Lee

Lee (portrayed by Lee Mack) is an unambitious, lazy Northerner. He lives in Walton-on-Thames, London with his wife Lucy (Sally Bretton) and their three children Charlie (Finley Southby) and twins Benji (Max Pattison) and Molly (Francesca Newman). He was previously a tenant of Kate (Megan Dodds) and then of his future wife after she bought the flat in Docklands.

Following the break up of Kate from her partner and Lee's best friend Tim (Tim Vine), Lee moved into the flat ostensibly to help with the rent, however lacking stable employment he rarely contributed.

Lee took up a job as a Christmas cracker stuffer. At the same time he was convinced by Kate to go on a date with Lucy Moss, an author who had published an autobiography through the company Kate worked for. Despite Lucy been far too serious and that her frank and morose nature made him uncomfortable he continued to date her, spurred on by Kate's and Tim's comments that he couldn't handle a relationship with a serious woman. Lucy's nature started to rub off on Lee and he decided to start a line of crackers for more sombre occasions. Their relationship ended after she overheard him compare her to a suicidal tortoise, though Lucy was relieved as she felt he was "getting too serious". Lee also lost his job as one of his funeral jokes accidentally ended up in one of the Christmas crackers.

Lee was home when Tim came looking for Kate to tell her his grandmother had died. Lee did his best to comfort Tim, even offering him a whiskey as it was the drink you drank for bereavement, though in the end he had to offer crème de menthe as they had no whiskey. Kate late convinced him to go see a therapist to make him more emotionally available. Lee found the experience uncomfortable as his use of humour as a defence mechanism was easily seen through by the therapist and to Lee's true feelings for Kate. The therapist suggested that Lee tell Kate how he really felt about her. Lee decided to attend Tim's grandmother's funeral after previously telling Tim he wouldn't as he never met Tim's grandmother. He accidentally interrupted the ceremony when his mobile phone went off playing the grossly inappropriate "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang. At the wake Lee planned to tell Kate how he felt but was interrupted by Tim. Lee tried to lighten the mood by dressing up as Tim's Aunty Maurine, but it didn't go down well as Kate had knocked back Tim's advances. Tim told him to go and check up on Kate, but Lee decided to stay with Tim as they were best friends and Tim was clearly having a hard time. He later helped Tim home from the wake. Lee gave up his therapist deciding to go for a new tactical of "getting a grip".

When Kate's more successful Australian friend Ruth (Julia Morris) visited, Lee pretended to be Tim as Kate had not told Ruth they had broken up and her relationship was the only thing she had over Ruth. Lee struggled with the pretence, particularly with Tim's occupation. At night he joined Kate's in her bedroom, though he slept on the floor. The next day Tim turned up at the flat pretending to be Lee. At dinner when Tim learned that it was actually his and Kate's anniversary he told Ruth the truth, bring the charade to an end.

Lee worked handing out pamphlets, which saw him having to wear costumes, such as a parrot, a gorilla holding him in a cage and him in an eggshell been held by a giant rabbit. He was fired after he threw a child who was hassling him in a canal.

Lee helped Kate prepare for her driving test by been her instructor and allowing her to drive his car. During the practice she backed into another car while parking and ran over a guide dog. The trip highly agitated Lee and Kate suggested he do something about his stress, to which Lee stated he didn't suffer from. Kate was not convinced by his claim and said she would not get into another car with him until he learned to deal with it. At the pub he had Tim give him a stress test from Nuts magazine, which he did poorly at. Lee accepted Kate's offer to teach him yoga, which he didn't take seriously resulting in Kate sending him for acupuncture. During his session he annoyed the acupuncturist by suggesting she was pregnant when she wasn't, insulting her French husband, and then by questioning the effectiveness of acupuncture, which resulted in the two getting into a brawl. Lee decided to use prescription medicine, which worked in calming him down. However, after Kate found out and crashed the car they were in he returned the pills.

From series two to five onwards, Lee and Tim are joined by Tim's sister Lucy Adams, a head hunter who has come back from ten years abroad. In the first episode of series two, Tim reminds Lee that he is selling the flat as Kate has gone back to America but obviously he is unable to buy it due to being unable to earn a steady income.

It isn't long before Lee finds he has feelings for his new landlady too. Once again there were barriers in the way of Lee having a relationship though - in this case it was the fact that Lucy already had a boyfriend, the rich and suave Guy. Lee doesn't make much of an attempt to hide what he thinks of Guy - taking the mickey out of his age soon becomes a habit. Guy and Lucy have since split up, but Lucy continued to have several encounters with other men causing Lee to further conceal his feelings. Despite Lucy's first appearance in episode 7, it wasn't until episode 52 when Lee finally admitted his love for Lucy and they get engaged. Lee marries Lucy in the episode Wedding. The couple have three children in the eight years following the wedding: Charlie, Benji and Molly and move out of The Flat into a detached house. Lee becomes a car salesman and Lucy a housewife.

Kate
Kate was Lee's landlady in the first series and there appeared to be signs that they were more than just good friends. They shared the same easy-going banter but things eventually started to slowly move onto unchartered emotional waters. She tried to push Lee into making something of himself, including choosing a career. Things didn't help that Kate's ex boyfriend was Tim Adams, who just happened to be Lee's best mate. Eventually nothing happened between them as Kate moved back to America, leaving the possibility of Lee being homeless.

Lucy
Lucy is Tim's sister who buys the flat after Kate moves out. Lee then falls for her too, and throughout the series there is constant flirtations between them. In the ninth episode of series seven, Toby urges Lee that he tells her how he feels, which he finally does, and asks if she will marry him. Lucy decides against going for the job that would mean possibly going to Naples, and leaving forever, and accepts his proposal. In the Christmas Special, Lee appears to have to face Geoffrey asking if he is good enough to marry Lucy, who is his daughter. Lee and Lucy finally get married, with Tim turning up for the wedding at the last minute, with her father giving her away. The 2015 Christmas special shows Lucy giving birth to their first son Charlie, with twins Benji and Molly following in the following years. The family move to a house out of the city from series 8 onwards.

Tim
Tim is Lucy's brother and the best friend of Lee. They have known each other since they met at a house party in Lower Ebsworth in the late 1980s. In the first series, Lee fell for Kate, but her previous boyfriend just happened to be Tim, as they'd split up. Kate then went back to America, and Tim put the apartment up for sale. Lee then meets Tim's sister Lucy, who takes over paying the rent. Tim also becomes worried about the thought of Lee and Lucy together, and is dragged into Lee's daft schemes in order to impress her. This includes joining Tim's band at work in series five. At one point in the third series, Lee thinks that Lucy may be pregnant and he is the father of her baby, but it turns out not to be true. Tim eventually leaves the series to go on a work placement in Germany, but then turns up at the last minute at Lee and Lucy's wedding, where they eventually do get married and the best friends become brothers-in-law.

Toby
Toby is Lee's neighbour in the seventh series onwards. Toby is married to Anna, who appears to be very controlling and it seems his drinks down the pub with Lee are an excuse for escaping from her. But the truth is they share little in common - him and Lee, that is. In the ninth episode of series seven, Toby tries to urge Lee to tell Lucy his feelings for her, but not before making up an excuse that Lucy was on a date with his rich cousin, Carl, as he knew how Lee would react and that he wanted to be with Lucy. Lee finally then tells Lucy how he feels and even asks if she would marry him. She appears to agree and Anna appears with Toby, saying that she wishes people would answer her that quickly. Toby said that it was unfair and when Anna told him to propose he did so immediately. Anna requests that Toby get the champagne and they have some celebrating to do. Toby confessed that Carl had been made up and it was Anna he was talking to. He quite liked him though. Daisy appeared after Lee suggested she spy on Lucy and 'Carl' and said that she was having a secret lesbian affair. It didn't seem to matter because Carl didn't exist and Lee and Lucy appeared to be finally together.

Geoffrey
Geoffrey is Lucy and Tim's father. They have a somewhat tense relationship as he clearly doesn't like Lee, and having him as a son-in-law.

Jobs
Lee and 'job' are not a match made in heaven throughout the series. Series 1 saw Kate desperately try and find Lee several positions - Lee's first job was stuffing Christmas crackers, and subsequently producing his own novelty crackers for other occasions such as funerals and weddings. Later on, he is employed as an advertising distributor for a mobile phone shop, from which he gets sacked for throwing an annoying child into the canal. He is later employed by the company responsible for maintaining the health and safety of the block of flats that he and Kate live in, becoming the caretaker. He was sacked from this job too, this time for taking the blame off of Kate who threw someone's Greek sculpture out of the upper floor window.

By series 2, and the change of ownership from Kate to Lucy, Lee has seemingly purchased an ice cream van, and set up his own business. Series 3 sees Lee seemingly unemployed once again, and this is the case until Series 8. During this period, Lee goes in search of transitory money-making schemes, including using a published essay to win an amateur competition with a prize of £1,000, and allowing the filming of a pornographic movie in Lucy's flat for a £500 fee without telling her.

Lee becomes temporary lead guitarist of the Auditors, an amateur rock band set up by ex-member Stretch (Jay Simpson) to compete in a Battle of the Bands competition, which the band is not successful in. By series 7, Lee has guilt-tripped new neighbour Toby (Hugh Dennis) into giving him free entry to an exclusive charity gala event worth £1,000-a-head, and has also used the playback feature of BBC iPlayer to trick Lucy into thinking he is intelligent, to take her place on Daisy's team on the gameshow . We find out in the episode Lucy (episode) that he is collecting state benefits.

After his proposal and marriage to Lucy, Lee has got a regular job as a car salesman.