Peep Show (TV series)

This article is about the British sitcom. For the Canadian TV series, see Peep Show (Canadian TV series).

Peep Show
Genre	Comedy drama
Created by	Andrew O'Connor Jesse Armstrong Sam Bain
Written by	Jesse Armstrong Sam Bain Simon Blackwell
Starring	David Mitchell Robert Webb Olivia Colman Matt King Paterson Joseph
Opening theme	Daniel Pemberton - "Pip Pop Plop" (series 1) Harvey Danger - "Flagpole Sitta" (series 2 onwards)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of series	7
No. of episodes	42 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Andrew O'Connor Jesse Armstrong Sam Bain
Producer(s)	Phil Clarke
Camera setup	Single-camera (sometimes head-mounted)
Running time	24 minutes
Production company(s)	Objective Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	Channel 4
Picture format	PAL (576i) (series 1–5) HDTV (1080i) (series 6–7)
Audio format	Stereo
Original run	19 September 2003 (2003-09-19) – present
External links
Website

Peep Show is a British sitcom starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb. The television programme is written by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, with additional material by Mitchell and Webb themselves, amongst others. It has been broadcast on Channel 4 since 2003. The show's seventh series (broadcast late 2010) makes it the longest-running sitcom in Channel 4 history.^[1] On 17 December 2010 it was confirmed that the show had been renewed for both an 8th and 9th series, but that they would not be aired until at least mid-2012 due to the writers being busy with other projects.^[2] Stylistically, the show uses point of view shots with the thoughts of main characters Mark and Jeremy audible as voiceovers.

Peep Show follows the lives of two men in their late twenties and early thirties, Mark Corrigan (Mitchell), employed as a loan manager, and Jeremy Usborne (Webb), an unemployed musician. The pair met at the fictional Dartmouth University, and now share a flat in Croydon, South London. Mark is initially a loan manager at the fictional JLB Credit, later becoming a waiter. He is financially secure, but awkward and socially inept, with a pessimistic and critical attitude. Jeremy, having split up with his girlfriend Big Suze prior to the first episode, now lives in Mark's spare room. He usually has a much more optimistic and energetic outlook on the world than Mark, yet his self-proclaimed talent as a musician is yet to be recognised, and he is not as popular or attractive as he would like to think himself, although he is the more successful with the opposite sex of the two.^[3]

Plot summary

Main article: List of Peep Show episodes

In the first series, Mark and Jeremy start out with similar aims of bedding their next-door neighbour Toni, though Mark is also tragically obsessed with his workmate Sophie, who is more interested in the more macho Jeff. Both endure awkward situations; Mark suffers a sexual admiration for his boss, Alan Johnson, while Jeremy remembers having oral sex with Super Hans during a drug binge. The two desperately team up to prank call Sophie and launch a pepper spray attack on Super Hans, who has begun a relationship with Toni. By the end of the series, Mark nearly succeeds in having sex with Sophie but this chance is ruined by Jeremy's apparent overdose, while the latter claims that he has a terminal illness in order to receive sexual favours from Toni.

In series 2, Jeremy meets and falls in love with Nancy, a free-spirited American, and has some success with his music career with Super Hans. Meanwhile, Mark is on a downward slope: Sophie plans to move in with Jeff, and Mark forges a short friendship with a neo-Nazi, and falls for a similarly socially inadequate student, before losing her after an ill-judged return to his old university, where she is currently studying. However, the tables turn once more at the end of the series when Jeremy admits to Nancy — now his wife (for visa documentation) — that he accidentally had an affair with Toni, leaving his marriage a husk, while Sophie dumps Jeff after Mark finds out that he has been womanising and subsequently tells Sophie. Super Hans also develops a crack cocaine addiction.

Series 3 sees Big Suze re-enter Jeremy's life. Meanwhile, Mark and Sophie have finally become a couple, yet Mark is left alone once again when she is relocated to Bristol. Jeremy seduces Mark's sister while Mark falls for Big Suze, and Jeremy and Super Hans attempt to run a pub. In the last episode, Mark plans to propose to Sophie but changes his mind upon realising that they have very little in common. Nonetheless he ends up agreeing to marry her to avoid "embarrassment" after she accidentally finds his engagement ring and accepts a proposal which he has not actually made. Meanwhile Jeremy's efforts to get back together with Suze are hindered somewhat by Super Hans' attempts to go cold turkey.

During series 4 Mark and Sophie visit Sophie's parents after their engagement, and Jeremy has sex with Sophie's mother. Big Suze breaks up with Jeremy once again after he tries to prostitute her to Johnson and subsequently starts a relationship with him instead. In an attempt to get away from Sophie, Mark joins a gym, and discovers that Nancy is working there and Jeremy tries to win her back. Sophie leaves on a foreign business trip, leaving Mark to consider a fling with a woman from his school reunion. Jeremy finds some highly-paid work as a handyman for one of his musical heroes but discovers that his employer expects Jeremy to give him "a hand". Mark and Jeremy spend a weekend on a canal boat for Mark's stag do, where Mark meets a businessman with contacts in India and attempts to secure a job there as a means of escaping his impending wedding: however, the plan falls apart when Jeremy accidentally kills the businessman's daughter's beloved dog and attempts to disguise his crime by eating the remnants of the dog. In the final episode, as the wedding approaches, Jeremy is having difficulty juggling a hungover Super Hans, the wedding, Nancy and his desperate need to urinate. After several attempts to get out of marriage, including jumping out in front of a car, proposing marriage to a cafe employee and hiding in the church, Mark ends up marrying Sophie. However, she runs out on him after the ceremony, planning to seek a divorce or annulment because Mark is "horrible".

Much of series 5 revolves around Mark's search for "the one". He asks out the new IT girl, Dobby, although the date ends badly when they find a disheveled Sophie in the toilets. Dobby remains interested, even when Mark is forced to reject her offer to be his date at his upcoming birthday party as Mark has to take an Australian he met while speed-dating. Meanwhile, Jeremy runs out of money and goes on a mini crime spree stealing from Johnson's credit card and is temporarily evicted by Mark. He asks Big Suze if he can stay with her and Johnson, but is turned down. He tries to obtain money from his mother after his great-aunt dies, and his poor relationship with his mother is revealed, while Mark thrives in her company and is given the job of writing her boyfriend's military biography. Jealous, Jeremy ruins Mark's ambitions by revealing how Mark was raped by the veteran's daughter, after she had sex with him while he was asleep. In the final episode, Mark fails to ask Dobby out and she finally moves on. He is promoted to Senior Credit Manager by Johnson but is unable to fire Sophie as ordered, after she reveals that she is pregnant with what may be his child. In the series' closing moments, it is revealed that Jeremy too has recently slept with Sophie and that her baby might be his.

Series 6 begins with JLB Credit closing down and the mystery of who the father is being solved, Sophie revealing that Mark is the baby's father. Meanwhile Jeremy meets Elena, a beautiful Russian woman and occasional marijuana dealer who lives in their building. Jeremy quickly falls in love with her, but things deteriorate when it is revealed that Elena is not only bisexual but also has a long-term partner, Gail, who is returning to London. Mark looks for work, starting a company with a recession-frazzled Johnson, almost landing his dream job as a guide for historic walks, and finally becoming a waiter in Gail's Mexican-themed restaurant, all the while trying (and failing) to get anywhere with Dobby. To resolve their woman troubles, Jeremy and Mark host a party, which ends in Jeremy rekindling his love for Elena, Mark drowning a snake in a bucket of vomit, and Gail and Elena deciding to get married. In the final episode, Mark pledges to take driving lessons in order to drive Sophie to the hospital when the baby arrives, but lies to her when he fails his test. Jeremy spirals into despair over losing Elena especially after she reveals that she is moving to Quebec with Gail. Sophie goes into labour early, and with Mark forced to reveal he cannot drive, a drunk Jeremy attempts to drive Sophie to the hospital and nearly runs down Gail. Jeremy then admits that he and Elena were having an affair, and the series ends with Sophie driving herself to the hospital with the two boys in the back seat.

Series 7 introduces Zahra and Ben, whom Jeremy meets while Sophie is giving birth. Jeremy is instantly attracted to Zahra and is selfishly pleased when he discovers that Ben, her boyfriend, is in intensive care, potentially making Zahra single. However, Ben recovers fully, and, as thanks for being so friendly to Zahra, offers Jeremy a job with his record company, which Jeremy accepts as he hopes it will allow him to get closer to Zahra. The job itself does not go well, and his attempts to sign up his and Super Hans's band fails badly and ends up with him being fired from the band. Meanwhile, Mark beats off competition from Gerard to finally become Dobby's boyfriend, although he continues to behave awkwardly in her company. Jeremy sleeps with Zahra, and when Mark comes to meet him the next morning the two find themselves locked in Zahra's flat, causing Ben to discover them and Mark to miss his son's christening. At the end of the series, after discovering that Ben and Zahra have split, Jeremy resolves to leave the flat and move in with Zahra, while Mark needs to salvage his relationship with Dobby, and determines to ask her to move in with him. Dobby agrees to move in with Mark, but Zahra rejects Jez after she learns he has been flirting with Super Hans's girlfriend, leaving him on his own at the end of the series. Throughout the series we continually see Jeff acting as a replacement father figure to Mark's child.

Characters

• David Mitchell as Mark Corrigan

Former loan manager Mark Corrigan is the owner of the flat that he shares with Jeremy. He is sensible and careful, but often has moments of impulsive and erratic behaviour. He appears to have had a somewhat miserable upbringing, with a domineering father, and some infidelity by both parents. He is a graduate in Business Studies from Dartmouth University, where he met Jeremy. He has a love of history, especially ancient history - which he originally wanted to study at university, before being coerced by his parents into reading Business Studies instead - and modern military history. Mark is conscious of Jeremy's intellectual inferiority, but still looks to him for social guidance, as he is extremely socially awkward. Mark is plagued by paranoia as to how others perceive him, and doubts over whether his actions are normal. He once shared an awkward kiss with Jeremy during a game of Spin the bottle in order to impress Sophie. He is very reactionary and at times appears to be rather Euro-sceptic. He is often unable to grasp how modern society operates, and simply endures activities that others seem to enjoy. Mark's infatuation and relationship with Sophie is a major theme of the first four series. Following their disastrous wedding and break-up, he pursues a series of other women during Series 5, wondering whether each could be "the one", with a new character entering in series 5, called Dobby, whom he asks to move in with him at the climax of series 7. He was voted the 12th Greatest Comedy Character in a 2007 Channel 4 poll.^[4]

• Robert Webb as Jeremy Osborne

A wannabe musician, Jeremy, also known as "Jez", is a "work-shy freeloader" who is unemployed for most of the series. He is naïve, immature and often selfish, but considers himself very talented and attractive. He tends to be more sociable than Mark, but can sometimes be quite malicious and spiteful. He has displayed no qualms about engaging in actions such as ganging up on Mark with a bully, poisoning Mark to save a party, kissing Sophie or relapsing Super Hans into drug addiction. Jeremy is hedonistic and enjoys recreational drugs as well as casual sex. Jeremy has twice been diagnosed with Chlamydia (once, sometime before series 3, with little surprise from Jeremy and again in series 5 with a great deal of perturbment from the character, potentially due to a continuity error) However, he also becomes emotionally involved in his relationships with Toni, Nancy, Big Suze and Elena. Although Jeremy primarily engages in heterosexual relationships, there are several instances of bi-sexual desires and experiences, a theme which is discussed by producer Phil Clarke and script editor Ian Morris in their commentary to episode 4 of series 4. In series 4, while discussing with Sophie, Jeremy reveals that he has had sex with more men than she has (four). Like Mark, Jeremy comes from Kent, attended Dartmouth University, and qualified as a nurse^[5] but does not appear to have spent long in the post. Though Webb himself confirms that the character's surname is spelt "Usborne"^[6] and this spelling appears written on a CD in the pilot episode, the spelling has been variously rendered as "Osborne", "Osbourne", "Usborne" and "Usbourne", with Channel 4's official website for the series using both of the latter two spellings.^[7]

• Olivia Colman as Sophie Chapman

Sophie is a co-worker and love interest for both Mark and Jeff; she eventually marries Mark, and almost immediately separates from him. She is from a rural background, and a storyline develops where she begins drinking heavily and taking drugs. She is less friendly with, or respected by, their boss Johnson than Mark. At the start of series 6, it is confirmed that she is pregnant with Mark's or Jeremy's child. By the end, a DNA test confirms that Mark is the father, with the first episode of series 7, their child being born. Despite his greatest efforts, Sophie is let down throughout series 6 and 7 by Mark concerning his responsibilities as a father, including missing the christening of his son and therefore losing his rights to name his own baby as punishment.

• Matt King as Super Hans

Jeremy's band-mate and friend, "Super" Hans likes to think of himself as being superior to others and is an untrustworthy fantasist. He regularly uses recreational drugs, and experiences a crack cocaine addiction in the second series, later referenced again in the final episode of the third series and in the seventh series. His contentious opinions often contradict Jeremy's own ideas. He works in a recording studio in the first series. At the end of series 5 he joins a religious cult loosely based on Scientology. During the finale of series 6 we discover that he is father to eight-year-old twins who have an opaque connection to the German language. He is of constant surprise to the others, including in the last episode of the 7th series in which he has apparently found the love of his life, a previously unseen Asian woman who speaks no English, but a tiny bit of German. Russell Brand originally auditioned for the part.^[8] Hans was inspired by the character Danny from the film Withnail and I.^[9]

• Paterson Joseph as Alan Johnson

A loan manager, Alan Johnson (usually referred to and addressed simply as "Johnson") becomes friends with Mark after meeting him at JLB. Mark was extremely impressed by Johnson, even beginning to question his own sexuality. During series 2 he becomes Mark's boss. Although a smooth, cool and professional businessman and apparently a pillar of the community, he was previously an alcoholic for 15 years. Mark continues to get on well with Johnson despite some upsets. Jeremy, by contrast, does not, especially after Big Suze leaves Jeremy for him. An early draft of the final episode of series 3 was to conclude with Johnson committing suicide, but the idea was rejected as being too dark.^[10] During season 6, after the termination of the UK JLB operation, he begins to live in a cheap house with Suze, referred to by Mark as his "recession residence" and shows signs of insanity due to his fall from power. He swindles Mark out of £2000 by attempting to make him an executive in a new consultancy agency. In the final episode of season 7, he throws away his alleged sobriety during a new year's party.

• Neil Fitzmaurice as Jeff Heaney

Jeff is a work colleague of Mark's at JLB Credit and a confident, macho bully from Merseyside. The two repeatedly clash, not least for the attentions of Sophie, who chooses Jeff but leaves him after he continues to chase women. In the later series, as Mark and Sophie's relationship takes its course, he is frequently seen mocking Mark. By series 7, it appears that Jeff and Sophie are back in a relationship, which is a major torment to Mark, who constantly believes that his son will think Jeff is his father. His anger over their relationship peaks when Sophie even considers naming their child 'Geoff', which despite the spelling difference, Sophie sees no connection to Mark's rival.

• Elizabeth Marmur as Toni Papadopoulopoulos (Series 1–2)

The next-door neighbour of Mark and Jeremy, and an object of their lust throughout the first series of the show. She is separated from her husband Tony at the beginning of series 1, but the couple reunite during series 2, although they are still seen arguing. Her father died when she was aged three and she may subconsciously be seeking a "daddy substitute". During her childhood she regularly went skiing, and has two sisters; one with cancer, and one half sister whom Jeremy briefly dated. She is opinionated and sexually liberal, and engages in casual sex with Jeremy on several occasions. In an early episode, she engages in pyramid selling of cleaning products, but at the end of series 2 she is shown working as a supervisor in a call centre.

• Rachel Blanchard as Nancy (Series 2 & 4)

Arriving in England from small-town America to escape her conservative upbringing, Nancy is kooky and hedonistic. Her attitude towards love and relationships is affected by her upbringing and her Christian beliefs, leading to her sending Jeremy very mixed messages, from attempting wild, kinky sex one minute to abstaining completely the next (the "last taboo"). She later marries Jeremy for visa reasons, and is portrayed as either unaware of or uninterested in Jeremy's obsession with her.

• Sophie Winkleman as Big Suze (Series 3 – present)

Big Suze lived with Jeremy in a shared flat (which Jeremy nostalgically refers to as the "love shack") for around a year and a half, prior to the start of the first series of the show. She is often mentioned but does not actually make an appearance until her introduction as a major supporting character in the third series. Suze is incredibly posh, though she appears to want to become more bohemian. She is an actress, but between roles works as a waitress in a café. Jeremy is desperate to get back together with her, and although they reunite briefly, she later leaves him for Alan Johnson. Her nickname comes from her height rather than her weight. Her appearance in the third series was intended for Nancy, but Blanchard was unavailable. During series 6, her and Alan's relationship seem very unsettled, leading to them breaking up in Series 7, and her throwing a separate New Years Eve party, resulting in Alan relapsing and drinking alcohol

• Jim Howick as Gerard (Series 4 - present)

Mark's co-worker at JLB credit, and later, his love-rival over Dobby. He has health problems which sometimes result in a need for a tube up his nose, and has similar interests to Dobby such as MMORPGs and live action role-play. In Series 7, he and Mark form 'The Dobby Club', an organisation of two who are committed to breaking Dobby up with her boyfriend, deciding that the matter of which of them gets to date her if they succeed can be resolved afterwards. Despite their skin deep friendship, Mark will betray him easily if he stands between him and getting what he wants.

• Isy Suttie as Dobby (Series 5 – present)

Dobby works in the IT department of Mark's workplace and is a self-confessed misfit, much like Mark. She has many interests that are similar to those of Mark, such as MMORPGs. Mark meets her in series 5 episode 2 in the office canteen and quickly develops strong feelings for her, as does Mark's colleague Gerard at the same time. Despite an at-times uneasy relationship, by the end of series 7 Mark successfully invites her to move in with him.

• Vera Filatova as Elena (Series 6)

Elena is a Russian émigré who lives in the same block of flats as Mark and Jeremy. She works part time as a legal secretary in human rights law and deals marijuana on the side. She has a sexual attraction towards single fathers despite having a long-term relationship with Gail, which she hides from Jeremy during their relationship which continues after her return as a secret affair. She likes spelt bread as she is wheat-intolerant.

• Emily Bruni as Gail (Series 6–7)

Elena's long term girlfriend, a member of Mensa and a musician. She runs a Mexican restaurant, hiring Mark until she fires him in Series 7.

• Camilla Beeput as Zahra (Series 7 - present)

A pretentious woman who Jeremy meets in a hospital waiting room. Her boyfriend later employs him which Jeremy uses as a means to try and get close to, and eventually seduce her, even though she claims interest in many refined subjects that are beyond him, such as foreign films and classic literature like Frankenstein.

Production

Writers Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain met actors and writers David Mitchell and Robert Webb during a failed attempt to complete a team-written sitcom for the BBC. They had an old, unproduced script that they wanted to revive called All Day Breakfast and brought in Mitchell and Webb to help out. The show did not work out but the four developed as a partnership,^[11] and one idea eventually evolved into Peep Show for Channel 4.^[12] Peep Show was originally conceived as a sitcom in the style of Beavis and Butt-head revolving around two characters watching and discussing television. However, the idea was dropped due to the large expense that airing clips from other shows would bring as well as Mitchell and Webb's fear that, because their characters would only be watching television, "[they] wouldn't be in the show".^[13]

Instead Armstrong and Bain opted to produce a more story-based sitcom with an unconventional filming style. The events of the two main characters' lives are seen almost exclusively from their own points of view with a voiceover providing their internal thoughts.^[13] Scenes in the show are sometimes filmed using cameras strapped to the actors' heads, or attached to a hat,^[14] to give the viewer a point of view identical to that of the protagonists.^[15] The quality of footage captured with this method is sometimes poor and the technique has been used less and less in recent series.^[16] When head-mounted cameras are not used, scenes are filmed with the camera being held over the actor's shoulder, or directly in front of their face; each scene is therefore shot multiple times from different angles.^[14][17] Armstrong and Bain's choice of the style was influenced by the 2000 Channel 4 documentary Being Caprice about the model Caprice Bourret which featured a similar technique that had in turn been copied from the 1999 film Being John Malkovich.^[9] Bain noted: "So it's a third-hand steal, really. We thought it would be great for comedy, hearing someone else's thoughts. The voices give you a whole other dimension in terms of jokes."^[13] The idea for using voiceovers came from a scene in the Woody Allen film Annie Hall in which the true feelings of the characters are conveyed by subtitles.^[9] The POV technique separates Peep Show from other sitcoms and Mitchell claims that without it Peep Show would be similar to shows like Spaced and Men Behaving Badly.^[13]

Two pilots were filmed for the show which allowed Armstrong and Bain to firmly develop and finalise the style of the show. Armstrong said: "on the run of doing those two pilots we really created the show in the way that you couldn't if you hadn't tried it out." In the original pilot Olivia Colman's character Sophie Chapman had a voice-over as well as Mitchell and Webb's characters Mark and Jeremy. The POV technique was also restricted solely to the character thinking at the time; it was later expanded so that the view could come from a third party.^[13] Bain and Armstrong are the show's principal writers and Mitchell and Webb provide additional material.^[18] Many storylines come from experiences in the writer's lives,^[11] particularly Bain's.^[9] For example, the series 5 episode "Burgling" sees Mark apprehend a burglar by sitting on him, something Bain once did in a video shop before he was told to get off as he was scaring the customers.^[9] The writing for each series takes place seven to eight months before filming begins; once each episode is mapped out scene by scene they must be approved by the producer Andrew O'Connor and Channel 4. Rehearsals take two weeks and filming lasts for six to seven weeks.^[14]

For the first two series the scenes set in Mark and Jeremy's flat were filmed in a real property in Croydon, where the show takes place. The flat's owners did not allow it to be used for series 3 and so a replica was constructed in a carpet warehouse in Neasden.^[17]

The theme tune for the first series was an original composition by Daniel Pemberton and is featured on his TVPOPMUZIK album, and can be heard on his Myspace page.^[19] Since the second series the theme music has been the song "Flagpole Sitta" by the American band Harvey Danger ^[18] (however, the original first series composition is still heard briefly during scene changes). A working title for the programme was POV, as noted by David Mitchell on the DVD commentary for the first episode of the first series.

American versions

In 2005, the Fox network commissioned a pilot for an American version of Peep Show (named Odd Couple); however, the pilot was unsuccessful.^[20] Jeremy was played by Josh Meyers, and Mark was played by Johnny Galecki.^[20] Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain have commented that the American version did not use the point-of-view filming like the original.

Spike TV has since commissioned its own version, originally to be written and directed by Robert Weide, who is the executive producer of Curb Your Enthusiasm.^[20] However, it is currently being written by Armstrong and Bain.^[21]

Other media

A book entitled Peep Show: The Scripts and More, which featured the scripts of every episode from the first five series as well as an introduction from Mitchell and Webb, was released in 2008.^[13] To celebrate the show, Channel 4 aired a Peep Show Night on Christmas Eve in 2010, which included the documentary Peep Show and Tell and the fan selected episodes "Wedding" and "Shrooming".^[2][22]

Reception

The series was met with critical acclaim,^[23] and is considered to be a cult television show.^[11][24] Early previews called it "promising"^[25] and noted it had "the sniff of a cult favourite";^[26] Jane Simon of the Mirror claimed that Peep Show in years to come will "be seen as the pinnacle of comedy it obviously is."^[27] Peter Conchie of The Independent however labelled it an "artless and overly ironic hybrid of Spaced and The Adam and Joe Show [...] is best watched through knitted fingers."^[28]

Peep Show won the titles "The Best Returning British TV Sitcom 2007" and "Comedy of the Year 2008" in The Comedy.co.uk Awards.^[29][30]

The Guardian newspaper described it as "the best comedy of the decade".^[31] Ricky Gervais has been cited as saying "the last thing I got genuinely excited about on British TV was Peep Show, which I thought was the best sitcom since Father Ted".^[32] While presenting an award at the 2005 British Comedy Awards, Gervais called it "the best show on television today" and said it was a "debacle" that it did not win an award.^[33] The Times praised the show's "scorching writing" and named it the 15th best TV show of the 2000s.^[34]

Ratings

Despite the critical acclaim, Peep Show has never garnered consistently high viewing figures.^[23][35] At the beginning of 2006 there were rumours that the show would not be commissioned for a fourth series due to insufficient ratings of just over a million viewers.^[36][37] However, due to the large DVD revenues of the previous series, a fourth series was commissioned.^[38] The premiere of the fourth series showed no improvement on the ratings of the previous, continuing to attract its core audience of 1.3 million (8% of viewers).^[39] Despite the low viewing figures, the fifth series of the show was commissioned prior to the broadcast of series 4. Channel 4's decision to commission the show for a fifth series was said to be for a variety of reasons, including again the high DVD sales of the previous series (400,000 to date),^[40] the continued high quality of the show itself,^[41] and the rising profile of Mitchell and Webb due to the success of their BBC sketch show That Mitchell and Webb Look, their advertisements for Apple, and their feature film Magicians.^[42] The fifth series showed no improvement with 1.1 million viewers.^[43] Producer Andrew O'Connor cited the POV filming style as the reason for the low ratings: "It made it feel original and fresh and got it commissioned for a second series, but it stopped it from being a breakout hit and stopped it finding a bigger audience."^[35] Bain and Armstrong agreed that the POV style stopped it from becoming mainstream.^[11]

The first episode of series 6 - the first to be shown in its new earlier time slot of 10pm - attracted Peep Show's highest ratings to date, with 1.8 million viewers (9.2% audience share), with a further 208,000 (1.8%) watching it on Channel 4+1.^[44]

Awards and honours

Peep Show has won several awards:

• In 2004, it won the Rose d'Or for "Best European Sitcom"^[15]
• At the end of 2006, following the third series, Peep Show was honoured with the British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy^[45]
• It won the same award in 2007 and Mitchell also won "Best TV Comedy Actor" in the same ceremony^[46]
• Mitchell and Webb both won the "Comedy Performance" award in the 2007 Royal Television Society awards.^[47]
• The fourth series won the 2008 BAFTA for "Best Situation Comedy"^[48]
• In 2009, Bain and Armstrong won the Royal Television Society award for "Writer - Comedy"^[49]
• Mitchell won the 2009 BAFTA Television Award for "Best Comedy Performance"^[50]

References

Notes

1. ^ "Frankie Boyle heads new Channel 4 season". BBC News. 2010-08-26. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11100448. Retrieved 2010-08-27. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Peep Show's nine lives". Chortle. 2010-12-17. http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2010/12/17/12411/peep_shows_nine_lives. Retrieved 2011-01-11. 
3. ^ "Peep Show". 'TV.com'. http://www.tv.com/peep-show-uk/show/14561/summary.html?q=peep%20show&tag=search_results;title;2. 
4. ^ Martin1983 (14 April 2007). "Channel 4's "World's 50 Greatest Comedy Characters"". Listology. http://www.listology.com/content_show.cfm/content_id.28917. Retrieved 5 September 2009. 
5. ^ Peep Show Series 1 Episode 2
6. ^ Dean, Will (20 November 2010). "Peep Show's Jez and Mark … by the people who know them best". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/nov/20/peep-show-mitchell-webb. 
7. ^ "Peep Show minisite on". Channel 4. 5 December 2008. http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/P/peep_show/characters/jez.html. Retrieved 5 September 2009. 
8. ^ "Brand 'rejected for Peep Show role'". BBC Newsbeat. 16 April 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/entertainment/newsid_7351000/7351096.stm. Retrieved 16 April 2008. 
9. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong". The Culture Show. BBC 2. 24 June 2008. No. 4, season 5.
10. ^ DVD commentary to the series three episode "Quantocking"
11. ^ ^{a b c d} Sam Delaney (7 April 2007). "Comedy rules". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2007/apr/07/comedy. Retrieved 20 August 2009. 
12. ^ Ross, Deborah (18 November 2006). "Peep Show's David Mitchell and Robert Webb". The Independent (London). http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/article1988496.ece. Retrieved 4 April 2007. 
13. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Linda Gibson (29 April 2008). "Peep Show: Meet the writers and stars". The Stage. http://blogs.thestage.co.uk/tvtoday/2008/04/peep-show-meet-the-writers-and-stars/. Retrieved 19 August 2009. 
14. ^ ^{a b c} Mitchell, David; Webb, Robert; Bain, Sam; Armstrong, Jesse; Shapeero, Tristram (2005). Behind the Scenes Documentary (DVD). Objective Productions, 4DVD. 
15. ^ ^{a b} "British Sitcom Guide — Peep Show". British Sitcom Guide. 2007. http://www.sitcom.co.uk/peep_show/about.shtml. Retrieved 1 February 2007. 
16. ^ "Episode 5". Norton, Graham; Mitchell, David. The Graham Norton Show. BBC 2. No. 5, series 3.
17. ^ ^{a b} Sam Wollaston (10 November 2005). "Inside the sordid world of Jeremy and Mark: A new series of Peep Show starts tomorrow. Sam Wollaston has a close encounter with the odd couple behind C4's slow-burn hit". The Guardian. 
18. ^ ^{a b} "Peep Show - Production Details & Cast and Crew - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide. 19 September 2003. http://www.comedy.org.uk/guide/tv/peep_show/details/. Retrieved 5 September 2009. 
19. ^ "Pip Pop Plop". Myspace. 8 Aug 2006. http://www.myspace.com/99815118/music/songs/Pip-Pop-Plop-Peep-Show-21658988. 
20. ^ ^{a b c} "News — Peep Show to be re-made in America". British Sitcom Guide. 4 May 2007. http://www.sitcom.co.uk/news/news.php?story=000183. 
21. ^ "US producers 'to make Peep Show'". BBC News. 30 September 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7643621.stm. Retrieved 30 September 2008. 
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External links

• Peep Show at channel4.com
• Peep Show at TV.com
• Peep Show at the Internet Movie Database
• Peep Show at the British Comedy Guide