Peep Show is 20: The star careers it launched, from Mitchell and Webb to Olivia Colman

It's been 20 years since Peep Show first introduced us to Mark and Jeremy, one of UK comedy's favourite double acts.

As fans of the sitcom celebrate two decades of the pair's inadequacies in romance, work and general life, we look back over the careers launched by the Channel 4 show.

From Sophie and Big Suze to Dobby and Johnson, Peep Show was a big break for some now huge stars as well as including one-off appearances from the likes of Peter Capaldi, Daisy Haggard, Sarah Hadland and Kevin Bishop.

Here's what the main cast did next.

Peep Show's star cast

David Mitchell - Mark Corrigan

David Mitchell and Robert Webb were already working together before Peep Show launched, having met at university - but they had no idea that fame would come calling in the shape of the sitcom that launched to a muted response from Channel 4 bosses.

As Mitchell told The Guardian: "Of the various pitches we’d been involved with, this wasn’t the one that seemed destined to come off – which shows how little we knew."

Luckily, Ricky Gervais was at the height of his Office fame and a huge fan, meaning the show got recommissioned and gained hugely in popularity as audiences and TV bosses began to "get" its unusual approach.

Mitchell starred as chronically unsuccessful rule follower Mark, later launching sketch show That Mitchell and Webb Look with his co-star and comedy partner.

He has also featured in TV comedies Upstart Crow and Back, and is in demand as a comedy performer as well as being a columnist for The Observer.

Mitchell is married to Only Connect host Victoria Coren Mitchell.

Robert Webb - Jeremy Usborne

Although his Peep Show character Jeremy, an unambitious freeloader, couldn't be more different from Mark, Robert Webb's career has followed a similar path to his comedy partner Mitchell's.

The pair's sketch show was a hit in the early Noughties and like Mitchell, Webb is a sought after comedy performer and TV narrator.

He has appeared more recently in TV dramas Whitstable Pearl and Death in Paradise, as well as competing in the 2021 series of Strictly Come Dancing.

Webb was forced to quit Strictly early on the advice of his doctor, as he was in recovery from heart surgery.

Olivia Colman - Sophie Chapman

Peep Show's biggest success is undoubtedly Oscar winner Olivia Colman, who played Sophie Chapman, the work colleague that Mark very unenthusiastically married and then divorced soon afterwards.

Colman had also been a university friend of Mitchell and Webb's, and had already worked with the duo before their careers took off with Peep Show.

She also joined them in That Mitchell and Webb Look and her long list of other TV hits include Broadchurch, Rev., Twenty Twelve, W1A, Green Wing, Fleabag, The Night Manager, Flowers, Heartstopper and Great Expectations, as well as playing Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown.

Colman's success has also translated to the big screen, winning the Oscar for Best Actress as well as a Golden Globe and Bafta for her role in The Favourite, and picking up Oscar nominations for The Father and The Lost Daughter.

Sophie Winkleman - Big Suze

Jeremy's very posh on-off love interest Big Suze was a favourite character with Peep Show fans and is even more upper class in real life.

Big Suze was played by Sophie Winkleman, who is the sister of TV presenter Claudia Winkleman and is now a member of the Royal Family as she is married to Lord Frederick Windsor.

As well as being spotted at various royal events, Winkleman has appeared in TV series Two and a Half Men, Strike, This Is Going To Hurt and Sanditon.

Paterson Joseph - Alan Johnson

Mark worshipped his inspirational boss Johnson, although Jeremy wasn't such a fan, especially when Big Suze moved in with him.

Paterson Joseph who played him was already an established star, with previous roles including a long stint on Casualty and a role in Hollywood hit The Beach.

But one of his best-known roles was in Peep Show and since then, he's featured in TV series including Noughts + Crosses, Vigil, Rellik and Timeless, as well as being another recruit to That Mitchell and Webb Look.

Isy Suttie - Dobby

In the post-Sophie era, Mark managed to find love again with Dobby...and then ruin things just as disastrously.

Playing the quirky, nerdy Dobby was Isy Suttie, who is now better known as a stand-up comedian and for making regular comedy panel show appearances.

Her other TV work has included the series Man Down and Damned.

Jim Howick - Gerard Matthew

Poor Gerard came to an untimely end in Peep Show, but not before forming the Dobby Appreciation Society with Mark and then swiftly becoming competition for Dobby's attentions.

Actor Jim Howick will be familiar to Horrible Histories fans as one of the show's core cast, also going on to star in sitcom Ghosts with the rest of the Horrible Histories crew (Mathew Baynton, also in the same cast, played Dobby's ex Simon).

His other TV work includes Yonderland, Sex Education, and reuniting with Colman for a role in Broadchurch.

Neil Fitzmaurice - Jeff Heaney

The deliciously hateable Jeff tortured Mark by moving in on Sophie after their split and replacing him as their baby's father.

Neil Fitzmaurice had appeared in a long list of shows beforehand, most notably as Ray Von in Phoenix Nights and with a role in The Office.

Since Peep Show, he has continued to be busy with TV work, starring in Mount Pleasant, Waterloo Road and Brassic.

Matt King - Super Hans

After Mark and Jeremy, Peep Show's most prominent character was Jeremy's loose cannon drug addict mate Super Hans.

Matt King, who played him, had a flurry of film success during the height of his Peep Show fame, with roles in RocknRolla, Bronson and Made in Dagenham.

He also starred in the TV series Spirited and Starlings.

Rachel Blanchard - Nancy

Another of Jeremy's love interests, Nancy was even more flaky than he was and became a favourite with fans in her sporadic appearances.

Since the sitcom, Rachel Blanchard who played her has featured in US TV series Fargo, You Me Her and The Summer I Turned Pretty.