- Channel 4 confirms a Peep Show reunion this Christmas in a Bake-Off special
- David Mitchell, Olivia Colman, and others from the original cast will participate
- The special will feature baking challenges inspired by the iconic TV show
It’s been ten years since Peep Show ended, and how have you felt since? Empty, check. Scared, check. Alone, check. Just another ordinary day, isn’t it?
So, what would you say if I told you there was going to be a Peep Show reunion this Christmas?
You’d probably say chance would be a fine thing… a fine thing indeed! Well, count your lucky stars because it’s actually happening.
That’s right, Channel 4 is bringing back not one, not two, but five stars (Five stars Channel 4? That’s insane!) from the beloved show for a Christmas Bake-Off special.
David Mitchell, Isy Suttie, Matt King, Sophie Winkleman, and Oscar-winner Olivia Colman are all set to reunite in the iconic tent this festive season.
It’s the first time the gang has got back together (on TV anyway) since 2015, and the cast will be baking up a storm in three challenges, which Channel 4 claims will pay homage to Peep Show.
Maybe David will recreate his legendary cheese, toast, lettuce, crushed beans, and rotten eggs pasta (it’s Moroccan), or Matt might make a lovely chocolate cake where the secret ingredient is crime?
Whatever they make, they’ll be judged, as always, by the ever-vigilant Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood, who’ll be making sure these bumbling bakers don’t crumble under the pressure.
Sadly, one cast member won’t be making an appearance.
Robert Webb, who played Jeremy on the show, isn’t going to be putting his baking skills to the test – which might be for the best considering Mark’s wedding breakfast.
Who did the Bake Off cast play on Peep Show?
David Mitchell: David Mitchell played the painfully awkward Mark Corrigan. Mark, of course, is best known for proposing to a woman accidentally, falling in love with his boss Alan Johnson, unintentionally befriending a racist, oh, and he wrote Business Secret of the Pharohs (or was that Mark Crorigan?)
Isy Suttie: Isy played Dobbie, one of Mark’s more unfortunate love interests.
Matt King: Matt King played the crack-addled maniac Super Hans, who once ran to Windsor and found A-Class substances a bit more-ish.
Sophie Winkleman: Before she was a member of the Royal family through marriage, Sophie played lovelky Big Suze.
Olivia Colman: While she’s now a national treasure and the toast of Tinsel Town, Olivia once played Sophie, Mark’s love interest and eventual wife… before it all fell apart.
This isn’t the first time Peep Show alumni have entered Prue and Paul’s baking lair. In 2015, David appeared on the Comic Relief special, which he found rather nerve-racking.
‘I was quite stressed about it in advance,’ he told the Radio Times.
‘In times of stress, I find I’m quite good at not thinking about it. While a certain type of person would reduce their stress levels by preparing for the challenge ahead, I was better at living in denial that I had agreed to do it at all.’
So, we take it he will not be doing any prep before this year’s show either.
Peep Show, which ran for nine seasons on Channel 4 between 2003 and 2015, told the story of Mark Corrigan (Mitchell) and Jeremy “Jez” Usbourne (Webb), two dysfunctional best friends living together in Croydon.
The show explored the rare ups and cataclysmic downs the pair had as they bumbled their way through life.
While Peep Show never really found an audience back in the day (proof that you can’t trust people because people like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis), it’s gone on to become a cult juggernaut.
The Best Peep Show episodes
Curious what the best episodes of Peep Show are? Our deputy TV editor, Tom Percival, has five picks…
- Series 8: Business Secrets of the Pharaohs -Mark gets scammed out of his nest egg by a shady publisher, but everyone gets plenty of peanuts.
- Series 7, Episode 5: Seasonal Beatings – Mark’s parents come over for Christmas, and we finally learn why he’s such a nervous wreck
- Series 4, Episode 1: Sophie’s Parents – After getting engaged to Sophie, Mark finally meets her parents while Jez tries some filthy homemade jam.
- Series 3, Episode 1: Quantocking – In order to lock Sophie down, he takes her to the Quantocks to propose and ends up accidentally getting engaged.
- Series 4, Episode 6: Wedding: Mark finally marries Sophie while Jez wets himself.
Indeed, there’s a reason I’ve managed to crowbar a quote into almost every line of this piece; it’s one of the most quotable TV shows ever made.
Not my words, reader, the words of Reddit… oh no, that’s an Alan Partridge reference. Oops, oh, naughty…I’ve mixed Alan Partridge with Peep Show there…I might get an interdenominational hangover of the sort from…Y’know, mixing the two sitcoms…”
Ahem.
Anyway, at the time of writing, we don’t know exactly when the special will air.
Still, it’s become a Christmas tradition (unlike cauliflower) for Bake Off specials to go out on either Christmas Eve or the big day itself, and we don’t see why that would change this year.
Peep Show series 1-9 are available to stream now on Channel 4, Netflix and Disney Plus.
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