DVD Mark's accidental proposal to Sophie is rapidly turning into a nightmare, whilst Jeremy continues his usual pursuit of music, women and anything that might allow him to avoid getting a proper job.
Details
The fourth series continues the domestic adventures of Mark and Jeremy, two late-twenty-something flatmates living in south London. As ever, we're party to their innermost, and frequently rather disturbing, thoughts as the dysfunctional duo try in vain to find their place in modern society, grow up and perhaps even find love and fulfilment. But then again, this is Mark and Jeremy we're talking about - and with friends such as the drug-addled Super Hans and business guru Alan Johnson, they're already fighting a losing battle.
Although Mark, the professional brogue-wearer with a slightly disconcerting interest in the Second World War, is supposedly the sensible one, he's managed to get himself into a rather serious pickle. The end of Series Three saw him accidentally propose to Sophie and, much to his horror, she accepted. Unfortunately, Mark is far too cowardly to admit that he doesn't actually want to marry her and now finds himself desperately trying to squirm out of the engagement as the wedding draws ever closer.
Naturally, every attempt to improve the situation only makes things considerably worse. Mark spends a horrific weekend with Sophie's argumentative parents, becomes involved in a spot of barn arson and attempts to have his gym instructor fired on trumped-up charges of "pooing in the pool". All the while the wedding preparations continue and Mark becomes increasingly aware that unless he actually does something about it, he's going to end up marrying a woman he isn't sure he wants to marry.
Jeremy, meanwhile, remains the loose cannon: a lazy time and life waster with dodgy friends who dreams of becoming a successful musician but can never quite get his act together - or even get up in the morning. During the series he performs some rather questionable "handy" work for a male pop star he admires, does something truly unspeakable involving a dog and, just to make Mark's relationship with Sophie even less comfortable, sleeps with her mother.
With Mark's impending marriage also threatening Jeremy's free board and lodgings, he's understandably not too enthusiastic about the wedding either. However, a possible escape route appears when his beautiful ex "visa wife" Nancy unexpectedly returns and Jeremy decides he's going to win her back - even if achieving that seemingly impossible goal means doing something completely unthinkable and getting a job.
Picture & Sound
No doubt filmed on a tight budget and using an array of handheld digital video cameras, the picture quality isn't particularly impressive. However, given that much of the camerawork uses the show's tight-angled and unique point-of-view filming technique, that's perhaps hardly surprising - and probably not particularly easy to achieve either.
Unfortunately, moving from the darker interior scenes to the increasing number of exterior locations doesn't improve matters considerably. The picture can look rather washed out and occasionally suffers from excessive contrast. Perhaps this is an attempt to keep the conventional footage visually consistent with the POV material, but for such recent television material it's still a little disappointing.
Still, there's no print damage to worry about and nothing here is sufficiently poor to distract from the programme itself. Let's face it, nobody is buying Peep Show to demonstrate their new television - it's the comedy content we're interested in.
As with the previous DVD outings, and given the bandwidth limitations of terrestrial television broadcasts, there's very little to expect from the sound department. Nevertheless, the 256Kbps two-channel Dolby Digital soundtrack is more than sufficient for its needs and the all-important dialogue remains crisp and clear throughout. It's nothing exciting, but that's exactly what you'd expect from a dialogue-driven television comedy such as this.
Menu & Extras
The menu system is similar in design to the previous releases, with scored and animated menus at each level, various cut scenes playing in the background and transition effects between screens. The episodes can be played continuously or individually selected, although the episode and chapter selections can occasionally be a little confusing.
Although there's a separate menu containing some of the supplementary material, the Deleted and Alternate Scenes and Commentaries are only available through their respective episode menus. Four of the six episodes receive commentaries - what was wrong with the other two? - and, as with the previous releases, the writers, producers and cast provide plenty of information about the characters, scripts and production, along with occasional references to episodes from previous series.
The Deleted and Alternate Scenes are nothing particularly special and offer only a minimal amount of additional material, with some lasting little more than a minute. Fortunately, the various featurettes provide rather more to get your teeth into.
First there's the five-minute Barn Burning featurette where, you guessed it, they set fire to a barn. With a bit of natter from David Mitchell and Robert Webb, it's hardly gripping stuff, but at least you get to see some behind-the-scenes filming, a barn on fire and some rather worried-looking members of the production crew. Robert Webb probably sums it up best: "It's just a barn on fire."
Next is the six-minute A Peep Behind the Scenes. Although rather short, it unsurprisingly goes behind the scenes and takes a look at what's involved in filming the series. Along with members of the production crew, David and Robert are on hand to explain what goes on, including the complete chaos that an unexpected snowfall can cause when you're attempting to maintain continuity.
Looking suspiciously like a bit of cheap and cheerful padding, the fifteen-minute Best of Peep Show Series 1 - 4 has the cast and production crew discussing their ten favourite moments from the programme. With plenty of clips from across the series - apart, rather unsurprisingly, from Series Three - it's a good way of reminding yourself of the many laughs from previous episodes. Without giving anything away, I'd also have to agree with their number-one choice. It's definitely one of the best scenes in the entire series.
The final featurette is the nineteen-minute A Peep at Mark and Jeremy. Starting with the beginning of Series One and narrated by series producer Phil Clarke, it contains plenty of hilarious clips from all four series whilst looking at the development of the two central characters. Want to get somebody into Peep Show? Sit them down and get them to watch this superb and informative featurette.
Overall
Whilst I'm a big fan of Peep Show, I couldn't help feeling that the third series was a little on the poor side and that the writers perhaps had their minds on other projects. Maybe the BBC's Mitchell and Webb material had their brains elsewhere, along with their film Magicians. Fortunately, Series Four sees everyone firmly back on form and delivers some of the funniest and most painfully uncomfortable situations the programme has produced to date.
Mark's impending marriage to Sophie provides the series with a wonderfully horrible thread running through all six episodes. He's spent years desperately trying to get together with her and now that he's finally achieved his goal, he's realised that he doesn't actually want it. Unfortunately, being Mark, simply telling Sophie how he feels is completely beyond him. Instead he procrastinates, panics and desperately hopes that circumstances will somehow solve the problem for him.
David Mitchell is superb throughout. Mark's internal monologues have always been one of the programme's greatest strengths, but the approaching wedding gives him even more opportunities to analyse every possible disaster whilst simultaneously being completely incapable of doing anything sensible to prevent it. You know exactly what he should do, Mark knows exactly what he should do, and yet you also know there's absolutely no chance of him actually doing it.
Jeremy isn't having a particularly successful time either. Robert Webb once again manages to make Jez selfish, lazy and frequently appalling whilst somehow remaining strangely likeable. His attempts to win Nancy back provide another thread through the series, but it's his various diversions along the way that produce some of the biggest laughs. Quite what possesses him during the infamous incident involving the dog is probably best left unexplained. Suffice to say, prospective girlfriends aren't exactly impressed and I'm surprised the RSPCA weren't breaking down his front door.
The supporting characters remain equally important. Super Hans continues to be a walking advert for poor life choices, whilst Alan Johnson remains the ridiculously confident businessman Mark wishes he could become. Olivia Colman also deserves plenty of credit as Sophie, particularly as the series progresses and it becomes increasingly obvious that Mark isn't the only person beginning to have doubts about their forthcoming marriage.
And then there's the wedding itself. After four series of watching Mark make terrible decisions, obsess over Sophie and repeatedly sabotage his own happiness, everything seems to have been leading towards this moment. Naturally, this being Peep Show, absolutely nothing happens in the way any remotely normal human being would handle it. It's excruciating, embarrassing and absolutely hilarious - essentially everything the programme does best squeezed into one episode.
With comedy series such as Father Ted, Black Books, Spaced and Shameless under its belt, Channel 4 continues to be one of the best places in the UK to see new and established comedy. Fortunately, this isn't the end for the award-winning Peep Show, as a fifth series has already been commissioned by Channel 4. Whilst the television viewing figures haven't exactly been spectacular, impressive DVD sales have helped ensure that the series will continue - even if Series Four provides a surprisingly convenient point at which they could have stopped.
Given David Mitchell and Robert Webb's continuing success with their BBC sketch shows - not forgetting those wonderful Apple adverts - it's difficult to imagine we've seen the last of Mark and Jeremy for some time yet. On the strength of this series, that's definitely something to be thankful for.
Peep Show is cracking comedy. Series Four sees the programme back at its very best, with some wonderfully constructed disasters, superb performances and enough painfully embarrassing situations to make you thankful that you're merely watching them rather than experiencing them. It's wacky, it's hilarious and, in the words of Jeremy, it's brilliant! Highly recommended.
Special features
- Episode Commentaries
- Deleted and Alternate Scenes
- Barn Burning Featurette
- A Peep Behind the Scenes Featurette
- The Best of Peep Show Series 1 - 4 Featurette
- A Peep at Mark and Jeremy Featurette
