Lead Balloon

Rick and Mel are invited to the christening of a very ugly baby. Meanwhile, Rick fronts a TV recycling campaign that backfires badly. When it looks as though he's going to be accused in the tabloids of smoking cannabis, Rick asks Mel to pretend she has MS.

Rick has to write the links for a You've Been Framed type DVD. Meanwhile he decides to replenish his cutlery drawer by stealing teaspoons from Michael's café - but Michael exacts an expensive revenge. Rick is suffering from insomnia thanks to Wayne the paper-boy who is very punctual, very noisy and has a brain the size of a walnut.

Rick hosts an awards do for a manufacturer of obscure electrical components and gets into a fight with a drunken sales manager. At home, Mel points out that Rick has mistakenly pledged a vast amount of money to Michael for a forthcoming sponsored charity event. He tries various ways of getting out of it and in the end succeeds in an unintended and drastic way.

Rick confides in Mel and Marty that he may have inadvertently killed one of Britain's best-loved entertainers. Of almost equal concern to Rick is that his free shoe-organiser did not arrive with the set of storage boxes he ordered from the Bargain Channel. Michael oversteps the mark by offering Rick some of his comic ideas for a forthcoming News Quiz show.

Rick buys a scooter but starts to worry that it makes him look gay. Mel is doubtful that his solution of buying a leather jacket and Harley Davidson will have the desired effect. His paranoia starts to effect his work and, as Marty points out, the jokes he writes for the Annual Hairdresser Awards are downright homophobic.

Rick decides to take some exercise after being told on TV by chat-show host Adam Green that he's put on weight. A similar remark from an acquaintance at the gym leads Rick to say something truly appalling, even by his standards. At home, Rick finds elderly neighbour Doris' lost cat but then later on has to explain to her son just why he accepted the substantial reward money.