'It's fine... we're not going to get sued' | WTF Peep Show special

'It's fine... we're not going to get sued'

WTF Peep Show special

A special Peep Show-dominated Weekly Trivia File this week, as the team return for their final series next Wednesday. Much of this came from a Q&A at Bafta earlier this week:

• 'I'm only like Mark when he's right…' David Mitchell

• Peep Show co-writer Sam Bain has admitted the show stole its title from a comic book. The show was initially called POV, the filming term for the 'point of view' camera angle the comedy uses, but changed its name before broadcast. 'We sort of nicked it from a comic book,' he admitted, adding quickly: 'I've talked to the guy who created the comic … it's fine, we're not going to get sued.'

• However, don't call it The Peep Show, as that gets all those involved very riled. 'That makes it sound like it's a sitcom about an actual peep show,' David Mitchell huffed. Among those making that mistake was the show's first sponsor, coffee company Kenco, which meant initially episodes were introduced with: 'Kenco sponsors The Peep Show'. But Bain and co-writer Jesse Armstrong finally got their revenge – 12 years later. In the first episode of the new series, airing next Wednesday, Mark says, '"I'll just go and get a cup of the Kenco".' Revenge, unlike instant coffee, is best served cold.

Russell Brand auditioned for the part of Super Hans before he became famous, but lost out to Matt King.

• One incident on set was 'a bit mafia' according to Mitchell. Armstrong explains: 'The caterer fell out with the location manager; and the location manager was eating his lunch after this altercation and the producer said: "You should probably get your food from elsewhere then, not the caterer you've had a row with." The guy said: "I think it'll be fine…" at which point he pulled a shoelace out of his food.'

• The original idea for Peep Show was to make a live-action version of Beavis and Butthead.

• The stars both took something from the set on the last day of filming the flat scenes, to keep as a memento. Webb took Jeremy's poetry exercise book, with 'Up Yours, Bush' written on the cover; Webb took a picture from Mark's bedroom, of a Bentley. 'I don't know if it's ever been in shot, but it's definitely been there from the start' he said.'

• Olivia Colman was physically sick as she filmed her last scenes. She had returned to the Peep Show set less than a month after giving birth in August, but it was a bug she picked up on the final day that nearly did for her. 'It was awful,' she recalls. 'I was chucking up in the van. When I said goodbye to everyone, doing my final shots, I was feeling emotional anyway, doing my last ever shot on the last ever Peep Show, and then I was also struggling to not be sick. That was the hardest aspect.'

• 'I think there ought be a Peep Show museum, alongside the ones for Harry Potter and Jane Austen.' Robert Webb


And in other trivia…

joe lycett taxi rank
• When Joe Lycett appeared on 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown earlier this year, he entertained the audience with his description of challenging a parking ticket he got for parking in a taxi rank, since the dubious evidence the council had of his misdemeanour was a picture of his car with 'taxi rank' written on it, 'presumably by a disgruntled taxi driver'. Well, now he has returned to the space, in York, as part of his new tour… and got his audience to stage a flashmob-style event at St. Saviourgate. They brandished pre-prepared taxi rank signs and celebrated Joe's success in getting his own fine written off. Here's him telling the story of his run-in with bureaucrats:

• Eddie Murphy is set to become a father for the ninth time, as his girlfriend Paige Butcher has announced she's pregnant with their first child together.

• Here's Chuck Esterly – a new comedian making his stand-up debut at the age of 89…

Tweets of the week

Published: 6 Nov 2015

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