Jack Dee

Review: Lead Balloon, BBC Two

It's been more than two and a half years since the third series of Jack Dee's comedy about a comedian. Everyone in Rick Spleen's world looks a little bit older, a mite more pinched and drawn, as if proximity to the man about the house is draining the blood out of its occupants. Time has not at all been kind to Rick himself (but then when was it ever?). His temples are awash with grey, his skin is sallow with failure, and his self-important delusions seem ever more steeped in bitterness and malignity. I for one have missed him dreadfully.

Jack Dee was born with a scowl. Which is pretty much all you need to know about Lead Balloon (BBC2), the sitcom in which Dee does his middle-aged moany thing, although he's pretending to be a failed comic called Rick Spleen.

It's an act that's so familiar by now that all returns have diminished, though Lead Balloon does give the excellent Raquel Cassidy the chance to air her full range of withering scorn. Aside from her, Lead Balloon just goes down like the proverbial.

Jack Dee's Rick Spleen is back for another series of suburban angst and tonight he's trying to write his first novel.

He's also desperately trying to make his family seem more interesting than they really are when a magazine comes to interview his partner Mel (Raquel Cassidy) for an "at home with...".

The most interesting thing about Mel and Rick is that they're still together despite having nothing in common.

Is there some mind-blowing sexual chemistry going on behind closed doors that we don't know about?

If so, I think we should be told. But what they need, Rick decides, is some exotic kind of pet - like a pig.

Like Rick's novel, the plot is a little short on inspiration, but the performances, especially from Antonia Campbell-Hughes and Rasmus Hardiker - as his teenage daughter Sam and boyfriend Ben - and Anna Crilly, as Magda, keep things ticking over.

Washed-up comic Rick Spleen returns to our screens tonight, as vain and self-deluding as ever. Spleen is a wonderful portrait of a very modern sort of failure, a man drinking the dregs in the cup of fame, and scowling at the aftertaste (if there's one expression we know Jack Dee can nail, it's the scowl). Rick leads a comfortable life, but his never very stellar career has stalled, leaving him with an inflated idea of his own status, as highlighted in a lovely scene early in this episode, when a newspaper wants to interview his wife Mel for an "at home" profile and Rick assumes they're interested in him, too. The moment where Mel (the excellent Raquel Cassidy) registers Rick's mistake but lets him down gently, is beautifully played - the kind of cruel but well-observed moment the series loves. Rick's tireless efforts to pose as something he isn't are always a blend of funny and excruciating - even when we can see the plot consequences coming a mile off. And the supporting cast are brilliant, from Rick's teenage daughter and her wonderfully dozy boyfriend to the self-important neighbour, who tonight has cause to be alarmed.

Jack Dee's sitcom returns for a fourth season. Not much has changed, and that's not a bad thing. This is a show that follows an effective routine, in which Dee's Rick gets some crazy notion into his head then parades it in front of his family, friends and neighbours as they bring him slowly back down to earth. This week, wife Mel is picked as the subject of a Sunday supplement piece and Rick tries to hijack it for some press for himself. It's up to his sarcastic writing partner, stoner daughter, depressed maid etc to deflate his ego.

Jack Dee a secret romantic at heart

Jack Dee has confessed that underneath his grumpy alter-ego he is a romantic at heart.

Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise? Without much fanfare, Lead Balloon is coming back for a brand new series (the fourth!). If you've seen the show before, you'll pretty much know what to expect. Jack Dee's wonderful as grumpy, deluded Rick Spleen, who in this opening episode is trying to write a novel. Sure, that'll go well! Meanwhile, The Sunday Times wants to do a feature on his wife, which leads to some fabulously awkward scenes as Rick tries to get in on the action... with a pig. Of course, he still has Michael and Magda to contend with, as well as my favourites - his teenage daughter Sam and her boyfriend Ben, played to perfection by Antonia Campbell Hughes and Rasmus Hardiker.

What will it take to make Jack Dee cheer up?

Rick Spleen is a 'what-if version of me', says Jack Dee. Well what if we made it our mission to cheer him up?

Image gallery: On the water with Jack Dee

Jack Dee is back as his grumpy character Rick Spleen in a new series of Lead Balloon. So we thought we'd cheer him up with a fun day out in London...

The start of a fourth series for Jack Dee's downbeat sitcom, in which his character, the unsubtly named Rick Spleen - a washed-up, cynical comedian - goes around being annoyed by things. He's hardly cast against type: it's essentially Jack Dee playing Jack Dee, so if you like Jack Dee it will go down very well. In this episode, he's trying to write a novel and to persuade his wife Mel (the excellent Raquel Cassidy) to allow a Sunday newspaper to do a feature on them. Good support comes from Spleen's teenage daughter (Antonia Campbell-Hughes).