PEEP SHOW 5.5 – "Jeremy's Manager"

Writers: Sam Bain & Jesse Armstrong

Director: Becky Martin

Cast: David Mitchell (Mark), Robert Webb (Jez), Matt King (Super Hans), Niky Wardley (Cally), Eve Webster (Christian Girl) & Phil Gilbert (Ronnie)

Jez and Super Hans get themselves a sexy manager, who books them a gig at a Christian Rock festival...

It's the penultimate episode and, as a side-note, why is practically every episode's title revolving around Jez? We've had Jeremy's Broke, Jeremy's Mummy, and now Jeremy's Manager. While obviously a very minor issue (the titles aren't even shown on-screen), it's become a bugbear with me now...

Anyway, after last week's disappointment, Peep Show fires on all cylinders here. Jez (Robert Webb) and Super Hans (Matt King) try to get themselves represented by Universal, but instead find themselves taken under the wing of Universal employee Cally (Niky Wardley), who is cultivating her own talent. Why Cally believes Jez and Super Hans are worth managing (as their musical ineptitude is regularly made clear) requires suspension of disbelief, though...

Cally plans for them to play at the Wolverhampton Festivus, and has a drunken fumble with Jez before rudely putting an end to their bedroom antics just as he gets started. A spurned, humiliated Jez takes solace in the fact his career at least seems to be benefiting from Cally's arrival, if not his sex life. Then, the Festivus gig falls through, so Cally arranges for them to play at a Christian Rock festival. She also becomes impressed by Mark's (David Mitchell) business acumen, so cosies up to him as Mark offers to be Jez and Super Hans' roadie, purely so he can continue his pursuit of Cally.

At the Christian Rock festival, Mark's relationship with Cally requires him to abandon common-sense and agree with her that a tent's crystal skulls are indeed divine, health-giving creations from Atlantis. He also decides he rather likes her domineering, condescending attitude in bed – which is worth his male emasculation as she talks him through every step of the sex act.

Cally eventually comes between Mark and Jez, when she decides Super Hans is more marketable as a solo act ("he's fuckable; it's an industry term -- it means someone might want to fuck him.) Cowardly Cally thinks it would be better if Mark broke the news to Jez that he's no longer in the band, and the news enrages Jez into vandalizing Cally's trailer. This later causes a problem for Jez, when Super Hans' drug habit incapacitates him from performing, so Cally is forced to rehire Jez – who has to blame Mark for the state of her trailer...

While the storyline once again focused on well-trodden themes (another gig for Jez and Super Hans, Mark's belief he's found "the one" in a clearly unsuitable person), it was great to see the show outdoors at a real location. Too much of season 5 has been circling the flat and Mark's office, so I was relieved to see an episode with more scope to it – particularly as a Christian Rock festival is ripe for comedy....

Jez got baptized in a child's inflatable pool (because there's a 1% chance Christians are right about the afterlife), Cally revealed a bizarre belief in crystal skull mumbo-jumbo (how timely with Indiana Jones 4, eh?), and Super Hans and Jez had to improvise hedonism – by chugging down litres of supermarket-brand cola and giving themselves "head rushes"! Brilliant.

Cally, played by the lovely Niky Wardley (supporting player on The Catherine Tate Show), was just another of Peep Show's crackpot women, really – but she made for a very memorable control freak. I loved how she impolitely stopped having sex with Jez – mainly because it has long confused me how Jez manages to sleep with so many hot women on the show! You can kind of understand Mark getting lucky (as he's sympathetic, unthreatening, and usually lands girls in his league), but Jez's atrraction has long been a mystery. So it was fun to see him get turned down. The amusing way Mark had to lower himself sexually, and pretend he believed in New Age mysticism just to please Cally, was also neatly written.

As usual, writers Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong's script was crammed with witty and amusing dialogue. Together with the humorous setting and delightfully weird Cally character, this episode really clicked and provided a swift 30-minutes of embarrassing and intriguing comedy. It's the last episode next week, and while season 5 has generally been much weaker than season 4 (thanks to the lack of a decent recurring idea, like last year's impending marriage), it's still head and shoulders above any other sitcom on TV right now.


30 May 2008
Channel 4, 10.35 pm

PEEP SHOW 5.4 – "Jeremy's Mummy"

Writers: Jesse Armstrong & Sam Bain

Director: Becky Martin

Cast: David Mitchell (Mark), Robert Webb (Jez), Matt King (Super Hans), Tessa Wyatt (Jackie), Tom Chabon (Martin) & Ingrid Oliver (Natalie)

Jez's mother visits for a family funeral, arriving with her new boyfriend – a military man Jez despises, but Mark idolises...

A return to bad taste comedy this week, as Jez (Robert Webb) takes perverse delight in the death of his Aunt Gwen, purely because he stands to inherit £20,000. While clearing out her house with Mark (David Mitchell) and Super Hans (Matt King), they also discover an old revolver (or "gunny" as they later christen it). Later, Jez's mother Jackie (Tessa Wyatt) arrives for the funeral with her new boyfriend Martin (Tom Chabon), an older gentleman with a fascinating military history...

It's funny, but despite seeing Jez embroiled in all manner of shocking antics since Peep Show started, watching him being cruel, spiteful and cynical to his unassuming mother was perhaps the most appalling thing I've seen him do. In stark contrast, Mark gets on brilliantly with Jackie (almost as the "favourite son") and is astonished when Martin asks him to collaborate on writing his wartime memoirs. But, as a competitor for the job is mentioned, Mark decides to endear himself to Martin's tomboy daughter Natalie (Ingrid Oliver), hoping she'll put in a good word for him.

Later, it becomes clear that the influence of Martin has made Jackie stronger in her handling of layabout Jez, and she entrusts Jez's half of Aunt Gwen's savings to Mark –enabling Mark to control Jez's weekly finances. Needless to say, Jez isn't happy when he discovers Mark's plan is to give him £70 "pocket money" every 7 days. Mark also becomes the victim of a sexual assault, when he invites a drunken Natalie back to the flat and wakes up to find her having sex on top of him. Despite a feeble plea for her to stop, he climaxes and spends the next few days debating whether the incident constituted rape. She didn't shove anything up his bum, so it couldn't be, could it? Oh, semantics.

As usual, Jez and Mark's hopes and dreams come crashing down by the end. Jackie and Martin decide to keep all of Aunt Gwen's fortunes to go on a luxury cruise, Jez's plot to prevent them leaving the country (by putting Gwen's gun in their luggage) is discovered, and once Natalie and her father hear about Mark's rape claim he loses his chance to be a published writer.

I'm in two-minds about this episode. It was heartening to see a storyline with a bit more originality this season; there were a few moments of amusing bad taste dotted throughout; and it all built to an effective final climax, but... I just didn't find it that funny. The jokes were there, but they inspired wry chuckles instead of belly laughs. The potential rape subplot was an excellent idea (particularly as, you know, I think Mark was raped), and I enjoyed seeing how Mark has a better relationship with Jackie than her own son, but everything else was lukewarm.

Also, for perhaps the first time on the show, I thought Jez came across as totally hateable in his treatment of his mother and pursuit of a dead relative's money. He's usually more sympathetic in his foolishness and silly attitudes, but I spent this episode wanting Martin to punch his lights out. He did get his comeuppance at the end, but only in so far that he lost his cash handout. I'd hoped Jackie might at least summon the confidence to give her son a good rollicking in public for his bad behaviour. Still, her spineless attitude explains why Jez is content to sit on his backside and expect things to happen around him.

Overall, this episode rescued itself once the rape subplot kicked in, and the resolution pulled everything together well, but it wasn't a particularly funny episode. The ingredients were there for a memorable story (and it certainly wasn't boring), but I felt like more could have been done with the premise. While I expect Peep Show's characters to be dysfunctional and twisted in their attitudes, this was the first time I found myself hating Jez -- and couldn't see anything redeeming, or funny, about his behaviour.


23 May 2008
Channel 4, 10.35 pm

PEEP SHOW 5.3 – "Jeremy's Broke"

Writers: Sam Bain & Jesse Armstrong

Director: Becky Martin

Cast: David Mitchell (Mark), Robert Webb (Jez), Olivia Coleman (Sophie), Paterson Joseph (Johnson), Neil Fitzmaurice (Jeff), Isy Suttie (Dobby), Natasha Beaumont (Saz), Sophie Winkleman (Biz Suze) & Margaret Cabourn-Smith (Dating Agency Organiser)



Jeremy uses up his financial nest egg and ends up hungry, homeless and a criminal. Meanwhile, Mark needs to find a girlfriend before his birthday party...

Mark (David Mitchell) is still on the rebound from jilted bride Sophie (Olivia Coleman) so tries his luck speed-dating, where he meets outspoken Australian fun-lover Saz (Natasha Beaumont). He's once again hoping beyond hope that she might be "the one", so invites her to be his new flatmate -- now that Jez (Robert Webb) has used up his mum's nest egg and is unable to pay rent. While it's worrying to see another episode revolve around Mark's tragic romances, I can't deny they're always good entertainment value, and Saz was a refreshing change from the perky intellectuals Mark usually gravitates to.

Indeed, a lot of the comedy comes watching Mark fall under Saz's spell purely because she's an attractive woman ordinarily out of his league. In true Peep Show style, Mark tries his best to ignore the fact she's using him and, despite her drunken antics back at the flat with a similarly coarse friend, he's unwilling to assert any authority on the off-chance she'll sleep with him. Just as Mark summons the courage to ditch her the next morning, Saz agrees to become his "girlfriend" so she can continue pulling the wool over his eyes; an empty-hearted act that Mark accepts purely because it'll look good if he takes a new woman to his upcoming birthday party.

For layout Jez, the sudden lack of cash means he's usurped by Saz and forced to sleep on the sofa until he finds somewhere else to stay. Bemoaning the lack of jobs for "media types" like himself, he has little choice but to sell semen to a fertility clinic. In one of the funniest moments, Jez discovers there's no free pornography to help him make a donation, so has to furiously masturbate to the Queen on the back of a £20 note – which actually goes well until moustachioed composer Edward Elgar, on the reverse side, makes an appearance...

The episode was also notable for the reappearance of IT girl Dobby (Isy Suttie), whose return to the show suggests she's definitely the new object of Mark's affections – well, if nobody better-looking's around to turn his head. In one heartening scene, office bully Jeff (Neil Fitzmaurice) makes a typically snide comment to Mark in passing, only for Dobby to rush to his defence and belittle Jeff's nastiness. It's rare to see Jeff on the receiving end of things, or for Mark to have someone defend him like this, so that moment stood out for me. Dobby came across as a likely nutcase last week, but perhaps she's more level-headed than we first thought. Either way, small victories and camaraderie are in short supply on Peep Show, so this was very welcome.

Jez tries to move in with Big Suze (Sophie Winkleman), despite the fact she's living with Johnson (Paterson Joseph), but she's wisely having none of it. But seeing her does give him the opportunity to steal Johnson's credit card and go on an ill-advised shopping spree. Eventually, Mark's birthday party arrives, although his initial excitement over having Saz to show off to friends and work colleagues turns sour when she starts dancing with Jeff – begging the question: why the hell did he invite Jeff!? And Johnson isn't too pleased when it becomes clear Jez (now in a brand new suit) was the one who stole his credit card, forcing Mark to bail him out.

This was a really good episode, but not quite at the gut-busting level of last week. Jez's subplot was amusing (particularly the sperm donor interlude), while Saz made for an interesting "girlfriend" for Mark – perfectly acted by Natasha Beaumont. It was great to see Dobby's still in the mix, although I'm disappointed by how repetitive the fifth season's episodes have been so far

Everything seems to be revolving around Mark getting a new girlfriend to help him get over Sophie, and it's getting a bit dull. Hopefully the remaining episodes will focus more on the friendship and work-related aspects to Mark and Jez's lives, or begin to take us into uncharted territory. Or is that too much to ask? I just feel that earlier seasons (especially last year's) were more inventive with their storylines, and the narrative drive of Mark's wedding hasn't been replaced by anything very substantial so far.

A sixth season has just been commissioned, which I'm very happy about. There aren't many British sitcoms that keep this level of quality up in their fifth year, but the jokes and internal dialogue are still as sharp as ever. I just wish there was more sense of drive and freshness to events. And is this season being shown out of intended order? Mark and Jez's TV was stolen in episode 1 and they were using a portable TV in this third episode, but I just realized that they did have their plasma in episode 2!


16 May 2008
Channel 4, 10.35 pm

PEEP SHOW 5.2 – "Spin War"

Writers: Jesse Armstrong & Sam Bain

Director: Becky Martin

Cast: David Mitchell (Mark), Robert Webb (Jez), Olivia Coleman (Sophie), Matt King (Super Hans), Paterson Joseph (Alan Johnson), Neil Fitzmaurice (Jeff Heaney), Isy Suttie (Dobby), Zac Fox (Barney Chapman), Paul Clayton (Ian Chapman) & Endy McKay (Lisa)

Mark and Sophie return to work after their split, as Jez and Super Hans play their first gig...

After last week's slightly irritating avoidance of season 4's fallout, this episode finds Mark (David Mitchell) and "jilted" bride Sophie (Olivia Coleman) squaring up to each other back at work. Mark's resigned to the fact that his work colleagues are going to hate him (and can you blame them?), but takes solace in another unlikely romance – this time with IT technician Dobby (Isy Suttie). Meanwhile, Jez (Robert Webb) is given a surprisingly good demo-tape by Sophie's teenage cousin Barney (Zac Fox), and decides to exploit Barney's talent for his own musical benefit...

Spin War was another excellent episode, typical of Peep Show firing on all cylinders. It's always a pleasure to see Mark interacting with Sophie and office characters like bully Jeff (Neil Fitzmaurice) and corporate shark Johnson (Paterson Joseph). It'll be interesting to see where things go, as Mark's pursuit of Sophie has informed his character's direction since day 1, but I don't see reconciliation as an option just yet. I'm guessing the show will use the Sophie/Mark relationship to chart a messy divorce for this season, and perhaps the next.

If so, I hope Mark finds someone new to obsess over. This episode once again finds Mark growing close to a woman; the weirdly-alluring and highly-sexed Dobby, who takes a shine to him during a dinner break and makes a bold step by seducing him in the store cupboard. Mark mentally dithers over what to do as she rubs herself into his crotch, before beating a hasty exit as he ejaculates in his trousers, later forced to agree with Jeff and Sophie that he's wet himself – and take comfort that the true nature of his trouser stain remained secret.

While Mark's character soars whenever he's in an office context grappling with his love-life, Jez is likewise at his best whenever partnered with Super Hans (Mark King), the other half of his crappy band. Here, Jez and Super Hans discover their "fan" Barney is actually very talented, so coerce him into joining their band before their first live gig. Hoping he'll write some decent material after hearing his excellent demo-tape, Super Hans unfortunately takes things too far by suggesting oral sex from the precocious yet naïve teen.

It all dovetails into discomfiture for everyone, as Mark takes Dobby to a club to see Jez play live – as Barney leaves Jez's gig in the lurch because Super Hans forced him to suck him off. Then, Mark discovers a drunken Sophie collapsed in a vomit-covered toilet cubicle after heading there for quickie sex with nymphomaniac Dobby, and feels duty-bound to help her...

The story wasn't water-tight, relying on coincidences at times, while the Barney plot became distasteful too quickly -- but that's kind of what you expect with Peep Show. There's an argument for saying the show follows familiar patterns, which I kind of agree with. In particular, Mark's ability to attract women (usually of the same generic personality) is getting a bit strained, although this episode benefited from involving Sophie and her squabbling with Mark.

As usual, the humour doesn't really come from the complexities of the narrative, but the barbed internal commentaries from Mark and Jez. These acidic thought-balloons we hear as viewers remain piercing and reflective of real thoughts. The only difference is that Mark's thought processes are ten times wittier than normal people.

Overall, this episode was an improvement over last week's, mainly because it returned to the ongoing story with Mark/Sophie and included the always-funny Super Hans. Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain tend to fall back on established set-ups (particularly with Mark and the potential girlfriends he inevitably pushes away), but the quality of the written jokes and humorous situations rarely drops. Which is what really matters in comedy.


9 May 2008
Channel 4, 10.30 pm

PEEP SHOW 5.1 - "Burgling"

Writers: Jesse Armstrong & Sam Bain

Director: Becky Martin

Cast: David Mitchell (Mark), Robert Webb (Jez), Sophie Winkleman (Big Suze), Dolly Wells (Paula), Susannah Wise (Heather) & Jack Bence (Burglar)


Jez persuades Mark to accompany him on a double-date, to help him get over his failed marriage. Meanwhile, a burglar targets their empty flat...

"Of course it's not AIDS; this isn't the 1980s. It's the best
STD: just cute, old, mostly symptom-less Chlamydia."

-- Jez (Robert Webb)

Despite its BAFTA successes and best-selling DVDs, Peep Show remains a low-rated cult for Friday nights, ever since it first arrived back in 2003. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Even after 5 years, Peep Show seems incapable of letting the quality slip, with writers Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain crafting a continual stream of situations that every twentysomething can identify with. It's the uncomfortable years after adolescence and before "proper" adulthood, where many people (particularly men) just can't let go of their youth...

In this fifth series, stiff Mark (David Mitchell) and his layabout flatmate Jez (Robert Webb) are back living together, following the events of series 4's finale, where Mark ditched office sweetheart Sophie, minutes after marrying her. He's understandably depressed and upset, so Jez tries to cheer him up by arranging a double-date. Initially reluctant, Mark changes his mind when he sees the beautiful Heather (Susannah Wise), and agrees to Jez's set-up.

Sadly, the double-date involves a trip to the theatre, where a monumentally-bored Jez abandons Paula and heads home. Fortunately, Mark has already impressed Heather with his knowledge of Japanese samurai and has arranged a second date, only to find he gets stood up. Disgruntled, he returns home and bumps into Heather, who offers a plausible excuse for her absence, and agrees to accompany him home for drinks. But Mark's growing excitement that she might be "the one" turns to headaches when he catches a teenage burglar (Jack Bence) who's broken into their flat...

For an opening episode, I was slightly disappointed we didn’t get much fallout from the Sophie/Mark marriage break-up, as this story fell into something of a Peep Show staple: the uncomfortable, disastrous, foiled romance for Mark. That said, it's always great fun to see these characters do anything, and after years working together (in Peep Show, and other projects), Mitchell and Webb are a naturally entertaining double-act. Even if they don't technically perform together in this show, owing to its unique point-of-view style – where events are shown through the eyes of its characters, with a darkly humorous "vocalization" of their thoughts – meaning every actor is essentially acting to a single camera.

There's also an amusing subplot for Jez, who is told he might have Chlamydia by Paula -- but isn't concerned because it's symptom-less for men, and therefore doesn't want to tell his ex Big Suze (Sophie Winkleman) because there's a chance she's going to sleep with him. Of course, sensible Mark is adamant he tells Big Suze of his STD, as Chlamydia can make women infertile -- but can Jez be that selfless?

Burgling wasn't anything special in the big scheme of things, but the script is once again packed full of witty remarks and amusing lines. I particularly liked Jez trying to prove to Mark that plays are cool ("It's all different now. They've moved on. They use proper actors: Americans and people off the telly. And they're all based on films, so it's fine.") And does anyone else tape together all their remote controls to create "The Megatron"?

The supporting cast were all very good. I always find Sophie Winkleman amusing as posh Big Suze, and guest star Susannah Wise was engaging as Heather, even if all of Mark's potential dream-girls are written as the same basic character: the plain-but-quite-quite-attractive, intellectual and quiet type.

Still, I always feel genuinely saddened whenever events conspire to make Mark look like a weird loser, particularly as he gets very little back-up and help from anyone else, especially best-friend Jez. And that's the great secret to Peep Show; you can really identity with the characters, and they're a (worryingly) accurate reflection of kidults. I'm often quite amazed by how the inner dialogues of Mark and Jez resemble thoughts I've had myself, as Peep Show's format is the perfect device for getting inside peoples' heads. And it's a bizarre, dumb, sinister and hilarious place to be.


2 May 2008
Channel 4, 10.30 pm

LITTLE SHOW PEEP (sorry...)

One of the best sitcoms in years, along with The Office and Extras, returns to Channel 4 on 13 April for its fourth series...

Peep Show concerns two sexually-frustrated flatmates. David Mitchell plays socially-awkward pessimist Mark, an office worker. Robert Webb plays optimistic slacker Jez, a failed musican.

Imagine The Likely Lads with jokes about wanking.

The show's originality stems from the format, wherein the audience is placed inside the head of all the characters -- literally seeing events from their point of view. The actors all wear cameras attached to their heads. In the case of Mark and Jez, we even hear their deepest, darkest thoughts...

Peep Show has won a cult following but has never got big ratings. Series 3 struggled along with an average of 1.3 million viewers per episode, but the DVDs continue to sell well and it's highly-regarded in the industry. Ricky Gervais considers it the finest sitcom in years and it won Best Comedy at the British Comedy Awards.

Maybe the recent success of their sketch show That Mitchell & Web Look, together with Mitchell's omnipresence on comedy panel shows, will persuade new viewers to give Peep Show a spin. Channel 4 are certainly behind it (low ratings bedamned) as they've already commissioned a fifth series!

I hope the new series does well, although exclusivity is part of the show's appeal now. Finding someone who likes Peep Show is a great seal of approval, in the same way Spaced used to be.

Still, if you haven't seen it yet, I heartily recommend it. Just try and keep it to yourself. Every episode contains great one-liners, embarassing mishaps, realistically endearing relationships and it's a brilliant commentary on young adulthood.

Take a peep!

Note: Series 1-3 are FREE to watch on Virgin cable's On-Demand service. If you don't have cable, the jumbo box-set is only £17.99 at Play.com. You can even pre-order series 4!