Awkward and socially inept, Mark often has trouble understanding the functions of the modern world. He is cynical and pessimistic, but still possesses a stronger moral character than Jeremy. This isn’t saying much.
Jeremy ‘Jez’ Osborne (Robert Webb)
An unemployed musician with even less to brag about than Mark, but still manages to brag anyway. A whole lot.
- Anything That Moves: Jeremy once told Mark that he was aroused by chairs.
- Bi the Way: The 'bad thing' with Super Hans. And then there's this,
Sophie: And have I lived enough? I mean, I've only slept with four men. Is that enough?
Jez: Four?... Oh... Yeah. Jesus. I've had sex with more men than that, and I basically only sleep with women.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Jez sent dog shit in the post, peppersprayed, tried to punch and possibly subconsciously tried to murder the men - and in one case a woman - who he considered rivals for whatever woman - Toni, Nancy, Big Suze, Elena etc - he was currently infatuated with. In one episode he got so clingy he was threatened by his girlfriend showing kindness to a homeless man.
- Casanova Wannabe
- Comedic Sociopath: Oh so very much.
- Deadpan Snarker: At times.
- Dreadful Musician
- Even Evil Has Standards: Refuses to have sex with Sarah on Christmas, given his love of the holiday.
- Giftedly Bad
- It's All About Me: "Can't I have everything I want, all the time? I mean, isn't that what Democracy is all about?".
- Karma Houdini: From time to time. He does tend to get away with some pretty awful shit.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: With Mark.
Jez: I'm his one.
- Heroic Sociopath
- Hypocritical Humour: We're talking World Amateur Champion level here.
- Man Child: Even more so in the episode his mother comes to visit.
- Never My Fault: He could market books and lectures on shifting blame and not taking responsibility for actions.
- Pet the Dog: Fakes this a lot but does have some genuine moments of kindness.
- The Slacker: Jeremy is intentionally a slacker, and rather proud of it, seeing it as being a cool, pop culture lifestyle choice. He does have moments of clarity on occasion.
- Ted Baxter
- Too Dumb to Live: "They wouldn't put a bad idea in a film, they'd get sued."
- Wide-Eyed Idealist
Mark: "Eventually he's gonna learn how sausages are made".
- Wrong Genre Savvy: He often tricks himself into thinking he’s in some kind of movie.
Sophie Chapman (Olivia Colman)
Mark’s love interest for much of the series. She starts off as a distant crush, then over the seasons they progress into a relationship, a marriage, a divorce and now have a child together.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: She goes for Jeff at first, even lampshading it with, 'I always go for arseholes'.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: While viewer opinion varies as to who was more at fault in her relationship with Mark, we definitely see a less pleasant side of her from season 5 onwards.
- Broken Pedestal: Mark's rose-tinted view of her doesn't long survive their actually getting together.
- Inelegant Blubbering: During that wedding. This is a speciality of Oliva Colman. Not many do it better.
- My Biological Clock Is Ticking: In series 5.
- Shallow Love Interest: How she started off, likely because we only ever saw her through Mark's limited viewpoint.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Started off as a fairly pleasant and bland love interest and straight woman to Mark until after a couple of series Olivia Colman made the writers realise that she wasn't really such a nice girl when you look at how she treats him. This led to her character being developed in other directions in series 3 and 4 and she really turns into a bitch after their ill-fated wedding.
Super Hans (Matt King)
A friend of Jeremy’s and a musician. He’s a slightly more successful (and psychotic) version of Jeremy, and influences him in a variety of negative ways.
Alan Johnson (Paterson Joseph)
Mark’s highly charismatic boss who also happens to be utterly insane.
- The Alcoholic: Recovered, then relapsed.
- Bad Boss
- Badass Moustache: In one episode Mark even tries to grow one to emulate him.
- Broken Pedestal: Mark's view switches from Idolization to disdain in a few seasons
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite going semi-insane after his fall from power, he still manages to nail a contract for the management-consultant business him and Mark set up and by the end of Series 7 has enough money to buy another house.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Especially in later seasons.
- Even the Guys Want Him
- Large Ham
- Jerkass
- Jerk Jock: To a certain extent.
- Pet the Dog: Mentoring and community work, according to Big Suze. Also, sticking up for Mark when Sophie begins her post-break-up campaign of bullying and vilification.
- Pointy-Haired Boss: Debateable. He’s competent and doesn’t suffer fools, but he’s also highly aggressive, willing to throw innocent employees to the wolves to save himself, and Mark not inaccurately describes him as part of a group of, ‘literally the worst men in the world’.
- Sanity Slippage: After JLB goes under, he hops off the edge of reason.
- Stupid Sexy Flanders: Has this effect on Mark at least.
- Villainous Breakdown: The recession is...not good for his sanity.
- Neither is throwing a house party on the same night as him.
Jeff Heaney (Neil Fitzmaurice)
Mark’s rival for the affections of Sophie; he’s a cruel bully who believes that men are made to ‘kill and knob’.
- The Bully: Takes every opportunity to tease, belittle and sneer at Mark.
- Hidden Depths: In season six, he helps Sophie with her pregnancy and was very upset about the break up originally. Of course, even when helping Sophie he takes shots at Mark and is relieved to find out he isn't the child's father.
- Jerkass
- Jerk Jock: We only see him being good at a sport once (bowling), but it's very easy to imagine him being one of the football-playing, tougher lads at school who picked on nerds like Mark (although they didn't go to school together)
- Kick the Dog: He goes from an office bully into a full-fledged sadistic bastard when he gives Mark a nasty little speech about how he doesn't see him as a threat to his relationship. 'You could have your cock in her. You still wouldn't have the balls to fuck.'
- Oop North: A Scouser.
- Romantic False Lead
- Smug Snake: Whenever he's going out with Sophie.
Toni Papadopoulopoulos (Elizabeth Marmur)
The unhinged next-door neighbour who serves as an unhealthy object of lust during the first and second season. She’s disappeared after getting remarried to her husband.
Nancy (Rachel Blanchard)
A kooky, ‘liberated’ small-town American girl who Jeremy falls in love with. She later marries him for visa reasons, and is in general something of a hypocritical free-spirit.
- Brainless Beauty
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Depending on how you view her.
- Citizenship Marriage
- Cloudcuckoolander
- Granola Girl: Very much so, but also (by her word anyway) a devout Christian.
- Ms. Fanservice: In a DVD commentary, Mitchell & Webb and Armstrong & Bain comment about the novelty of a sexy Hollywood actress coming over to do a low-budget British sitcom in "shitty Croydon".
- Hypocrite: Acts like a devout Christian...and is also too kinky for Jeremy. It's probably in keeping with her own, self-styled religion.
- The Pollyanna: To an extent that gets rather creepy, given that she chirps about family crises and year-long spells of drug addiction as brightly as anything else.
Big Suze (Sophie Winkleman)
Posh, a little stupid, very attractive and very sweet, Big Suze is Jeremy’s ex-girlfriend. He’s still in love with her, and has an excellent plan to ‘get her high and put my hand up her jumper’.
Gerard (Jim Howick)
Mark’s rival for Dobby’s affection. He’s a nice, nerdy fellow with ongoing health problems.
Dobby (Isy Suttie)
A nerdy co-worker who just might be the one girl that likes Mark for the neurotic mess that he is.
- Adorkable
- Genre Savvy: After a couple of seasons she knows how Mark's life works better than Mark does.
- Nerds Are Sexy: Possibly a poster girl for this.
- Lad-ette: Can definitely be a bit "foward" at times (see: store cupboard scene). And in her first scene we see her reading Viz.
- Shout Out: To a certain house elf?
Elena (Vera Filatova)
A bisexual, marijuana-dealing Russian émigré who lives in the same block of flats as Mark and Jeremy.
Ian Chapman (Paul Clayton)
Sophie's quietly bitter, self-loathing father.
Penny Chapman (Cheryl Campbell)
Sophie's friendly yet adulterous mother.
Zahra (Camilla Beeput)
A pretentious young woman who Jeremy constantly tries to get close to.
- Feigning Intelligence: At first, she seems quite clever. With each passing episode, it becomes clearer that she bases intelligence on 'refined' subjects and is merely better at faking it than Jeremy.
- Hipster
- Meganekko: When she dons her specs.
- Men Are Uncultured: Averted. She's just as uncultured as everyone else, merely better at hiding it.
