Product description

Peep Show: Series 1-3 Box Set [2003]

Price: £14.99
RRP: £29.99
Average customer rating: 5.0

Binding : DVD
EAN : 6867441008293
Label : Channel 4 DVD
Manufacturer : Channel 4 DVD
Publisher : Channel 4 DVD
Release date : 2006-11-06
Title : Peep Show: Series 1-3 Box Set [2003]
Actor : Array
Audience rating : Suitable for 18 years and over
Format : Array
Languages : Array
Number of items : 3
Original release date : 2003-01-01
Region code : 2
Running time : 455
Studio : Channel 4 DVD
Theatrical releaseDate : 2003

Editorial reviews

DVD Description

This 3 DVD box set encompasses the complete Series 1, 2 & 3 of Peep Show. This award-winning comedy, which features very close to the bone humour, follows the inner lives of two extremely ordinary weirdoes – the aimless waster and wannabe musician Jeremy (Robert Webb), and Mark (David Mitchell), a socially-awkward 50 year-old trapped in the body of a twenty-something.

Synopsis

Series 1: After being thrown out by his ex-girlfriend, Jeremy--an egotistical wannabe pop star--moves in with his socially-backward college friend Mark. While Jeremy lives in awe of his idiotic mate, Super Hans, and their beautiful but brittle neighbour Toni, Mark is in hot pursuit of the love of his life, co-worker Sophie.

Series 2: Mark finds an obstacle in the way of his quest for office crush Sophie’s love, in the form of his macho rival, Jeff. Meanwhile, Jeremy has fallen madly in love with a confused Californian Christian named Nancy, and embarks on a visa wedding which he hopes will be 'the happiest administrative procedure of their lives'.

Series 3: Jeremy tries to get over his disastrous marriage to Nancy by embarking on a series of ill-fated relationships with women, one of whom is Mark's sister. In the meantime, Mark has finally managed to start dating Sophie--only to discover she is being relocated to Bristol!

Customer reviews

review by: Lawrence date: 2008-01-13 rating:

HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHHAAHHA
brilliant, shame series 4 isnt included but after watching on the tele, i had to relive the first 3 series, definately recommend this for super laughs

review by: date: 2007-10-16 rating:

Hail Mark and Jez
This is probably the best comedy serires i ve ever seen. Its so cutting edge it very nearly topples over the edge,only its pure genious prevents it from becoming a political disaster.

This is a finely balanced comedy that covers the lives of 2 very different flatmates.I think they pull it off because most people can reference themselves to them.Their audible thoughts is a masterclass and the visual view from the characters make it unique.

I recommend anyone to watch it with an open and somewhat perverse sense of humour.I think its definately a lads comedy to sit down with your mates and have some beers

review by: Hailhorror date: 2007-09-29 rating:

comedy genius
peep show is one of the most original, funny and close-to-reality comedies seen in recent times. Mitchell and Webb compliment each other perfectly in this hilarious programme about 2 flat mates who are very diffrent. Mark is the proper, privately educated smart one who is totally in love with his work collegue Sophie. Meanwhile, Jez is a wannabe musician, sometimes drug taking, big kid. The show is brilliant and i would reccommend to anyone who likes british comedy

review by: genejezkova date: 2007-09-18 rating:

"You're Not A Bad Person But I Do Have To Say You Are A Moron!"
In their promotion of the third series of Peep Show, Channel 4 utilised a generous plaudit from Ricky Gervais declaring the show as "the best sit-com on telly", which they promptly splayed all over the billboards featuring its titular heroes, David Mitchell and Robert Webb. Watching Peep Show, it's easy to understand why Gervais would have said that, as it pretty much operates as The Office to the nth degree, the same kind of cringeworthy comedy albeit blown up to often hideous extremes thanks to the POV camerawork on each character and the audience's admission into the main characters' inner monologue. As written by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, with more than a little help from its two leads, Peep Show has gained a cult following precisely because of its alarming intimacy, its embracing its characters and their neuroses so much as to follow their thoughts into absurdly dark places. It's not without its flaws, but when it hits its frequent bulleyes, Peep Show is undoubtedly the best comedy show on TV.

However, the flaws are only too obvious at times to be papered over. Firstly, the POV photography, whilst a novel idea in giving the show its own visual identity and even registering more than a few laughs (the sex scenes in particular are splendidly awkward), is often hard to watch, particularly in the first series where the reliance on grainy digital video is especially pronounced. Some would argue that this is irrelevant given that the commentary by the characters is what provides the most laughs in the show, but in a few instances you really can't be sure what you're looking at and the effect is distracting, though it does look a lot better by series three. It must also be said that there are some moments that border on the ridiculous with regards to character actions and motivations, especially seeing as Peep Show's world is one firmly set in our own, as opposed to the affected fantasy worlds of other comedies on TV right now. However, given the absolute hilarity to be had in most of the eighteen episodes on offer here, one can more than easily forgive these indiscretions and enjoy some startlingly on-the-nose subversiveness and laughter.

The first facet of the show worthy of mention is undoubtedly the cast, of whom if someone were to merely describe them as "game" would be doing them a mighty disservice. The show does indeed belong to its two leads, rather classically thrown-together misfits who might only exhibit a shared disparagement for each other at the best of times, but at least it's shared by the both of them. Webb's Jez, a wannabe musician who isn't much good at anything other than loafing around their flat, receives the slightly crazier storylines over the first three series and many a fine moment of inspired stupidity and selfishness, with Webb's finer work shining through in series three. Without question, however, the show belongs to David Mitchell's put-upon Mark, a uniquely English ball of wannabe-upper-middle class insecurity, whose obssessive need for order and success is thwarted at every turn more by his own foolishness then any single event thrown at him. Credit goes to the writers for serving up some delightfully dark speeches for Mitchell to use to justify his priggishness, delivered with such eloquent cadence by the actor that Mark becomes a fine, sympathetic, comic monster. The rest of the cast are filled in with admirable performances, special mentions going to recurring cast members Olivia Coleman, Neil Fitzmaurice and a brilliant Paterson Joseph as Mark's ever-so demanding seminar foreman-turned-boss.

And whilst the writing doesn't hold up all of the time by following through to seemingly forced conclusions (Jez's jury service plotline in series three for example ends rather unconvincingly), there is no questioning Armstrong and Bain's bravery in exploiting issues of race, sexuality, gender, homelessness and class (to name a few) in order to get some fantastically torrid laughs. Of note are episodes involving a disastrous double date at the bowling alley and one where Mark and Jez share a hilarious game of one-upmanship involving Jez's object of desire and Mark's own sister. With Mark and Jez at constant loggerheads with all of these issues, and the photography promoting a voyeuristic intent on the proceedings, the audience is forced to recognise the at-times inflammatory comments made and understand them for the comedy to work. It's an intelligent mix of the ribald and the political that refuses to sit still and give the viewer a single comfortable laughline, but the events onscreen are simply too funny to let something like values and political correctness get in the way. Moments like this elevate Peep Show beyond the traditional sit-com into something more progressive; more so than The Office, it is a bold, uncompromising joy even if it's a little rough around the edges at times.

However, with regards to this specific DVD collection and the supplemental material on each disc, the only good thing going for it is having all three discs for a slashed price. Though, with the fourth series' imminent arrival on DVD, as well as series five already being commissioned by Channel 4, this set will certainly be made redundant for the über-fan certainly. There's also the lack of extras on each of the discs, though what paltry amount of material there is still makes an impression. Series one and three have some specially filmed extra scenes for the DVD, including Mark's video CV and Jez's music video, whilst series two boasts a behind-the-scenes featurette showing rehearsal and B-roll footage along with talking heads from key members of cast and crew. The commentaries range from flat to amusing (mostly the former) and compared with packages for, say, The League of Gentlemen and Spaced, this does pale quite considerably. But extras aside, there's no reason why any British comedy fan shouldn't have this, one of the only genuinely funny shows still around, in their collection.

review by: date: 2007-08-03 rating:

Hilarious
David Mitchell isn't just one of England's funniest comedians, he's one of the world's. America really doesn't have much in the way of comedy since Bill Hicks' tragic death, and where else is their comedy. Mitchell is hysterically funny, cunningly witty and the only reason to watch Would I Lie to You, not counting Angus.
Webb is also great, and this series really is a landmark in television. Too long has alternative meant embarassing moments and off-time dialogue with no comedy. This is great and only a 10 year old could disagree.

Similar products

Peep Show Series 4 [2007]
The Mitchell And Webb Situation [2001]
Magicians [2007]
Peep Show Series 5 [2008]
Mitchell and Webb : LIVE (2006)

Similar categories