Peep-Show-Season-8-DVD-CoverHearing the familiarity of the theme tune blast through the TV set will fill you with joy if you’re already a fan of Peep Show. If you’ve somehow not seen the brilliance that is Peep Show then you can go buy them all on DVD or even catch up now on Channel 4’s 4oD service. That way you won’t be lost in the El Dude brothers’ story nor of how incapable they are. You’ll be used to standard antics of the characters, their dialect and their paradoxical ways.

What’s the most impressive part is how after eight seasons of these children not at all growing up but changing only their surroundings and a few friends here and there that it’s still fresh. Maybe the familiarity adds to that but it’s been so long now that it’s hard to see these actors as anyone different. Mark Corrigan and Jeremy Usborne are real people.

 

The main story of this is the fact that Jeremy (Robert Webb) will finally, FINALLY be moving out from Mark’s (David Mitchell) flat. Mark will be embarking on adulthood with Dobby (Isy Suttie) who will be moving in with him, his book is getting published and he’s got a new, better paid job with Super Hans (Matt King) selling bathrooms. Mark’s world is completely on the up on paper but in the world of comedy and the world of Peep Show then nothing ever goes to plan. Jeremy is actually attempting to better his life by becoming a life coach but that’s pretty much all he’s doing with his. He has a wicked self-sabotaging streak with him unfortunately and in all the changes that are enveloping his life then his emotions run high making him make mistake after mistake after mistake like he usually does.

 

The problem is Jeremy won’t move out because he doesn’t pay rent at Mark’s and there’s nowhere else for someone who doesn’t pay rent. Except for a place filled with snakes and only a sleeping bag for warmth. As it goes then, Mark thinks he’s coming up all roses when in fact none of it will ever happen because they never move on; even if they did move in, they’d be back to square one because this doesn’t look to be the last season just yet. It’s hard not to give too much away because there’s nothing like the political relations that Mark makes, the drugs that Jeremy takes and the dilemmas they find themselves in time after time. There are plenty of memorable moments in this season that it doesn’t even feel like there’s been an hiatus.

 

What season 8 promises is everything that you’ve fallen in love with when it comes to Peep Show. From Mark trying to discuss business like a big man by a burger van or Jeremy telling a woman he wants to eat her hair while having sex, it’s all so familiar yet new which is an odd sensation. It’s as if they didn’t want to directly achieve anything new but didn’t want it to become stale either. It could benefit a bit from being a bit more different than its predecessors but it’s hardly that noticeable of a weakness. Enjoyable as ever, funny as ever, ridiculous as ever but maintaining the humour and keeping the seasons having one long-term goal tarnished is an impressive feat. You’ll still love it and that’s not a bad thing.

[Rating:4/5]

 

Extras

The extras received were blooper reels and deleted scenes. Hardly a lot but there’s not much to really go with this so it’ll do. Worth at least one watch.

[Rating:2/5]