Peep Show is a British television sitcom starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb, and created by Andrew O'Connor, Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain.

[5] Peep Show follows the lives of Mark Corrigan (Mitchell) and Jeremy "Jez" Usbourne (Webb), dysfunctional best friends who share a flat in Croydon, South London.

[11] Despite never achieving high viewing figures during its original run, Peep Show received consistent critical acclaim and has since become a cult classic.

In April 2019, three years after its final episode, the series was named the thirteenth greatest British sitcom in a poll by Radio Times.

[13][14] Writers Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain met actors/writers Mitchell and Webb during a failed attempt to complete a team-written sitcom for the BBC.

[16] Peep Show was originally conceived as a sitcom in the style of Beavis and Butt-Head revolving around two characters watching and discussing television.

[17] Scenes in the show are sometimes filmed using cameras strapped to the actors' heads, or attached to a hat,[19] to give the viewer a point of view identical to that of the protagonists.

"[17] The idea for using voice-overs came from a scene in the Woody Allen film Annie Hall in which the true feelings of the characters are conveyed by subtitles.

[23] For example, the series 5 episode "Burgling" sees Mark apprehend a burglar by sitting on him, something Bain once did in a video shop before he was told to get off as he was scaring the customers.

[19] For the first two series, the scenes set in Mark and Jeremy's flat were filmed in a real property in Croydon, where the show takes place.

At Sophie's dance class, Jez meets, falls in love with and starts a relationship with Nancy (Rachel Blanchard), an attractive and happy-go-lucky American.

They briefly enjoy a wild sex life, but tensions brew after she makes it clear that she believes in free love, announcing that she has no commitment to him in front of their friends without his consent.

This hesitance is worsened when Mark is "mugged" by some unarmed street thugs (to whom he non-forcibly gives his phone and wallet out of cowardice), which, much to Sophie's horror, leads him to carry an illegal knife.

He spends his saved-up Sunday Times "mega-vouchers" on taking her to a hotel in the Quantocks, a trip on which Jez, Big Suze and a withdrawing Super Hans accompany him.

They then get even more lost themselves; it is only after Jez asks Mark what he truly likes about Sophie that he changes his mind about the proposal, upon coming to terms with the truth that they not only have nothing in common, but that he also finds her incredibly annoying.

After meeting the businessman father of the women, Mark attempts to secure a job with him in Bangalore as a means of escaping his upcoming wedding.

On the way to the church, Mark impulsively proposes to a woman in a cafe and steps out in front of a car making him realise that he should call the wedding off.

Jez meets Elena, a beautiful young Eastern European woman and occasional marijuana dealer who lives in their building.

Mark looks for work, starting a company with an ill-equipped Johnson, almost landing his dream job as a guide for historic walks, then becoming a waiter in Gail's Mexican restaurant—all the while trying to get anywhere with Dobby.

Mark loses his job at a bank because of a loan he gave Jez previously (ironically, to exploit him) without asking for correct identification paperwork, and he is replaced by his rival Jeff.

Super Hans' wife is upset because he is unwilling to stop his old disreputable lifestyle, and after he kidnaps and threatens April's husband, she finally leaves him.

It ends with the two watching TV together, asking and answering inane questions, with Jez thinking to himself how they both "love each other really" and Mark reminding himself that he "simply must get rid of him".

[15][28] Early previews called it "promising"[29] and noted it had "the sniff of a cult favourite";[30] Jane Simon of The Daily Mirror claimed that Peep Show in years to come will "be seen as the pinnacle of comedy it obviously is.

[35] Ricky Gervais has been cited as saying "the last thing I got genuinely excited about on British TV was Peep Show, which I thought was the best sitcom since Father Ted".

[44] 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).

[15] The first episode of series 6 – the first to be shown in its new earlier time slot of 10pm – attracted Peep Show's highest ratings to date, with 1.8 million viewers (9.2% audience share), with a further 208,000 (1.8%) watching it on Channel 4 +1.

Spike TV commissioned its own version in 2008, originally to be written and directed by Robert Weide, who is the executive producer of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

In May 2019, Sam Bain, co-creator of the original Peep Show series, confirmed in a Guardian article that another US remake is in the works in collaboration with FX Networks.

In December 2022, FX Networks ordered a pilot for another US remake, which would be written by Stefani Robinson and, like the proposed Karey Dorenetto version, would feature two female leads.

Hosted by Rob Graham and Tom Harrison, the podcast reviewed episodes of the show, alongside guests, including David Mitchell, Robert Webb, Paterson Joseph, Vera Filatova, Sophie Winkleman and Paul Clayton.