Jack Dee

Jack Dee may be on of the writers, but it's clear he knows that successful sitcoms need a good ensemble cast. Which perhaps explains why Magda, his sullen Eastern European help, and Michael, the ultra-neurotic cafe owner, get all the best lines.

Jack Dee and Pete Sinclair's bitter-hearted comedy enters its third season and seems to have found its feet. We return to find Magda, the wonderfully sullen Polish help, has moved in until her boiler is fixed.

Although the return of Jack Dee's grumpy comedian Rick Spleen is always welcome, the start of series three misses the bull's eye a bit tonight. Maybe it's because there's no sense of cause or effect.

Mildly irritating things happen to Spleen, of course, but what's missing is that delicious realisation that he's brought it all on himself. (See Fawlty Towers or Curb Your Enthusiasm for more information). If Spleen's predicament is simply that he's surrounded by idiots then he might as well be Ben Harper from My Family.

Jack Dee returns as angst-ridden comedian Rick Spleen in this third run of the entertaining series, which sees us discovering a whole lot more about his complicated world and the colourful people who inhabit it.

Rick's socially inept behaviour continues to land him in a whole heap of trouble as he just can't seem to see the world how everyone else does.

Jack Dee 'happy' with BBC sitcom

Stand-up comedian Jack Dee says he's not as nervous about the new series of BBC Two sitcom Lead Balloon as he was when the show was first aired on TV in 2006.

Grumpy glory

Jack Dee says the US is keen to look at his sitcom, Lead Balloon, but he has no intention of trying his luck in America.

Jack back with Lead Balloon

Comedian Jack Dee is back on TV for a third series of his sitcom, Lead Balloon. The Press And Journal finds out how similar he is to the character, Rick Spleen, and asks what his children think of his comedy projects.

Once again, Jack Dee gets that sinking feeling

As Jack Dee returns for a new series of Lead Balloon, he tells The Telegraph about being miserable and getting that sinking feeling.

Jack Dee Interview

TV Scoop interviewed the star of the show in the run up to the third series.

Jack Dee's back with a second series of his (written with Pete Sinclair) hugely enjoyable BBC2 sitcom Lead Balloon.

Dee's portrayal of cantankerous, middle-aged comedian Rick Spleen has more than a touch of a media-class Tony Hancock to it - a character whose talent for digging himself into holes is second only to a grave-digger's.

One of the main joys of Lead Balloon is its small cast of supporting characters, comprising Rick's supremely patient wife (Raquel Cassidy), staggeringly vague daughter Sam (Antonia Campbell-Hughes), their permanently unheppy Polish home help Magda (brilliantly played by Anna Crilly) and his far-smarter co-writer Marty (Sean Power).

Even as minor a role as over-familiar local cafe owner Michael (Tony Gardner) is a perfectly formed, fully drawn character.

Every one of them was on top form, producing a just about flawless half hour of delightfully miserablist comedy. Lead Balloon is sure to go down well again this winter.