It may be called Not Going Out and it’s certainly usually shot in the studio rather than on location, but for its Christmas special Lee Mack’s sitcom took to the streets of Wimbledon.

In the episode due to air on BBC One at 10.45pm on Christmas Eve, Lee and Lucy do some last-minute Christmas shopping in the town before things go inevitably wrong.

Scenes were filmed on the lower level of St George’s car park, where a car backs into a van.

The special revisits the couple a year after they have married and Lucy (Sally Bretton) is three days overdue with their first baby when they find themselves caught up in a robbery at a department store.

They are joined by Lee’s dad Frank (Bobby Ball) dressed as Santa’s elf, friend Daisy (Katy Wix) and neighbours Toby (Hugh Dennis) and Anna (Abigail Cruttenden).

Karen Everett, director at FilmFixer which manages Merton Council’s film office, said: “Finding an entire unused level of a London car park is one of those hidden gems that productions are always happy to learn about. It was really useful to allow filming in the carpark right by the shopping centre where the rest of the episode was shot.

"We're pretty happy that on the rare occasion when this production shot on location, instead of in front of a studio audience, they came to us in Merton.”