Peep Show (now with added Mitchell & Webb Look)

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)

the line about "HAVING A GREAT BIG WANK" was particularly well-received chez carsmile...

? disagree there - it seems to be fulfilling the mandate 'make people laugh while presenting sitcom in a relatively novel way' - assuming that IS the mandate

constant POV shots = dud

whole point tho!

hasn't mark gotten fat???

whole point tho!

ya. still doesn't work though.

"Wow, this crack is really moreish"

so otm about racist friends too.

i should think so

"I'm gonna broom you! I will, you'll get the broom, I promise!"

"Now your girlfriend and my best friend are going off to fuck, and what are we gonna do? Make a tent in the lounge and eat Dairylea Triangles? Is that what you want? Cos that's exactly what's gonna happen."

I fucking love Peep Show. It's never going to cross over like The Office did, being (I think) too close to the bone for mass mainstream consumption - ie although these character types no doubt exist in every office/pub/block of flats in the country, nobody really wants to think about that fact too deeply - but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I wouldn't recommend it to my mum and dad, certainly...

"Are you saying we can't be friends just because I'm stalking you?"

I don't like Peep Show because they talk to the camera when they are supposed to be talking to each other. This is wrong. Over the shoulder shot and counter-shot is bad, but this is worse. Also it has too much swearing and appears to be genetically engineered for young people. Steptoe and Son wasn't specifically for rag and bone men, was it? I mean, I'm sure they enjoyed it, but you could still get into it if you were a roadsweeper.

my fave Superhans bit: "i tell you what that crack is really moreish"

This second series really did impress me, especially as it moved along. The characters - if not perhaps so strongly the situation - were pushed into interesting waters. And why is a developing, serial situation now seemingly what I want in a sitcom? Probably a bit too much Reggie Perrin watched of late (though of course the brilliance there, is how the basic melancholy situation is eventually reaffirmed, after, say, the novelties/experiments of new identities, Grot and the commune...) ;)

The occasionally more 'reflective' tone of this was very pleasing; just the sort of thing I was looking for after the last series. Questions remain as to whether the show can perhaps 'speak to' a larger audience, and extend further its reach (aye, maybe change the whole dynamic by removing the POV? would throw up a whole new set of questions about the characters)... but it was more than good enough to be getting on with.

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.