 Following a meeting with his agent, in which he turned down the lead role in a series, Dee began writing the character that would become Rick Spleen.He focused the writing on Spleen's domestic life, rather than his professional, but did highlight the clash between the two.A pilot, commissioned by BBC Four and recorded in December 2005, received positive feedback and led to a full series of six 30-minute episodes being ordered in January 2006 for broadcast later in the year.