For the uninitiated, the BAFTA award-winning Peep Show is a bleak sitcom about the lives of two flatmates, Mark & Jeremy, played by David Mitchell and Robert Webb. The audience sees the action from the point of view of either of the main characters, and is party to their often dark and disturbing internal monologues throughout the episodes.
At the end of the last series, after several attempts to get out of his �accidental� engagement (one such attempt involving a dead dog), Mark had married his long-suffering fianc�e Sophie who immediately demanded an annulment or divorce on the grounds that Mark was �horrible�. His flatmate Jeremy remained unfulfilled after a series of failed attempts to win back any or all of his ex-girlfriends and a short stint of prostitution while in the employ of his musical hero �The Orgazoid�.
Peep Show returns to Channel 4 for a fifth series on Friday 2nd May, and I for one am looking forward to seeing what new depths our self-loathing chums will plumb. At the very least it should provide some light relief without having to change the channel after the ever-spooky Derren Brown: Trick or Treat.
Derren Brown�s mix of traditional illusion, NLP, hypnotism and all-round �look into my eyes� weirdness has been a winning formula from the beginning of his TV career. He has convinced people that they are witnessing their own death, made crowds of people forget his show immediately after seeing it and conditioned unwitting law-abiding citizens into a state of mind where they would commit a robbery on a security van.
The Trick or Treat format sees a revamp for Series 2, and Derren will offer participants the blind choice of two cards. If they choose a Treat, then something relatively pleasant will happen (like the time he taught a granny to play poker at world-class level) and if they choose a �Trick�, then something quite dark will happen (see above). I am unsure why any right-thinking person would willingly enter into this, and Derren himself states �In effect they sign a Faustian contract that allows me to do anything I want�. There is no doubt that this will be unmissable telly, and whether you think the controversy is justified or over-hyped, the shows do make a great point about how malleable our minds are and raise interesting questions about who we should trust with them.
If that all sounds a bit mainstream and populist, then why not turn over to the ever so highbrow broadsheet-equivalent channel More4, where you can find� Celebrity Come Dine with Me?! I kid you not � on Friday 5th May, the documentary and arts programming channel will be inviting the likes of Tamara Beckwith, So Solid�s MC Harvey, Lynsey de Paul (say it with me people � WHO?) and ex-G4 member Jonathan Ansell to have dinner in each other�s houses. I love the format of Come Dine with Me as it�s hilarious to see people really trying to impress strangers by serving them completely botched fancy dinners (panda and avocado frittatas, anyone?). The guests often return the favour by drinking wine too fast (possibly to calm their nerves about being on TV), puking in their hosts shoes and then giving them nil points and a right slagging off in the taxi home. All this and Z-list �celebrities� too? I�m there.
Catch up on Peep Show Series 1 - 4 which are available to buy from Amazon - Peep Show - Series 1-4 - Complete [2003]
Can't wait for Derren? Trick of the Mind Series 2 is available to buy on DVD in the meantime - Derren Brown - Trick of the Mind Series 2 [2004]
