Peep Show is one of those series you could watch on an infinite loop and never get tired of (probably). It’s got the characters you love to hate, the quirky first-person perspective, and often idiosyncratically British humour.
Obviously the latter isn’t too much of a barrier to audiences outside the UK though, because one of the series creators, Sam Bain, has revealed – in an essay for The Guardian – that the show is going to get a US remake.
Not only is the setting going to be different in the new Peep Show; it’s also going to have two female leads, in place of David Mitchell and Robert Webb’s Mark and Jez. Presumably, this will alter the dynamic between them and the other characters quite a lot, and it sounds like that’s just what Bain wants.
In the rest of the essay, the TV and film writer talks about the need for diversity in comedy and expresses regret at the lack of it in some of his previous projects. “People sometimes ask if I look at my earlier work differently now – whether my shows would have been better if they had been more diverse,” he writes.
“What would Peep Show have been like with women as the two leads? It’s a great question – and it’s one I’ll shortly have the answer to.”
Bain also stresses the importance of a female writer, saying: “Ultimately, the best way of building gender inclusivity into scripts is to get women to write them. I can’t wait to find out what sick and twisted bullshit goes on inside the minds of a pair of female losers.” Accordingly, the writing for the new Peep Show will be led by Karey Dornetto (of Portlandia, Community, South Park, and Arrested Development).
Admittedly, US remakes of UK shows often go down about as well as a dish of “Moroccan pasta”, but hopes are high this time around.
