Cast and characters
Main
* David Mitchell as Mark Corrigan, a loan manager at fictional company JLB Credit. Intelligent and hard-working, but also pessimistic and socially awkward, Mark is the owner of the flat in Croydon, which he shares with his friend from university, Jeremy. *Recurring
* Olivia Colman as Sophie Hortensia Chapman (series 1–7, 9), a co-worker at JLB, who becomes scruffy and unstable, and serves as a love interest for Mark (and occasionally Jeremy) throughout much of the series. She and Mark eventually marry but divorce shortly afterwards, and she later gives birth to his child. * Matt King as Super Hans, Jeremy's bandmate and friend, and an untrustworthy fantasist who regularly uses recreational drugs. He appears in every series, appearing in 36 out of the 54 episode run. It is revealed in the second episode of the ninth series that his real name is Simon. *Elizabeth Marmur as Toni (series 1–2), Mark and Jeremy's neighbour and romantic interest. *Production
WritersSeries overview
Series 1
Mark and Jez start out with similar aims of sleeping with their next-door neighbour Toni (Elizabeth Marmur). Jez does this, while she is separating from her husband, Tony. Mark is obsessed with his colleague Sophie ( Olivia Colman), who is more interested in their manly colleague Jeff. Mark has a one-night stand with a teenageSeries 2
Tony moves back in with Toni. Super Hans develops a crack cocaine addiction. At Sophie's dance class, Jez meets, falls in love with and starts an relationship with Nancy (Series 3
The series begins with Jez in a relationship with Michelle, of whom he is not fond but with whom he stays as they plan a threesome with another woman. Big Suze (Series 4
During this series, recently engaged Mark and Sophie visit Sophie's parents, and Jez has sex with Sophie's mother. Big Suze breaks up with Jez once again after Johnson offers to pay him in order to have sex with her and he agrees. Despite being disgusted by the offer, she subsequently starts a relationship with Johnson claiming that he is an "alpha male". Mark's attempt, at Johnson's request, to head a group of staff to formulate a merger between two departments is a failure, which leads to Mark being humiliated at JLB's conference. In an attempt to get away from Sophie, Mark joins a gym and discovers that Nancy is working there, after which Jez makes a failed attempt to reconcile. Sophie leaves on a business trip toSeries 5
Much of the series revolves around Mark's search for "the one". His first date since his wedding is a double date which goes wrong due to going to a boring play, his date being uninterested in him and then returning to the house to find a burglar. He asks out the IT girl, Dobby (Series 6
The series begins with JLB Credit closing down. Sophie tells Mark and Jez that Jeff is also a possible father of her baby. The mystery is solved when Sophie reveals that Mark is the baby's father. Jez meets Elena, a beautiful youngSeries 7
Zahra and her boyfriend Ben are introduced, whom Jez meets while Sophie is giving birth. Jez is instantly attracted to Zahra and is selfishly pleased when he discovers that Ben is in a coma, potentially making Zahra single. However, Ben recovers fully, and, as thanks for being so friendly to Zahra, offers Jez a job with his record company, which Jez accepts as he hopes it will allow him to get closer to Zahra. The job 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. Mark finally beats off competition from Gerrard to become Dobby's boyfriend, although he continues to behave awkwardly in her company. Gail sacks Mark from his job at the restaurant. Jez pretends to be an intellectual in order to impress Zahra, which enables him to have sex with her. 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. Jez, Hans, Dobby, Mark, Mark's sister and parents all have Christmas dinner at Jez and Mark's, with Mark pretending Dobby is a platonic friend rather than a girlfriend; Mark's father humiliates Dobby when he realises they are together, and she leaves, causing an enraged Mark to put his Christmas dinner through a paper shredder. After Zahra tells Jez that she has split from Ben, Jez accepts her offer to move in with her. Mark, needing to salvage his relationship with Dobby, asks her to move in with him, to which she agrees. Zahra rejects Jez after she learns he has been flirting with Super Hans's girlfriend, dumping him.Series 8
The series begins with Mark waiting for Dobby to move in, while Dobby waits for Jez to move out. Mark suspects that Dobby will never move in, and that Gerrard is trying to steal her from him; however, Gerrard dies of flu. Jez and Super Hans amicably end their band, and this causes Jez to contemplate his life so far: he eventually agrees to undertake therapy sessions, which are paid for by Mark. Impressed by the therapy, Jez decides to become a life coach, but he fails a course of questionable value. Mark then gives Jez a fakeSeries 9
The final series opens with Mark and Jez meeting for the first time since their fight over Dobby, with Mark still bearing a grudge over the role Jez played in his break-up with her. Jez is living in Super Hans's bathroom, while Mark has a new flatmate. After reconciling, Jez moves back in with Mark and they go back to their old ways. Jez begins a relationship with a younger man, Joe, and also has sex with Joe's girlfriend Megan. Mark seeks out April (Reception
The series was met with critical acclaim, and is considered to be a cult television show. Early previews called it "promising" and noted it had "the sniff of a cult favourite"; Jane Simon of ''Ratings
Despite the critical acclaim, ''Peep Show'' never garnered consistently high viewing figures. 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. However, due to the large DVD revenues of the previous series, a fourth series was commissioned. The premiere of the fourth series showed no improvement on the ratings of the previous one, continuing to attract its core audience of 1.3 million (8% of viewers). 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), the continued high quality of the show itself, and the rising profile of Mitchell and Webb due to the success of their BBCAwards and honours
''Peep Show'' won several awards: * In 2004, it won theOther 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. 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" (s4 e6) and "Shrooming" (s3 e3). In 2018, a fan-hosted podcast was created, called ‘Podcast Secrets of the Pharaohs’, aReferences
External links
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