Becky Martin

The stars of Peep Show look back, 20 years later

It launched the careers of Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, Mitchell and Webb, plus Olivia Colman - but it nearly got cancelled. Two decades since its first episode, its stars reflect on the show that made them

Sean Cole, The Guardian, 18th September 2023

Is Mark Corrigan ready for fatherhood? Of course not - but he doesn't really have much choice in the matter.

As series seven opens, Sophie is on all fours in the delivery suite, screaming out for gas and air, a water birth, an epidural and, ideally, a less useless birthing partner.

There's every chance the baby will be an adult itself before Mark is grown up enough to deal with a responsibility like this - so there's no surprise tonight when he deals with the stress by hiding.

For self-obsessed man-child Jeremy, the hospital provides an unexpected opportunity for him to get over his ex when he meets another girl visiting her ­coma-stricken boyfriend.

That's just one of the many reasons to love Jeremy - he could be falling headfirst down an active volcano and his number one impulse would still be to scour the area for talent.

As a new arrival ushers in a whole new arena in which Mark and Jez can fail to shine, perhaps this will finally be the series when the nation discovers how to press the number 4 on their TVs, Peep Show makes the long overdue leap from cult hit to national treasure and David Mitchell, Robert Webb, writers Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong and director Becky Martin are carried around the streets of London on golden sedan chairs. We can but dream.

Jane Simon, The Mirror, 26th November 2010