Peep Show

Peep Show series 6 episode 3 review

Familiar territory brings rich rewards as Peep Show's sixth series steps up a gear...

Compare that finely tuned/chewed gag, or Madge's big entrance, to a couple of lines in Peep Show. "Oh my God, there's a baby in there, about the size of a croissant," thinks Mark, looking at Sophie's bump in a cafe. "A terrifying, life-altering crosissant-baby." Croissant-babies! There's nothing obvious about them.

And what about Dobby's stoic remark on finding out that Mark has been downloading porn on her boss's laptop. "You're a man. Men like looking at troubling pictures of heroin addicts showing their genitals for money. It is disgusting. But so is the textile industry." See? Funny, but also weirdly wise. And yet only about a quarter of the number of people who tune in to (chew in to?) Benidorm watch Peep Show. Chumps. It's enough to make a snob out of you. By you, I mean me, of course.

Peep Show: season six, episode three

Jez under the thumb, Mark as tour guide, and the return of Dobby. Is number six the best Peep Show series yet?

Peep Show Episode 6.3 Review

I think it's safe to say series 6 is already better than last year, and is close to eclipsing the excellent third series if it maintains this quality.

Episode three of this sixth series of the black comedy starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb shows why this is still the funniest British sitcom on TV at the moment. Self-serving Jeremy (Webb) realises that he's in love with Elena (Vera Filatova) and decides to be less selfish to win her affection.

Jez is in love with his beautiful neighbour Elena - and an in-love Jez is a totally gorgeous, optimistic thing. "I don't want to tempt fate," he tells Mark contentedly. "But I think everything's going to be totally great for ever." That line demonstrates just one of the long list of things that's so brilliant about Peep Show. This is a comedy where every word, every comma, every tiny curl of the lip has been precision-tooled to perfection and yet it all looks so effortless.

For Mark, his dream job comes perilously close to actually becoming a reality as Dobby offers him the chance to become a walking history guide.

In other words, everything's about to be totally great for ever for Mark, too! Or not..

Jeremy is in love - so in love that he makes a special trip to Hastings to buy his girlfriend a loaf of her favourite spelt-flour bread. As bakery-based romantic gestures go, you have to admit, it takes some beating. Meanwhile, Mark's devotion to Dobby, the "anxious, self-hating man's crumpet", as he ungallantly describes her, only increases when the full horror of his impending parenthood with Sophie gradually dawns on him. But there is a little light in the darkness, as Mark decides to try for a job leading tourists on guided walks detailing the "mercantile history of the East End... no frills, no wigs, no spin, just telling it like it was." There are so many moments to treasure, most of them unprintable. But if you like your comedy literate, filthy, black and despairing then nothing but Peep Show will do. It's just brilliant.