Peep Show - Season 1-5 [DVD]

Mark Corrigan and Jeremy 'Jez' Osborne are caught up in a familiar malaise; the two housemates are constantly at each other's throats as they struggle to find a direction in life. Jez has aspirations to become a musician, but his ambition stops outside his bedroom door. Meanwhile, Mark is stuck in an interminable office job, cursing the day he chose Business Studies over Ancient History. Throughout the series the pair find love - Mark with co-worker Sophie, and Jez with American hippy Nancy and later with his disarmingly posh ex 'Big Suze' - marry for a visa, propose by accident, get jilted, go to Mauritius, and return having learnt nothing at all. In fact it's the show's lack of 'lessons being learnt' and characters 'growing up and moving on' that makes it so refreshing.

Aside from strong lead performances by David Mitchell and Robert Webb and the finely honed script, the fact that viewers are able to hear the innermost thoughts of Mark and Jeremy as they encounter various problems makes their characters all the more vulnerable, sympathetic and often just plain pathetic. The result is a well-observed comedy for anyone who spends life at the mercy of their own hesitant thoughts.