Peep Show (now with added Mitchell & Webb Look)

truly a marvy show.

The opening montage featuring a lovely 360 shot of Crouch End (spiritual home of ILX) confuses me.

Oh no, THAT was the bad thing!

Damn straight. It's fantastic, I loves it, it's gleefully unafraid of tackling the most outre subject matter but fucking funny with it, and I'm a kinda horrible blend of the two main characters which makes it doubly scary. More please.

bad thing...

Isn't that almost exactly what the Guardian called it?

Best Britcom since "French Fields"!

on ahd Tag, let's not go nuts huh? (Anton Rogers is the don)

Me and RickyT watched the third ep on Friday and LARFFED LIKE VERY GURGLY DRANES the entire way through, I must admit I missed the second ep though. Has anyone else taped it percharnce? I am 85% sure it is the best new programme since Delia but sadly it has no vampires.

The goth bonking moment was TOO CRINGEWORTHY. I was watching it too sober and too tired whilst doing laundry. All other parts of the show were great.

Tell you what, that Sophie chick is EVERYWHERE at the moment! In the Lotto advert... in er... well Lixi says she's in another advert... I'm surprised the rest of the Britcomedy mafioso haven't turned up - where are the scientists from Look Around You ect ect.

she's in the 'bev and kev' car insurance thing. she plays 'bev'.

andy

Hopefully we'll get a well promoted second series in the not too distant future. Really heartening, thoughtful stuff it was... and balances the darker elements with the amusing better than many, many comedies. Maybe even tonight's first 'Office' special, which while a very good, was awkward in its changing of a palette that worked. That made the documentary format much more of the focus, with the depictions of a celebrity Brent, and was an effective, but not very funny deviation from the original mise-en-scene. Imagine say if things got self-reverential with PS' characters drawing undue attention to their thoughts being on voiceover, verbally rather than in subtle reactions... "Peep Show" is very, very promising; some of the gags went into slightly dubious areas (shades of "Jam"... occasionally a propensity to go for shock at what-we're'-getting-away-with-on-National-TV) while adding really rather little and things can be patchy, but it had a fine success-failure ratio. Character and dialogue really have to be at the centre of these things, and the perspective filming I felt was largely entirely appropriate for the basis of this show. A really unexpected, hidden gem this... here's to the next series! :)

High expectations, anyone?

I must say I rated it very highly last time; only caveat being the obtrusively 'edgy', malcontented camera work. The material needed a more classic sitcom approach in this way; while I accept a lot was based around interior monologues, did the visuals have to be as self-conscious? A moot point, perhaps... I do feel it harmed it slightly but not irrevocably.

But yes: good actors (that's the key! nothing they do is stand-up mugging or 'routine') are the main pair, and gratifying underplaying in the wider ensemble - though I loved that rather exaggerated businessman grotesque, Johnson. Looking forward immensely to this returning. The new Peter Kay show is on before it in the schedules, also.

Friday's episode did impress me; a good deal of tenderness, and a commendable avoidance of obvious moves: unlike the preceeding "Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere", which I hoped would have something of the Tinniswood Uncle Mort & Carter Brandon radio-travelogue about it... but that was sadly rather tired with its irrelevant 'parodies', 'ironic' musical telegraphing. It had potential, but lacked the poetry required; how much better those silhouetted "Dirty Dancing" parodies would have worked with the Ingmar Bergman, or Mike Leigh, silence behind them? Nothing too deep was wrung out of the situation; not enough absurdity, not enough muted feeling. Maybe it'll improve, but I'm skeptical.

"Peep Show" is sharper with the non sequitur, and actually manages to surprise a bit; 't plays often as an onanistic "Bottom" crossed with "The Office". Admittedly, I do have to agree with Jed that the Mark actor is the more skilled... v. good supporting cast; must say that Olivia Colman is right for that role.

An episode without the inner-monologues could be a masterstroke, actually; like moments in the "Office" Christmas Specials where inter-relations appeared so differently without the 'docu'-framing. Being so used to the show's conceit would make such an edition a different take on things, and add a bit more complexity: maybe change how we view the main characters, not being given their innermost thoughts, once in a way.

not sure who you mean at all here, but it was a good episode and v funny at times (certainly more than Max & Paddy)

not sure if it's been mentioned but RW's book is the number 1 selling non fiction hardback book in the Uk.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DJWN7jgX0AAoxRp.jpg

well, look at the fucking state of that lot. You can only read a finite amount of books in a lifetime, folks. Choose wisely!

Circa - yeah I was wrong. This has grown on me

I generally have an instant annoyance of animal-related storylines in sitcoms. (Same with Mummy the dog in Peep Show). So I'd rather it did without that, or maybe I'm just dead inside.

I loved the Mummy plot.

https://i.imgur.com/6ECdo6p.png

"back" is pretty enjoyable so far

that was the last one, wasn't it? (the cancer test one).

This is pretty brutal https://t.co/e0SFKXAQol pic.twitter.com/2whBIrMgZG

— Tom Gara (@tomgara) March 7, 2022

I wonder how much of this is just bluster and how much reflects how people would actually act in that situation, it reminded me the Peep Show episode where Mark and Jez talk about whether they would have joined the resistance had they been in nazi-occupied France

Mark: I dunno, Jeremy. It would have been a terribly difficult time, but I would probably have kept my head down.
Jeremy: You're kidding! I totally would have joined up.
Mark: That's very easy to say, Jeremy, but you would have risked death not just for yourself but for your family.
Jeremy: I'd probably have just got on a train to Berlin and taken Hitler down. Boof, the whole thing's over.
Mark: Well, I guess we'll never know for sure.
Jeremy: Oh, I know. I definitely know. No question about it.
Mark: Well, congratulations. You would have been a brave, brave man.
Jeremy: I can't believe you wouldn't be in the Resistance with me. I'm really disappointed in you.

obviously Jeremy is not any braver than Mark, he's just has a more conceited, less realistic self-image - but maybe the person with the deluded self-image is more likely to actually do the heroic thing when the moment comes because they've rhetorically backed themselves into a corner, whereas the self-critical person is more likely to not do the heroic thing because they're already prepared to do that, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy? Being constantly self-critical can make you a bad person because you have a ready made explanation/excuse whenever you do bad things?

(I guess the difference is that joining the resistance would have been unarguably the morally right thing to do, but whether staying to fight for the US would be the right thing to do is more ambiguous?)

jeremy would, of course, have run like hell and/or become an informer

relaxing video of los dude bros coming to life:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnshhIWdEfk

It's so weird, my first reaction was, huh, Peep Show is still on? Then my second reaction was to look up when it stopped airing. Then my third reaction was to try and determine if we've seen every season, and ... I don't know! It's been so long I can't remember if we ever finished it, but reading the episode descriptions is no help at all. Maybe we did? Maybe we didn't? Were there really *9* seasons? No idea! I could have sworn we stopped at 5, which for some reason I thought was the end, but scanning the summaries I think we went past there, but no idea how far. Might have to start over. Or maybe just pretend we finished and thought it was all very funny.

I feel like the 'Mark and Jez eat a dog' season is where a lot of people understandably jumped off the train but it's worth hopping back on because it did quickly and admirably redeem that epic misstep imo.

It's solidly funny all the way to the end imo

There’s a lot of great episodes from the later seasons, like when Mark finally publishes Business Secrets of the Pharaohs—a rare example where Jez is the (relatively) sane one and Mark is unhinged. Or "Chairman Mark", which has a great election speech from Mark as he tries to become chairman of the freehold committee (tho as an American, I’m not really sure what that means… like being on a condo board, maybe?)

It's a shame people remember the dog eating episode mainly for the dog eating, this scene from the same episode has one of the series greatest ever lines

"Unfilled?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkjeorS12F0

good timing, I decided to watch Back this week. it starts off really badly imo. was really jarring to see them basically playing the same characters in what starts off as quite a lame trad sitcom with trad sitcom jokes. it gets better after about 3 episodes, but apparently because it got cancelled they never resolve anything, but am going to finish it anyway

re Peep Show, I did have the impression it started sucking after about series 5 but I rewatched it last week before watching Back and it's actually still quite funny most of the time and some of the episodes I don't like are in the early seasons - I think my least favourite one is the one in the gym where they accuse that guy of shitting in the pool and touching up Mark.

I looked up the guy that wrote Back when I was hating it and he also wrote the Peep Show episode where Mark gets raped which was another low point.

What I did notice was both Peep Show and Back have the same bullshit nonsense about tracking people's IP addresses which just isn't how this works but strangely the Back guy didn't write that episode.

Curse These Metal Hands

nightly repeats on 4extra have been useful. mostly for the band names and superhans' asides about crack being moreish and that glue would take the edge off.

and it's odd how not-odd the filming technique is, the direct to camera thing that gives it its name, you don't see it anywhere else and yet it's fine

Cally: "I got a call from Super Hans, he's having an ego attack. He's driving to Festivus with all the windows down shouting his own name. Reckons he's gonna make a super group out of Hard-Fi and Kaiser Chiefs."
Jez: "He's talked about that before."

This came up on my facebook today - decent effort!
https://www.tiktok.com/@finlaycomedy/video/7481319586051214614

Any East London people - I'll be hosting a Peep Show quiz night at the Lord Napier Star in Hackney Wick on Thursday the 10th of April 8 pm.

there's a radiator shelf in the kitchen that appears to be full of disposable lighters

series 8 now and there's lots of dobby

while things starts again from the beginning on apr 01

(whole thing)

Peep Show festive Bake-off...

with Olivia Colman, David Mitchell, Dobby, Superhans and Big Suze

(repost as this thread is more recent)

I thought, for a long time, that this show finished with S5! I did love this show, but it was the stretch of episodes where they set fire to a barn, eat a dog and one of them pisses himself in church where I assumed it had completely jumped the shark, and so got off the wagon. Are the latter series worth a dive?

If you didn't like s5 then probably not, that's generally considered the peak

Maybe I'm a terribly undiscerning viewer but I never really thought there was *that* much of a decrement in excellence as the seasons progressed. It may be significant however that I'd likely find any old nonsense featuring Dobby worthwhile!

S5 was a significant dip imo, that dog episode in particular stands out as one of the worst. But it definitely has lots of brilliant episodes after that. Well worth watching imo.

those episodes are all S4, not S5

S5 is not "generally considered the peak"

It was all downhill from 1 & 2!

(with occasional returns to form)

those episodes are all S4, not S5

― Colonel Poo, Friday, 21 November 2025 10:53 (thirty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yes, good point

S5 is not "generally considered the peak"

It was all downhill from 1 & 2!

― Number None, Friday, 21 November 2025 10:59 (twenty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Not my opinion but that's the consensus online. S2 is my favourite too - for me the nadir is Season 3 episode Jurying.

It’s all good

Maybe I'm a terribly undiscerning viewer but I never really thought there was *that* much of a decrement in excellence as the seasons progressed.

I agree; although the latter series with Business Secrets of the Pharoahs, life coaching etc are far more forgettable. I don't like anything involving Saz either. Or that storyline with the gym trainer. Sober Hans getting married is ace though.
I hate the dog-eating bit of the stag one (that is definitely the lowest point) but liked the wedding one.

feel like the dog eating was a silly way to end what had been a decent episode which has one of my favourite quotes - "Jeremy, there are many things I would do to help you, but digging a hole in the wintry earth with my bare hands so that you can bury the corpse of a dog you killed is not one of them."

Peep Show is at its best when the situations they're in are at least close to plausible or somehow relatable. Eating the dog was neither.

Funny, I thought I'd seen all of S3 but I don't recall anything of the synopsis of Jurying

Y'all prompted me to immediately re-watch the oft-maligned season 8 (life-coaching, Business Secrets of the Pharaohs, paintball, bathroom fittings, lots of Dobby) before going to bed last night. (Barely the length of a feature film in total, conveniently.) If this alleged (by the interweb) 'worst season' ranks below average in terms of hilariousness and crucial "life is futile" vibes it's not-super obvious that the margin even reaches statistical significance, as it were. I guess I should immediately refresh my memory of seasons 1/2...

"not super-obvious" rather o_O

Do the Brits now call it “Season” instead of “Series”?

LOL. I've just added a whole bunch of 'seasons' to the thread (I think I both use pretty much interchangeably) but the UK is not responsible for those instances. :) A text search suggests that 'series' has appeared more than five times as frequently as 'season' if we ignore those...

I agree with D40 here, I've rewatched it all about five times and I don't think there's a huge dropoff apart from the odd dud episode like the dog one. Even very late there are some amazing characters, like the bloke obsessed with orthodox churches or whatever.

I'm so used to hearing "Seasons" with regard to US TV that I end up defaulting to it sometimes. But yeah it's usually "Series" when referring to UK shows.

That said "Series" is annoying as I'm never sure how to emphasise if I'm speaking in the plural or not. Keep wanting to say "Serieses" which is bonkers

I'm going to have to rewatch this whole programme, aren't I? It's my partner's favourite show and she puts on random episodes to go to sleep to. Don't know how she doesn't cringe herself to sleep

LOL (re: sleeping to it.)

I've now re-watched series 9 too. (In addition to 8 last night, I mean. I don't really need all *that* much encouragement it seems.) It certainly doesn't feel like it desperately needed to be killed off when it was. Far from it. LocalGarda OTM about the addition of pretty solid characters right to the end.

Basically the best sit-com evah. Maybe.

yeah, do it DL.

https://img.gifglobe.com/grabs/peepshow/S07E05/gif/6ruw4aya3h72.gif

The final series is really really good

OTM. eg. Olivia Colman's final few scenes have been haunting me anew for a couple days now lol.

With any episode anybody describes as weak I just immediately think of at least one thing that's indispensably good about it. Matt Townsend gym episode has one of the single best jokes in the series ("what's a novel?"). Jury episode has Mark's big spiteful lecture about consumer capitalism as he reclaims the apartment. Jeremy's "you've ground down my self-worth" thing as he wets himself on the church balcony is fantastic and probably emotionally necessary as a lead-in to the ceremony itself. You have to get a lot closer to the end before reaching any where I just think eh, yeah, that one's not great.