Peep Show turns 20

The best British comedy of its generation. Maybe all time?

A few years ago one of my flatmates was going travelling for six months and wanted to rent his room out while he was away. Finding a new flatmate is tricky because you have to decide whether you want to live with a stranger based on a SpareRoom bio and 10 minutes of small talk that’s often interrupted by obligatory chat about kitchen appliances. My other flatmate and I decided that we would make the most of this brief meeting by putting our favourite TV show on in the background and if the candidate was a fan then that was all we would need.

That’s how much Peep Show means to me.

The first episode aired 20 years ago today and the show ran for nine seasons from 2003-2015. It stars David Mitchell and Robert Webb as Mark Corrigan and Jeremy (Jez) Usbourne, two best friends that live together and their assorted adventures in co-habiting, romance and careers (or lack of) with disastrous and often cringe-inducing results.

Mark is uptight and self-loathing while constantly seeking normalcy and acceptance, while Jez is pure ego and self-indulgence, a “work-shy freeloader” that always ruins Mark’s chances of happiness but is also constantly ground down by Mark’s need to “live so relentlessly in the real world”, exemplified in one of my favourite interactions from season eight:

Jeremy: Don't worry. Zahra says we have only one fear to fear, and that's fear itself. It's a clever saying, isn't it?

Mark: And what about losing all your money? Or shitting yourself in public? Or the tabloid press mistakenly outing you as a paedo? Or Alzheimer's? Or all of those things, plus you're drowning?

While this odd-couple dynamic is hilariously explored in Peep Show, what makes it so special, at least for me, are the occasions where we see how similar the ‘El Dude Brothers’ really are. They are resentful of each other yet entirely co-dependent, self-conscious, act in their own despicable self-interest and are both equally miserable. Unfortunately for me and a legion of fans, a key reason we are drawn in is that the characters and situations are completely relatable.

Granted, I’ve never tried to get run over to avoid my own wedding or accidentally killed a dog and then found myself in a situation where I’d have to eat it, but I recognise the motivations that would lead to these positions.

The brilliant script is amplified by the unconventional use of voiceovers and point-of-view filming to give an intimate perspective of the anxieties, intrusive thoughts and biased perspectives that either guide Mark and Jeremy’s actions or entirely contradict what they actually say or do with big comedy pay offs:

Add to that a string of fantastic supporting characters, including fan favourites Super Hans, a “drug-addled maniac” played by Matt King; or Alan Johnson, an intense and ruthless business guru played by Paterson Joseph, and you’ve got an endlessly quotable masterpiece. It was also the launchpad for the very talented and now Academy Award-winning Olivia Colman.

But even with critical acclaim and a few awards to boot, the show has never got the viewership it deserved or travelled well outside Britain. Perhaps that’s because it is inherently British – it’s dark, there are no cookie-cutter morals and nearly every episode ends in disappointment. There are also great subtleties that can be enjoyed in rewatching by the discerning (read: cult) viewer, such as throughout season five when Mark calls a different woman ‘the one’ in each episode.

And Peep Show does have a fiercely devoted following, as shown in recent weeks by the protests threatening to boycott Netflix that led the streaming platform to U-turn on their decision to remove the show as planned. Earlier this year, Matt King said that fans still shout ‘Men with Ven’ at him “approximately 600 times a year” in reference to his character’s two-person Man with Van business idea. The writing is timeless and the show lives on through its iconic lines, now most prevalently as memes every time a public figure is found guilty of wrong-doing:

Back to the flat-viewing... In the end, we only had one person come to check the place out and while they had heard of Peep Show, they had never watched an episode and actually confused it with The IT Crowd. We didn’t have any other option and so, with low expectations, invited them to move in. He turned out to be a great housemate and good friend. He was, to quote the show, very “rainbow rhythms”. It was also through him that I realised that the only thing better than meeting another Peep Show fanatic - a person whom I can endlessly quote the show with - is creating one. This usually involves me re-watching episodes with them that I know entire dialogues of while staring at their face to judge reactions to my favourite scenes. Trust me, it’s fun for everyone.

All my warmest wishes (ugh, ridiculous signoff),

E.J. Aljaedy