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Lead Balloon(TV show/series, 2006-2011)

30min per episode | Genre: Comedy

Scripted Reality in 4 seasons with 27 episodes

Lead BalloonRating: 3.7/5 (with 6 votes)
Lead Balloon is a British situation comedy television series produced by Open Mike Productions for BBC Four. The series was created and is co-written by comedian Jack Dee and Pete Sinclair. It stars Dee as Rick Spleen, a cynical and misanthropic comedian whose life is plagued by petty annoyances, disappointments and embarrassments. Raquel Cassidy, Sean Power and Tony Gardner also star. The first series of six episodes was broadcast on BBC Four in 2006, with the first episode achieving the highest ratings for a comedy on the channel. Repeats of the series were run on BBC Two and BBC HD, bringing it to a larger audience. The second series of eight episodes aired on BBC Two from November 2007; the third series aired from November 2008; and the final series aired from 31 May 2011 until 5 July. Comparisons were made by critics to the successful American comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm, and positive comments were made about Lead Balloon's characters, particularly ()
Poster of Lead Balloon

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Lead Balloon Seasons and Episodes

05/31/2011Season 4 - 6 episodes
#1 | 05/31/2011Pig
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 Home With' feature about his partner Mel, Rick naturally tries to muscle in on the action. But when he decides that having a pet pig would look good in the photos, Rick proves that if nothing else, he's the prize-winning author of his own downfall.
#2 | 06/07/2011Dead
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. For once, his new job impresses surly East-European help Magda, who is a big fan of the show. His writing partner Marty and local cafe owner Michael are not so easily convinced, but Rick is determined that he's finally found something he's good at. Meanwhile, Rick's daughter Sam and her boyfriend Ben are allegedly looking for work - without ever getting up from the sofa.
#3 | 06/14/2011Shoddy
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 Donna, Rick is not happy. Clive is on the warpath wanting a refund for an ornamental windmill that his mother bought from The Bargain Channel. Rick's behaviour at a funeral sees him getting into trouble and threatens to kill off his career.
#4 | 06/21/2011Off
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 attracts just five students. Worse still, the second session includes a new wannabe comic - deranged cafe owner Michael. A disastrous session on how to deal with heckling backfires spectacularly, but hope is on the horizon - in the form of an earnest council executive, Libby. Meanwhile Magda is trying to claim compensation after tripping on a paving stone, but it turns out that Rick is the one who's in danger of serious injury.
#5 | 06/28/2011Blade
Having accepted funding from the local council, Rick reluctantly agrees to teach a Stand-up Comedy Workshop in Belford Prison. But this turns out to be one of Rick's worst gigs: he is taken hostage, trapped in the prison library by a knife-wielding prisoner, Donald. Donald is a worrying mixture of charming and psychotic - and worse still for Rick, has a pathological hatred of liars. Can Rick talk his way out of trouble? Will the governors give in to Donald's demands? Or will this be the end of Rick's less-than-stellar career?
#6 | 07/05/2011End
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 'Prison Siege Comic', as he is now known in the tabloids, is on an all-time high. He is inundated with offers - from appearing as a hostage expert on the national news, to featuring in a celebrity survival series. When he is asked to host The Brave Britain Awards in front of a live television audience of millions, Rick thinks all his dreams have finally come true. But, as he prepares to go on stage, it seems that the dream is about to turn into a nightmare.
11/13/2008Season 3 - 7 episodes
11/15/2007Season 2 - 8 episodes
10/04/2006Season 1 - 6 episodes
?Specials - 2 episodes

Additional Information

Official websites:
Production country: United Kingdom (UK)
Original language: English (EN)
Spoken languages: English (EN)
Translated into 4 languages: Czech (CS), German (DE), English (EN), Chinese (Mandarin) (ZH)
Status: Ended
First episode released on: 10/04/2006
Last episode released on: 07/05/2011
Keywords: comedian, sitcom, cynic

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WatchPlayStream ID: SHOWS:5597, Added: 05/12/2018, Last updated: 03/27/2024