Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3298 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-06-16
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Number of discs: 5
• Running time: 755 minutes

Synopsis
Mark Corrigan and Jeremy 'Jez' Osborne are caught up in a familiar malaise; the two housemates are constantly at each other's throats as they struggle to find a direction in life. Jez has aspirations to become a musician, but his ambition stops outside his bedroom door. Meanwhile, Mark is stuck in an interminable office job, cursing the day he chose Business Studies over Ancient History. Throughout the series the pair find love--Mark with co-worker Sophie, and Jez with American hippy Nancy and later with his disarmingly posh ex 'Big Suze'--marry for a visa, propose by accident, get jilted, go to Mauritius, and return having learnt nothing at all. In fact it's the show's lack of 'lessons being learnt' and characters 'growing up and moving on' that makes it so refreshing.
Aside from strong lead performances by David Mitchell and Robert Webb and the finely honed script, the fact that viewers are able to hear the innermost thoughts of Mark and Jeremy as they encounter various problems makes their characters all the more vulnerable, sympathetic and often just plain pathetic. The result is a well-observed comedy for anyone who spends life at the mercy of their own hesitant thoughts.

Customer Reviews

Outrageously funny....
I'd only caught a few of these on late at night before I was given this box set as a present, and very grateful I was too.....

Excellent script and performances by Mitchell and Webb and a varied and brilliant supporting cast make this addictive stuff. Watch one and you'll just want to watch another...and another...and another. I think I got through the whole set in less than 2 weeks and I'm hardly a telly addict. Maybe there's some subliminal message in the quirky but catchy theme "tune" ?

What makes it so good ? I just love the way the characters voice their real thoughts when dealing with others, particularly the girlfriends. They say one thing but think another, as we all do! You are in their shoes and seeing through their eyes, even being kissed by them. It is original, incisive and sometimes absolutely brilliant.

The main characters are excellent, Mark the loan officer and Jez his wannabee musician unemployed flat/best mate. It's a bit "Men Behaving Badly" but with the shock factor ramped up ten-fold (those easily offended should NOT buy this). As mentioned, the supporting cast shine - drugged up Super Hands, on-off fiancée Soph, alpha male Johnson, Toni, Dobby, Big Suze and many more mentalists. Look out for Eastender Minty's Aussie freeloading girlfriend who plays Mark's...Aussie freeloading girlfriend.

You've been warned, there's a lot of drug references in here amongst the truly bizarre situations and some of their antics may have you squirming in your seat. One or two of the episodes do mis-fire slightly but when they hit, ("James Bond" Jez sleeping with Sophie's mum stands out for me) you'll be in fits of laughter.

Now well under twenty quid, it would be rude not too!

The Best Sitcom Ever
I'm not one for hyperbole but I'd be hard pressed to think of a better sit com in the canon of British comedy. You heard me!

Peep Show has earned its place on the vaunted Brit Com pedestal along with Fawlty Towers, Blackadder and Only Fools and Horses.

Starring comedy duo David Mitchell and Robert Webb the premise of the program is that it is shot entirely in the first person (actors use hand held or even head mounted cameras while they act through their scenes) and we the audience are privvy not only to their points of view but to their thoughts as well.

Peep Show centres around the lives of two flat mates, conservative loan manager Mark Corrigan (Mitchell) and out of work musician Jeremy Usbourne (Webb). While the "odd couple" field of comedy has been run into the ground it is no mean feat that the writers and cast are able to make this dynamic fresh and entertaining.
The dialogue which is consistently sharp and flawlessly executed by the entire cast contributes a great deal to this but where the real comeidic platinum lies is the characters' internal monologues which give us a private insight into their (and by association our own) little neuroses.

Take this little nugget from Jeremy when trying to co-ordinate his hastily assembled band in a music studio;

God this is terrible. I wish they were robots. I wish I was a robot. Maybe I could punch through a wall.

Or Mark's;

God, I'm even boring when I'm a Nazi.

These snippets provide a sense of surrealism and seem to be an incredibly liberating tool for the writers as they are able to articulate those silly, arbitrary and often hilarious thoughts that we all have which are pushed aside by our sensible conscious minds.

The supporting cast is also consistently spot-on and peripheral characters are always well written and superbly acted. Mark's macho love rival Jeff, Jeremy's ideologically confusied American girlfriend Nancy, alternately scary and sexy neighbout Toni, the entire supporting cast are lovingly crafted by all involved. Special mention should go to Matt King for his portrayal of Jeremy's band mate, Superhans. Superhans' ernest but ill conceived political doctrines and dubious charisma make him one of the most entertaining characters in the series and it is with great wisdom that the writers use him sparingly. Here are a few of Superhans' finest pieces of dialogue;

"The secret ingredient is crime!"
"What you're doin' there is, you're drinkin' an advert intcha?"
"He thinks there's a pigeon in Catalonia that's controlling his legs!"

And my all time favourite;

"People like Coldplay and voting for the Nazis, you can't trust people!"

Not only is Peep Show a flawlessly executed piece of high-concept comedy (without being overly pretentious or self referential) but it seems to tap wonderfully into that uniquely British neurosis

Shameless, profane, irreverent, endlessly quotable and accutely observed the quirky characters and brilliantly surreal dialogue very quickly transcend being merely funny and become hugely endearing.

As with all great comedy there are great moments of human drama in these five amazing series and the acting throughout is simply perfect.

I dearly love Peep Show and I'm quite certain that you will too should you ever come into contact with it!

The Office Squared
Whether you find Peep Show funny will depend a lot on your taste and sense of humour. If you like The Office and Extras then there is a very strong possibility that you like that brand of excruciating humour that has you thinking of excuses to look away or leave the room; if you do then you really should take a peek at Peep Show. The humour comes from the uninhibited, politically incorrect, and uncensored internal narrative of Mark (David Mitchell) and Jez (Robert Webb), as the two immature, social misfits inhabit a sequence of excruciatingly embarrassing, self-inflicted situations. Watching Peep Show is like watching a motorway pile-up, you'll want to look away but really can't.

David Mitchell managed to infuse every word with sarcasm and irony and Robert Webb is outstanding as the selfish, talentless and inadequate Jez, they both live the characters and never once look as if they're acting. Peep Show is The Office with its sleeves rolled up and spoiling for a fight - you have been warned.