Peep Show – it has come around again quickly, hasn’t it? Well, it’s been a year, actually, but you see the thing with Peep Show is that I don’t get all that excited about it. It’s not a squee show for me like, say, The Mighty Boosh or Doctor Who is. I seem to always remember its faults – the lack of warmth, or the general messiness of a lot of the last series. But all that just allows me to fall in love with it all over again each time it returns to our screens…

With Mark’s wedding champagne in one hand, and the Megatron in the other (all TV/DVD/Sky remotes taped into a circle) it’s back to square one for Mark and Jez. Mark had thought that Sophie was the one, of course, but that idea quickly vanished the moment he got engaged to her, and to be honest she wasn’t perfection in any case – she’d kissed Jez (who hasn’t) and strung Mark along for the most part of their so-called relationship. So now he’s single and free, in the same old flat, with the same old best mate and the same old hang-ups – not that the same couldn’t be said for Jez.

Jez sets up a double date with his latest girlfriend, Paula, and her mate, Heather. Mark isn’t into to it – “I’m not ready to be reintroduced into society yet” – but what Jez wants he generally gets, so they’re off to the the theatre. The theatre? Mark and Jez? “It’s different now” Jez explains, “they’ve moved on. They use proper actors like Americans and people off the telly.” Which some would argue is pretty much spot on, but then that’s another discussion… as it turns out it’s nothing like that anyway. It’s boring and old fashioned and full of English people speaking in Shakespeare. And more than that, Paula’s had to tell Jez that she has chlamydia… Things are going better for Mark though, as he manages to “close on a second date” within a few minutes of meeting Heather. Naturally, she decides she’s the one after all…

In the theatre, we get one of the best pieces of dialogue that I’ve seen on telly in a long long time. I’m very tempted to write the whole thing out verbatim, but as that isn’t really the done thing I’ll just quote a little bit. Basically Jez and Mark discuss how long it is before they “can go out”, and why on earth they’re there in the first place. “I’ve got Heat on DVD at home.” Jez whispers. “I can’t believe we’re watching this, when for less money we could be watching Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.” As always, the writers Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain have got our thought-processes exactly right. Not many people would vocalise these particular thoughts like Mark and Jez do on this occcasion, but, let’s face it, we’ve all thought something similar. And that, above all else, is Peep Show’s enduring success.

Although Heather never turns up for that second date, Mark does bump into her on the way home, and, bless him, believes her rather dodgy but just about plausible excuse. As they enter the flat they see someone clearly trying to rob them hovering in the hall-way – and you know what, Mark goes all noble and apprehends him. “Morse never did this! I’m better than Morse!” he thinks. Is it just a case of trying to impress Heather, or a genuine attempt to do the right thing? Maybe both, but more likely the former. Meanwhile Jez is trying to tell Big Suze that he’s got chlamydia… but he gets a little side-tracked along the way, and brings her back to his flat, only to find Mark sitting on a burglar. Jez, naturally, tries to bond with the kid, and so lets him go. So the burglar and his mates nick the TV. So Mark tells Suze that Jez has chlamydia… and then “takes him down”. A normal night in for Mark and Jez, then.

There were probably too many sub-standard episodes last season, mixed in with a couple of absolutely sublime ones – the finale especially – but this was Peep Show at its absolute best. The dialogue and inner monolgues were funny and ridiculously recognisable as always, and the performances from Mitchell and Webb stayed on just the right side of completely bizarre. I hadn’t missed Peep Show, but my word I’m glad it’s back.