Review of Peep Show: Series 2

Introduction

Ben Thompson, author of comedy Bible `Sunshine on Putty`, would have you believe that the period from `Vic Reeves Big Night Out` to `The Office` was the golden age of British TV comedy. In many ways, this is entirely correct; never before had a variety of original writers and comic actors created such a cacophony of hilarity. Yet this statement is also flawed, in that it supposes that the golden age has come to an end when, truth is, we`ve never had it better.

The last five years have given us numerous reasons to be cheerful as far as comedy is concerned, and at the top of the pile is `Peep Show`. Following the lives (and viewpoints) of flatmates Mark (David Mitchell) and Jeremy (Robert Webb), two thirty-ish graduates whose lives are as strikingly similar as they are opposed, the series sees the pair of them struggle with the perils and evil necessities of modem life in a wholly unique and fantastically original way.

Still working in JLB credit and pining after the `lovely Soph`, the WWII obsessed Mark`s relationship with both his flatmate, would-be girlfriend and his job have taken a considerable turn for the worse since Jeff muscled in on them all. Meanwhile, Jeremy`s failure to get ahead in the world of love and music is hampered, respectively, by his girlfriend`s inability to see their relationship as any more than a Visa necessity, and band-mate SuperHans` crack addiction!

Anyone who watched and enjoyed Series 1 should know pretty much what to expect; there are no great diversions from the theme, just simply lots more close to the bone observational secretions from the mouths of two of the greatest comedy actors on the face of the planet. If office-place Nazis, broom fighting, sham weddings and anal sex aren`t enough to entice you to this peepshow, nothing will!

Video

It`s probably fair to say that, if you`ve never experienced the delights of this program before, then you won`t have seen anything quite like the way it`s filmed. Owing to the first person perspective of every shot, we see the world through the eyes of the characters rather than merely the director, giving the entire thing an almost hidden- camera feel. Thankfully this is nothing like the juvenilia exemplified by Dom Joly et al, but the distinctive look adds credibility and keeps it exciting

The transfer is picture perfect, as you would expect with a show that only first-aired 12 months ago.

Audio

Quality wise, the audio is, again, very good. However, if we`re going to get picky about it then I suppose the dubbed `thoughts` are slightly louder than the boom-recorded sound, and consequently, some bass rumbles may be experienced, especially whilst enjoying Jeremy`s baritone musings …but that`s all part of the fun isn`t it?

As far as the soundtrack is concerned, the first thing that will strike visitors to last series` well laid table is the theme tune — it`s changed. Thank goodness the ill-fitting and-all-the-better-for-it jollified music has remained, along with a few examples of why Jeremy still hasn`t set the pop charts alight!

Features

The DVD comes with commentaries, deleted scenes, `making of …` featurette and `Gog`s film`, so there`s a decent collection of things for you to have a peep at here.

However, these happen to be the Achilles heal in the disc`s man mountain of a body, and aren`t all as great as they might at first seem. A few of the deleted scenes would be worthy of the final cut, but you can see the rationale for leaving most of them out (although they do help to plug a few gaps). The `making of …` is a nice inclusion, but does seem far too brief. A bit of meat on that bone would`ve been good!

In comparison to Series 1`s collection of `made for DVD` sketches, the material here falters for being, well, not that interesting. Although, given that the main feature is so unbelievably strong, it makes little difference as to whether you should purchase this or not.

Conclusion

Lying somewhere between genius and just extremely clever, `Peep Show` urinates on `The Catherine Tate Show`, smacks `Little Britain` round the chops, and slyly flicks `The Office` and `Spaced` behind the ears, leaving a bit of a sting. Yes people, it`s THAT good.

This is partly attributable to the brilliant interplay between Mark and Jeremy, a slightly skewed version of `Fist of Fun` and `This Morning with Richard not Judy` duo Lee and Herring. Whilst ploughing their lowly furrows (together), their fears and dreams are often worn on their sleeves simultaneously, resulting not only in a sincere account of their lives as Loan Manager and `musician`, but in some of the most hilarious television of the past decade.

In fact, writers Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain have spawned a monster which, whilst deliciously dark and often depressing in subject matter, manages to bring up laughs from places you never imagined they existed. After all, I could bang on about it`s subversion of present culture and deconstruction of modern relationships, but the most important thing is that it`s bowel-shatteringly funny.

If the history books don`t judge this to be one of the most socially accurate and downright brilliantly comedic portrayals of modern life in the nid-noughties, then there will have been a severe misprint. Sod the `Golden age` of the nineties, `Peep Show` makes that era look positively Bronze Age.