Matt LeBlanc

They've escaped. With Pucks! cancelled, scriptwriters Beverly and Sean are back in London. Except their "shitty sitcom no one watched" has, somehow, been renewed and the duo find themselves back in LA with a version of Matt LeBlanc still phoning in his Joey-from-Friends persona. Thus season four of the telly-about-telly series begins, and it's good to have it back because it's sharply written and funny. Tonight, Matt gets bad financial news. Beverly: "You can have a very nice life, even with as little as $31m."

Radio Times review

Sean and Beverly's terrible Pucks!, which stars Matt LeBlanc's ghastly alter-ego, has risen from the dead - "like Jesus if Jesus was a s****y sitcom" says one character. Some people might think Episodes itself should have been put out of its misery a while back. But Friends stalwart and co-writer David Crane has managed to breathe more life into a comedy that is as much a wry look at transatlantic foibles as Crane's satire/revenge on the industry he (and co-scribe and real-life partner Jeffrey Klarik) know all too well.

Some of the lines feel a little ponderous in places but many are brilliant. And the chemistry between Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig's exasperated Brits and LeBlanc's desperately shallow but oddly likeable leading man keep this singing.

10 things we learnt from Matt LeBlanc about Episodes

Some information about the latest series of Episodes.

TV review: Episodes, series 4, BBC Two

Reliable laughs and behind the scenes comedy from Matt LeBlanc, Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig.

Matt LeBlanc and Stephen Mangan interview

TV Choice met Matt LeBlanc and Stephen Mangan to chat about Series 4 of Episodes.

David Schwimmer set to appear in Episodes with LeBlanc

TV stars David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc are set to reunite for BBC show Episodes, according to a newspaper report.

What will happen in series 4 of Matt LeBlanc comedy?

As Sean and Beverley finally flee LA in the series three finale, it looks as if something might drag them back for a fourth season...

Radio Times review

In this episode we meet Matt LeBlanc's dad, his imaginary screen dad, in the best scene of the series so far. Stories have appeared on TMZ that Matt has gone into rehab, and Matt knows where they came from: he forgot to send dad his cheque, and this is revenge. So he storms round there - with Sean and Beverly in tow - to confront him.

What follows has more comic voltage than the entirety of some previous episodes, as the pair trade insults in front of the mortified Brits - and few actors do mortified better than Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan. It's a cracking set piece and elsewhere the plot is coming to a boil nicely. Also, look out: in the delightfully tasteless mental health storyline, unbalanced network boss Castor is off his meds.

Damian Lewis tried out for Episodes

Damian Lewis auditioned for Stephen Mangan's part in Episodes, Matt LeBlanc has revealed.

Three seasons in, Brit writers Bev (Tamsin Greig) and Sean (Stephen Mangan) are still trying to acclimatise to the bewildering world of Hollywood, and Matt LeBlanc is still bumbling around like a bear with a bees' nest on his head. But Episodes does feel like a sharper, snappier creature this time around, less interested in the internecine workings of the showbiz industry and more in the venal, shallow bubble around Los Angeles - new-age therapy, partner-swapping et al.