Peep Show is getting a feminist remake: here’s everything we know
- Posted by
- Hollie Richardson
- Published
“I can’t wait to find out what sick and twisted bullshit goes on inside the minds of a pair of female losers,” says feminist Peep Show writer ahead of US remake.
Mark and Jeremy were the pair of losers we loved to laugh with (OK, at) on Channel 4’s Peep Show, who gave us some of British TVs funniest lines.
Played by David Mitchell and Robert Webb, we followed the dysfunctional flatmates for nine hilariously awkward series until is finished in 2015. The show also introduced us to Oscar winning actor Olivia Colman who played Sophie, and renowned comedian Isy Suttie who starred as Dobby.
Now, the feminist writer behind the hit series, Sam Bain, has revealed how the need for more female voices in comedy television is the reason behind the US Peep Show remake that he is making.
“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,” Bain wrote for the Guardian. “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, because there is a script in development for a US Peep Show with two female leads.”
Bain confirmed that the show is being made with FX Networks and will be written by Karey Dornetto, who worked on Portlandia and Community.
Reflecting on the female characters he wrote for the UK version, the writer also said that he had a “twinge of regret” about creating Sophie as Mark’s love interest.
“We tried to amp her up by bringing out the more extreme sides of her character,” he wrote. “And when it came to creating Dobby, played by Isy Suttie, we tried hard to make her weirder and more distinctive.”
Explaining the need to more diversity, he continued: “Like a lot of writers (and actresses), I recoil at the concept of the ‘strong female character’. A well-rounded female character, sure. But in comedy it’s more important to make any character arrogant or stupid or selfish or, ideally, all of the above.
“It feels just as important for audiences to see women on screen fall on their face – literally and figuratively – as to see them being high achievers doing great things. From Absolutely Fabulous and Fleabag to Bridesmaids and Chewing Gum, there are few things more enjoyable than watching a first-rate comic actress being allowed to make a total tit of herself.”
Bain added: “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.”
We can’t wait either.
Images: Channel 4 & BBC