stuart – so I begged for the part."
The comedy follows wedding DJ Stuart, who is facing a mid-life crisis with his ex-wife – played by Samantha Spiro – living a few feet from his new family.
Ellie White joins the cast as his new girlfriend, while Neil Fitzmaurice, Clive Russell, Sarah Hoare, and Patrick Baladi all play more immediate family members who make Stuart feel suffocated on the street.
Despite being so keen to play the role, Lee has admitted it’s a departure for him after spending so long writing his own scripts for his own sitcom ‘Not Going Out’.
He explained: "I have complete control over [Not Going Out], I do write it with somebody else but I have the ultimate control.
"And so there’s been things often over the years where I’ve looked at them and gone ‘I don’t feel confident doing this’ because I want to put my thoughts into it and so I’ve avoided them – but this was just so fantastically written.
"And so it was fantastic letting go of that, I did have a couple of little comments but overall I just said the words that we were given so it was quite liberating."
The six 30-minute episodes will follow every step Stuart takes as he becomes claustrophobic in his own home, which became a struggle for Lee as he worked twice as hard as he ever has before.
He previously explained: "The main challenge is that I’m in every single scene. I think there was one scene, the only time in the whole series, where the camera follows someone else.
"I’m not in every shot so sometimes it’s cut between different characters, but my character is in every scene. I used to complain that actors say ‘I’m tired’ but now I’m like, ‘I’ll keep my mouth shut when actors complain it’s tiring.’ "