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analysis w/e 14.5.11 |
DVDs out 9.5.11 |
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@ DVDfever Youtube |
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May 11 2011 
DVDfever co uk
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Dom Robinson reviewsPeep Show Series 5Distributed by
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Peep Show
- like BBC3's Ideal, it's an excellent sitcom about Mark (David Mitchell) and Jeremy (Robert Webb)
as mismatched flatmates, the unique selling point for this show being that the cast often look at each other with cameras
strapped to helmets to give their 'point of view' thoughts inside their head. Each series follows on directly from the
last and also continues a narrative and a story arc.
Well, usually, since in comparing it with previous series, this wasn't as good because there was no real story arc to it - Mark was splitting up with Sophie and landing back in the dating scene, so there was no specific structure. It also got a bit annoying that he constantly was thinking that every girl that came along would be "the one". Yeah, he was a bit desperate after becoming single again but no-one in real life would be that obsessive, surely? Also, Jeremy was still laying about and playing second fiddle far too much. In that respect, it was almost like it was treading water, waiting for something to hold onto. Despite all that, though, it still beats the pants off almost all sitcoms on TV at the moment. |
There were so many great moments from the series, such as Mark getting overexcited with office worker Dobbie (Isy Suttie, right with Mark)
in the stationery cupboard. Not only was there the moment when the door closed and he thought, "Oh no, this is a disciplinary
hearing waiting to happen!", but later on when he noticed Jeff and Sophie out of their faces in the stairwell, he retorted
in his mind, "Oh yeah, they can laugh, but I win because they think I've pissed myself. They've no clue I came all in my
pants!"
In episode 4 when Mark is having dinner with Jez's Mum and Martin, her boyfriend, with Martin is talking about writing a book:
And following his encounter with Martin's well-built daughter, Natalie (Ingrid Oliver), "Technically it wasn't rape, Jeremy, as she never stuck anything up my bum!" |
The question is now, who is the father of Sophie's unborn child? The Law of Obvious would suggest it's either Mark or Jeremy,
but then she looked pally with Jeff in episode two after Mark's stationery cupboard encounter with Dobbie, and she was also
in a right state in the same episode as she was found drunk on the toilet floor of a nightclub. In addition, Johnson could
also be a possibility... since he wanted Mark to sack her after giving him a promotion.
If I had to be nitpicky about one thing, though, their big TV was stolen in the first episode and they didn't buy a new one until the final episode, so why did they still have it in episode 2? Occasionally, Peep Show can go a bit over the top, and it was enough for Superhans to just suggest that Sophie's brother, Barney (Zac Fox), should suck him off to get ahead in the music world, but to then go ahead and actually have it happen, even if it was off-camera? Then again, last series they got away with the burning of a dead dog and then eating it in front of its owners who were the women they were trying to get off with, so I guess it's allowed one of those each series - as long as they don't do it too often as that would take it entirely out of reality. |
The menus feature clips from the episodes along with the theme tune (which I still think isn't as good as the original, by Daniel Pemberton, only used in the first series), there are a mere 4 chapters per episode (Oh, come on, you cheapskates!) and subtitles are available in English. Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong's recent appearance on the Culture Show, in which they talk about Peep Show, can be found in the Youtube link above.
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2008.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B 37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier. PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
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Series 5: 
