Peep Show, series 6: A retrospective.

I can only recall two other sitcoms which have hit such highs so far into their lifespan. Unsurprisingly, the other two are Seinfeld and Curb. British sitcoms however generally have a significantly shorter shelf life - it's the reason Fawlty Towers and the Office and suchlike are so warmly revered, there's so little of it, it just never stagnated.

It is testament to Peep Show that it has hit such highs at series six. It contained several of the funniest lines, situations and premises in the entire history of the show. Right from the off, the appearance of Super Hans is guaranteed to boost any episode, and within mere seconds of episode one, his 'Men with ven' mantra having any level-headed and sensible member of the homo genus in hysterics in seconds. It kept on giving - Mark's Hitler 'tache, Johnson's hilarious 'Goodbye, England!' after the announcing of the closure of JLB Credit, and, of course, Mark's declaration that spraying a fire extinguisher was 'better than sex'. The tone was set. And the rest delivered.

The Mark's-or-Jez's-baby arc made for a great second episode, Mark's history walks, Johnson's 'credit crunch residence', Jez's papier-mache head of Elena, "It's some shirts with a tennis ball in the end. It's good, isn't it?", "Discharge your pipe, then have a wipe", Jeremy's technique ("I just did my usual stuff. Snog, diddle, tongue, diddle. Front, behind, cuddle. The set menu."), Episode 5 in its entirity (the hired snake in the salad spinner, then Mark subsequently vomiting on it, Gerard's tubes, Mark's roar of "good will to all men!" upon realising the success of his party, the party reaching "maximum peter", it was all incredibly funny).

Episode six may just have topped the lot. Great Super Hans moments "The twins. The fucking twins. Don't tell me orange has deleted the twins...", Mark's inevitable driving test failure, the riotous discussion over whether the shark from Jaws was actually named Jaws ("Jaws the shark"), the inevitably labour-in-the-middle-of-nowhere (comedy clichè brilliance!), it was all just fantastic.

The great British sitcoms have all quit at the top of their game - that is after all why they are great. But is that now for Peep Show? I don't think so, there hasn't been one poor episode, they've all had one or two raucously laugh out loud moments, and there's no sign of that letting up. Here's to Peep Show, and many many more series.

I don't even think it's reached maximum Peter yet.


Dan.