Six Shows to Watch If You Love the Cringe Genius of Peep Show

Fans of Peep Show know there is nothing quite like the mix of cringe, razor-sharp writing, and existential flailing that Jesse Armstrong perfected. The antics of uptight Mark Corrigan (played by David Mitchell) and his old friend and chronic underachiever, Jeremy “Jez” Usbourne (played by Robert Webb), as they navigate work, relationships, and friendships with a variety of oddballs in South London, has become one of British comedy’s modern classics.

The long-running British sitcom, which aired from 2003 to 2015, also helped launch the career of Olivia Colman, who played Mark’s on-again off-again love interest, Sophie Chapman. Colman went on to win an Oscar in 2018.

Armstrong’s later success with Succession also helps explain why Peep Show still feels so fresh. He took the same instincts that made Mark and Jez painfully human, the inner panic, the self-justification, the hunger for status, and scaled them up into a modern corporate tragedy. Succession is not cringe comedy in the Peep Show sense, but it runs on the same engine of characters who cannot stop revealing themselves under pressure. The difference is the setting, boardrooms instead of London pubs, power plays instead of flatmate squabbles, but the core pleasure is familiar, watching smart, damaged people talk themselves into disaster.

But there is a rich seam of shows that hit similar notes to Peep Show, from painfully honest character studies to bleakly funny explorations of modern failure. As South Africans head back to work after the festive season, with a mix of inbox dread and forced office small talk, here are six series that offer that same hit of awkward humour and brutal self-awareness.

First up is The Thick of It, where Armando Iannucci turns political incompetence into a contact sport. The show shares Armstrong’s taste for smart, sweary dialogue and the grim poetry of watching people implode under pressure.

Then there is Nathan for You, easily the closest thing to Peep Show’s brand of comedy panic in unscripted form. Nathan Fielder’s deadpan attempts to “help” small businesses produce social discomfort so pure it is almost forensic.

Fans wanting a narrative descent into self-sabotage should try Fleabag, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s breakout series that blends savage humour with emotional wreckage.

Or they can go darker with It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the long-running American show that turns moral bankruptcy into an art form and makes Mark and Jez look almost functional.

Catastrophe delivers a powerful Armstrong-adjacent blend of relationship chaos and sharp character writing, following two flawed adults trying to build a life together despite themselves.

And, finally, Spaced earns a place on the list as the spiritual ancestor to the awkward-genius sitcom. Created by Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, and directed by Edgar Wright, the show is a whirlwind of pop culture riffs, surreal humour, and underachievers trying to figure life out one bad decision at a time.

Taken together, these six series give you the same Peep Show hit, the sharp dialogue, the social dread, and the creeping sense that the characters are always one bad choice away from humiliation. Some lean into politics and professional panic, others into relationships that unravel in real time, and a few simply revel in the comedy of people who should know better but never do.

If you want the closest match to Armstrong’s brutal eye for status games, start with The Thick of It or Catastrophe. If you want discomfort you can feel in your teeth, go straight to Nathan for You. And if what you are really chasing is that oddly comforting feeling of watching chaos from the safety of your couch, then Fleabag, Always Sunny, and Spaced will do the job. Peep Show may be singular, but the tradition of witty, wince-inducing failure comedy is alive and thriving, and these are the best next stops.