Many might wonder why a programme about two dysfunctional middle aged men living in a small flat in Croydon is the perfect programme to so many of us blundering our way through uni. Yet something about
watching the point of view of two selfish, pathetic men struggling through jobs, office crushes, drugs, marriage, and pregnancy really appeals to us students whether it’s on your own, stoned with your friends or as a nightly house hold tradition. Despite their obviously exaggerated traits of greed and egotism we can relate to these characters. They represent the underdog that we British can’t resist to support. We know they’re terrible human beings, often spineless or down right rude, but they try their best and we love them for it. In every episode we see them hatching a scheme that they believe will, just this once, bring them some kind of win. Yet it never does, and we know it never will, however we hope every time that this is the time it will be different, this is the time that they will succeed. And that’s how we get hooked, how we let this new-to-Netflix show take us to the next episode despite it being 1am on a Tuesday and we have that 9am looming the next day. We just have to find out if Mark will finally get the balls to ask Sophie out, or see if Jeremy can find anyone even more inappropriate to sleep with. Peep Show relates to us on an even deeper level than that, however. There’s no question that we have all once felt that the world is working against us, that we are the slightly odd one in a social situation or that no matter how we hard we try we always seem to end up with the short straw. This programme manages to eradicate any feelings of shame or isolation that we have felt and replace them with a deep embarrassment for the two main characters, Jeremy and Mark, giving us a smug and comforting feeling of ‘thank God we are not them’. For there is nothing like watching two men be humiliated, yelled at, pissed on or generally beaten down to make you forget the essay you have tomorrow, the snide remark from a classmate or the inappropriate comment you made at a party. With nine series of truly cringe worthy moments, you’ll never be bored of this comic masterpiece by David Mitchell and Robert Webb. But what’s more, this programme offers a warm and comforting feeling of relief that, while you may be late on an essay, well into your overdraft or have fallen out with your flat mate, you will never ever have killed, half-barbecued and eaten your girlfriend’s dead dog in front of her entire family.
