Rick Spleen is a successful but disillusioned stand-up comedian. He spends his days hosting corporate events such as The Heating and Ventilation Awards, arguing with his co-writer Marty and trying to hide his incompetence from Mel, his partner.

Rick is a habitual liar, but as he is not a very good one it is a trait which more often than not lands him in a deep hole... which he invariably then digs himself into even deeper when he piles more flimsy lies on top of the previous ones.

Being out of pocket is something that particularly riles Rick, but with his laid-back daughter Sam and her equally lazy boyfriend Ben always coming up with excuses for needing money, his wallet is rarely full.

Ironically it is Rick's tightfistedness that causes him the biggest financial losses though; eventually he always ends up paying for the damage his lies have caused.

Our Review: This sitcom, which it is probably fair to say is at least part based upon Jack Dee's own life, is quite similar to the premise of Curb Your Enthusiasm. The embarrassing situations that Rick Spleen finds himself in couldn't be more British though.

We initially didn't think that much of Lead Balloon, however after a couple of episodes we started to 'get' Rick... and then the second series came along, at which point we realised just how great a sitcom this is. In fact, after the third series, we'd now go as far as to say it is one of the best sitcoms of the decade!

Lead Balloon demonstrates some great sitcom writing - the way different seemingly un-connected plot strands skillfully are brought together at the end of each episode is the mark of greatness, and there's some very sharp lines to back this up ("Mother was great at making fruit cakes" is one such example).

Cafe owner Michael is a classic sitcom character in the making - we often have to look away when Rick comes in close proximity to him as the scene is inevitably going to end in some embarrassing way; whether it be Rick trying to find a way out of sponsoring Michael, or trying to explain how all the cafe's teaspoons ended up at his house.

Whilst you join us in keeping your fingers crossed for a fourth series, why not check out the other pages in our Lead Balloon guide? We have details on all the episodes, interviews with creators Pete Sinclair and Jack Dee, plus much more...