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Big Suze is Jeremy's ex-girlfriend and frequent romantic interest. She is quite perceptive and attractive but also naïve, having once been described by Mark as a "mental posho." She is portrayed by Sophie Winkleman.

Characterisation

Before she first shows up at Apollo House, Suze had lived with Jeremy in a prior ("weird") flat (which Jeremy nostalgically refers to as the "love shack") for around a year and a half. She was first mentioned in the second episode of the show but does not appear until series 3.

When Suze first visits Jeremy she is dating a former monk named Stu. At some point after this, she begins to see Jeremy again. Jeremy is constantly fawning over her but to his horror, she later leaves him for Alan Johnson. In series 6, her relationship with Alan seems very unsettled, leading to their break-up in Series 7, and her throwing a separate New Year's Eve party, resulting in Alan relapsing and drinking alcohol. Although Suze gives Jeremy many chances for more throughout their ongoing and rocky friendship, they ultimately do not end up together.

Big Suze is distantly related to a Hawksmoor - descendant of the 18th-century architect Nicholas Hawksmoor. She is somewhat posh, sheltered, and a little uptight. She displays a palpable, almost Edwardian-style aversion to bodily discharge and apparently subjected Jeremy to her "toilet seat regime" (The Interview) while they were roommates. Nonetheless, she appears to have a Bohemian side and an adventurous sexual curiosity. Her dildo was allegedly bequeathed to Jeremy when they stopped living together (Funeral). Her relationship with Mark is also strange but to a lesser degree, being that they went out on one casual date, only to have it end with Mark insulting her to her face. All the same, she and Mark share one hug and at one point she purchased him a lap dance.

Suze's front door

Suze's front door in North London.

She is an actress but between roles, works as a waitress in a café. Of note, she has acted in stage productions of both David Cronenberg's Crash and Paul Haggis' Crash.

Like Sophie, Suze goes through a dramatic arc over the series, starting as a sweet and innocent girl to a more matter-of-fact, no-nonsense lady. At the end of the series she seems to be living well on her own, and unofficially enlists Mark and Jeremy as caterers for her New Years party.

She is friends with Michelle and was her one-time roommate.

She has one sister, Tor who we never meet.

Name

Her nickname comes from her height rather than her weight. It is also an insider reference to the actress's previous film role as the "grown up Susan" — or Big Suze — in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and Wardrobe, which was released the same year as her first appearance in Peep Show. Her appearance in the third series was intended for Nancy, but Blanchard was unavailable.

According to Sophie Winkleman's interview on Podcast Secrets of the Pharaohs, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong initially alluded that Big Suze may have been "big" in the past but she is no longer so. Her name is also meant to indicate how "big" Jeremy's feelings were for her prior to the start of the show.

Ironically, the actress Sophie Winkleman is 5'9", almost as tall as Mitchell and Webb at 5'9 ½" and 5' 10", respectively.

Trivia

  • She is introduced in dialogue in the second episode of the show, but does not appear until series 3.
  • Her house number is 72.
  • In Sistering, Mark thinks to himself, "she's probably got a title, she's just too modest to say: 'Lady Big Suze' and 'Lord Mark'". Ironically, Sophie Winkleman, the actress who portrays her actually does have a title, Lady Frederick Windsor, due to her marriage in September 2009 over three years after that episode first aired in December 2005. She continues to use her own name in her professional career.
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