Lead Balloon (2006–2011)

1. S01E01RubbishOctober 4, 2006—Rick fronts a lame government TV recycling campaign which backfires spectacularly. He falls out with café-owner Michael over a homemade frui
2. S01E02WayneOctober 11, 2006—A teaspoon crisis in the Spleen household leads Rick to petty theft. Meanwhile, Rick's sleep is disturbed by the paperboy, Wayne, who is ver
3. S01E03£5000October 18, 2006—Rick gets in a punch-up at an awards ceremony and ends up with a black eye. Marty is preparing to pitch a programme to the BBC and Michael i
4. S01E04AllergicOctober 25, 2006—Rick discovers he may have inadvertently killed one of Britain's best-loved entertainers, but he's preoccupied by a missing shoe-organiser.
5. S01E05PistachioNovember 1, 2006—Rick buys himself a scooter but worries that it makes him look gay. Hosting the Air Conditioning and Climate Control Awards goes disastrousl
6. S01E06FattyNovember 8, 2006—Rick is publicly humiliated on TV by daytime chat-show host Adam Green. He also has an unfortunate encounter with an acquaintance at the gym

Season 1 ranked & reviewed

1. S02E01GiraffeNovember 15, 2007—Tonight, Spleen appears on a quiz show as a guest celebrity and manages to talk a contestant out of winning a car. As usual it's Rick's hope
2. S02E02HeroNovember 22, 2007—Rick becomes a local hero when he stops someone from committing suicide. He gets even more excited when, as a result, a TV executive agrees
3. S02E03PointsNovember 29, 2007—Three more points on his licence will be a ban, so he tries to persuade Mel, Marty and Madga to take the blame. Meanwhile, the local cafe ow
4. S02E04IdiotDecember 6, 2007—Rick's agent Mel's other client, ex-ice skating champ Gina Therese, has a new series coming up. Rick scoffs at the idea of an ice skater hos
5. S02E05SickDecember 13, 2007—The women in Rick's house are sick and he is forced to take over. Rick promises to field his partner Mel's work calls, but does more harm th
6. S02E06DebacleDecember 20, 2007—Rick hosts an event for a pharmaceutical company. His stand-up goes down surprisingly well, but some of his ill-advised gags have far-reachi
7. S02E07RitaDecember 26, 2007—Rick gets a part in a film starring cinema legend Rita Stetler. Michael's father is a huge fan of Rita's and when Rick offers to get the sta
8. S02E08LuckyJanuary 3, 2008—Rick is sick of doing endless corporate gigs and accuses his writer Marty of lacking ambition, but a call from Hollywood changes everything.

Season 2 ranked & reviewed

1. S03E01GasNovember 13, 2008—The episode opens with Rick at a celebrity charity auction trying to attract bids for the waistcoat of an ex-rock star. To start the bidding
2. S03E02PandaNovember 20, 2008—Magda has begun settling in, to the extent of infiltrating her fridge magnets and watching The Jeremy Kyle Show in the afternoons; meanwhile
3. S03E03FaxNovember 27, 2008—Rick has a bad day after doing poorly on a radio quiz and then finding out his email is broken and has to search for a fax machine. To make
4. S03E04KarmaNovember 27, 2008—Rick decides to change his ways after an accident and will only see the positives in people from now on. He is pushed to the limits by Magda
5. S03E05SpikeyDecember 11, 2008—Rick is forced to go and see a play which turns out worse than he could've imagined as the writer used to be the same level as Rick. He is h
6. S03E06MistakeDecember 18, 2008—Rick and Marty have to make extra room around the house when Mel has to work from home. Rick is annoyed by Marty's liking of Mel's assistant
7. S03E07NutsDecember 23, 2008 8.0Rick is looking forward to spending a quiet Christmas at home with Mel. It will be a well-earned break from the challenging acting role he i

Season 3 ranked & reviewed

1. S04E01PigMay 31, 2011—Rick's career is at an all-time low: even his idea of writing a novel gets stuck on page one. So when a Sunday newspaper wants to do an 'At
2. S04E02DeadJune 7, 2011—Rick lands a job as a presenter on the Bargain Channel - it's Britain's premier shopping channel, as he points out to anyone who will listen
3. S04E03ShoddyJune 14, 2011—Rick's new job as a presenter on The Bargain Channel is going well but after his writing partner Marty takes a shine to his co-presenter Don
4. S04E04OffJune 21, 2011—Rick is at his lowest ebb. With no other work on offer, he decides to set up his own stand-up comedy workshop. But the first week's class at
5. S04E05BladeJune 28, 2011—Having accepted funding from the local council, Rick reluctantly agrees to teach a Stand-up Comedy Workshop in Belford Prison. But this turn
6. S04E06EndJuly 5, 2011—In the concluding episode, Rick has at last found the fame and success he so desperately craved. Thanks to his ordeal as a hostage, the 'Pri

Season 4 ranked & reviewed