‘Peep Show’ writer reveals abandoned plans for a stage adaptation
Peep Show co-writer Sam Bain has revealed that they received offers to turn the hit Channel 4 sitcom into a play.
Speaking exclusively to NME, Bain said that he and fellow co-writer Jesse Armstrong (Succession) had to reject the proposal because they couldn’t figure out how to make the show work on stage.
Now celebrating its 20th anniversary, Peep Show documented the increasingly tragic lives of bank manager Mark Corrigan (played by David Mitchell) and his layabout flatmate/ occasional musician Jeremy Usborne (played by Robert Webb).
The iconic comedy was shot through a POV perspective with the actors performing to camera, while the characters’ internal thoughts were added as narration. This format proved to be revolutionary, but it was one Bain and Armstrong knew they wouldn’t be able to replicate on stage.
“There was an offer to do a live Peep Show, a stage show, after the last series, which we did carefully consider because it was coming from some proper people,” said Bain. “But we just, we just couldn’t get our heads around how it would be Peep Show on stage. And I think with that sort of thing, we’d want to be careful.”
Referring to the POV camera angle used in the show, he added: “You sort of can’t [make that work on stage] and then it becomes something very different, and then it’s like, ‘What are we doing?’ But yeah, that was our thought process at the time, I think.”
Elsewhere, in a piece reflecting on the show’s legacy with The Guardian, script editor Iain Morris explained how Ricky Gervais helped save the series from being cancelled in its infancy.
“[Channel 4] hated it because it wasn’t rating and they didn’t really understand it,” Morris explained. “I spent a lot of time defending it, probably to the detriment of my career.”
Gervais, however, was one of the show’s big early supporters, and helped the network decide to keep it on air.
“He kept talking about it. Because The Office was so huge, his love for Peep Show effectively got it recommissioned.”
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Chris Edwards
NME
