Why it might not be the end for Peep Show after all...

Creators moot a long-term comeback

Peep Show's creators have floated the idea that the next series might not be the last we hear of Mark and Jeremy after all.

Writers Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain and stars David Mitchell and Robert Webb have long said that the ninth series, which starts next Wednesday, would be the end of the road after 12 years.

But now they have hinted that the pair could come back many years into the future, when the characters are old men.

However, it sounds like just a pipe dream at the moment, as Bain told an audience at Bafta's London headquarters last night: 'We've got a document called Peep Show Series 10 with one line on it about a lawnmower.'

Armstrong added: 'I don't think we'd do it anytime soon but we've all said we really love working together, we like writing the jokes, it feels like now is the time to stop it, but I would like to find out what they do later in their life.'

Mitchell agreed that a return could be 'perfect for when they're in retirement'. Then he joked: 'It's all been a prequel to Last of the Summer Wine. Compo is Super Hans. Clegg is definitely Mark

And when asked if he would rule out a return, Webb added: 'No not at all,' but admitted: 'Peep Show as we know it; it's good that it's stopping now' as he felt the characters were getting too old to be sharing a flat.

However, he also suggested a quirky way the characters could return… with him and Mitchell swapping roles for a charity one-off.

'Whenever someone asks "how much are you like your characters?" I always say we're sufficiently like them that if we play them the other way around, it would be a bit wrong,' he told interviewer Mark Lawson.

'Then again I'm holding out for a Comic Relief special when we spend 10 minutes playing the other part. That would be great. I would love to play Mark Corrigan…'

The end of Peep Show also doesn't mean the end of the Mitchell and Webb partnership, the pair said at the event, where the first two episodes of the new series were previewed.

Webb confirmed reports that they were working with The Thick Of It writer Simon Blackwell on a 'very secret' new show for Channel 4. 'It's not a sketch show, it'll be a sitcom,' was all that he would say about the project, provisionally titled Back.