Jack Dee

After his wonderfully shocking introduction last week, lurching into the final shot with a shiv, Robbie Coltrane returns to hold Jack Dee's Rick Spleen hostage - he even gets co-headline billing in the opening titles. It's good to see him back on the box; he's always a huge presence on the small screen, and not just because of his immense girth. They're trapped together in the prison library and all that he wants from Spleen is some honest conversation, so having an inveterate liar as a hostage may prove problematic.

Let's be honest. This series of Lead Balloon has gone down just about as well as its title would suggest and it's time it was quietly retired for good.

But tonight is different. Jack Dee's whiny anti-hero Rick Spleen is taken hostage in a prison library by category-A, knife-wielding inmate Donald. The episode is a two-hander between them.

The prisoner is played by Robbie Coltrane and, while there's nothing scary about being held hostage by Hagrid, Coltrane effortlessly shows up Jack Dee's limitations as an actor and Rick Spleen's inadequacies as a human being.

Within minutes he's discovered that all of Rick's problems - in fact the whole premise of Lead Balloon - stems from his compulsion to lie.

It's a brilliantly written episode, all in all. So much so that what we'd like to see next is a spin-off series for Coltrane in which he decides to drop in on an assortment of other television shows to helpfully point out where other folk are going wrong.

Tonight's slice of this winningly acerbic sitcom is a two-hander. After the comedy workshop Rick (Jack Dee) holds at Belford Prison, Donald (Robbie Coltrane), a jovial, knife-wielding prisoner, takes him hostage. An increasingly nervy Rick is forced to bond with Donald over pizza, red wine and a dissection of Rick's lacklustre career. "If you were any good, you'd have made it by now," scoffs Donald. It's a treat to see these two seasoned performers play off each other with such aplomb.

A quick chat with Robbie Coltrane

Robbie Coltrane makes a rare TV appearance in Jack Dee's acerbic BBC2 sitcom, Lead Balloon...

Sky1's success with sporting panel show A League Of Their Own (heir to the BBC's '90s hit They Think It's All Over), has boosted their confidence in this cheap and cheerful genre. So now they've followed it up with a celebrity/gossip-based panel show hosted by Little Britain's David Walliams called Wall Of Fame. It doesn't really have much of a format, but realizes half the success of these shows are assembling eclectic guests, but relying on comedians. That said, considering they managed to book N Dubz singer Tulisa (a new judge on X Factor many viewers will be curious about), Wall Of Fame didn't capitalize on that signing. And to be honest, Tulisa looked half-bored throughout-even more so than teammate Jack Dee, who at least had the excuse that's his TV persona!

In Wall Of Fame, two teams answer questions based on a grid of famous faces on the titular wall. It's that simple. The outcome was like watching a hybrid of Celebrity Juice (minus the Shooting Stars-esque lunacy and some actual structure. It was diverting enough because most of the panelists (including comedians Andrew Maxwell and Mickey Flanagan) were giving it their best, and we'll overlook the weird decision to make Daybreak's Kate Garroway a team captain.

The biggest problem is that I'm not convinced Walliams works as a host, mainly because he can't resist putting on a very odd "serious face" whenever he's in charge. Walliams works much better as a rascally panelist, free to be cheeky and drop sexual innuendo, but as emcee he's restricted by the role's autocue-reading demands. I'm amazed Sky didn't realize this after seeing Walliams on the recent Comic Relief special 24 Hour Panel People, frankly. He was just as stiff on that whenever he hosted a segment, even before the excuse of sleep deprivation.

Here's another new panel show riffing off the week's news but this time it has a celeb gossipy bent. The super-duper Andrew Maxwell and deadpan Jack Dee are the capable comedy regulars; Kate Garroway and Tamara Ecclestone their pop-culture-savvy cohorts. This week's guests are Micky Flanagan and X Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos. Occupying the host's chair is the ever-colourful David Walliams.

Lead Balloon series 4 review

A couple of episodes down of the mildly anticipated forth run of Jack Dee's Lead Balloon. I guess it is time to let you know what you have missed so far. Lead Balloon is the creation of Jack and Pete Sinclair. It is a sitcom which focuses on the career of Rick Spleen (Jack Dee) a nearly big time comedian ambling from failed TV audition to advert voiceover work.

The return of the standup show in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital, something you may need to bear in mind as you resentfully endure the comedy stylings of Chris Moyles. He's joined, however, by Sarah Millican, Dara O'Briain, Jack Dee, Lee Evans and Jonathan Ross. There are musical contributions from Dead Cat Bounce and those young scamps N-Dubz, as well as video appearances from Lady Gaga, Russell Brand, Whoopi Goldberg and Patrick Stewart. Rob Brydon also chips in.

Following the success of last year's run, Channel 4 brings back its two and a half-hour stand-up binge for a second run, recorded live at the 02 Arena on Tuesday. The line-up is a familiar assortment of British comedy big shots: John Bishop, Jo Brand, Jack Dee, Jack Whitehall and even some whose names don't begin with "J", such as the inescapable chuckler Michael McIntyre. The fact that all the proceeds go to charity is an easy way of disguising the commission of a safe and inoffensive night of very light entertainment.

Well done to the 15,000 people who actually paid for tickets to this comedy marathon a couple of weeks ago at London's cavernous O2 Arena.

It was all in a good cause - for Great Ormond Street - but you can see it without forking out for the Tube fare.

Alan Carr, Dara O'Briain, Lee Evans, Michael McIntyre, Jack Whitehall - if there's a comedian you've heard of but have not got around to seeing in the flesh, they're most probably going to be here.

As Jack Dee drily notes, the backstage area must have been quite an experience - all those comedians sitting around... NOTICING things.

It's hard to pick a standout stand-up, but Sarah Millican is fabulous and Sean Lock goes down a storm with topical gags about Ryan Giggs and Twitter.

And I love the introduction Lock got from Jonathan Ross: "He couldn't be more attractive to the ladies if he was a Take That ticket made of chocolate. That vibrates."