The Office star was a big champion of the show during its early days. <\/p>
Peep Show is now regarded as one of the greatest British sitcoms of all time \u2013 but if it wasn\u2019t for Ricky Gervais<\/a>, the beloved Channel 4<\/a> series might never have got past its first season.<\/p>\n Speaking to The Guardian<\/a> as part of a retrospective feature to mark the show\u2019s 20th anniversary, Iain Morris \u2013 who worked as a script editor on the series \u2013 revealed that Channel 4 had initially not been very fond of the show when it first aired.<\/p>\n \u201cThe channel hated it because it wasn\u2019t rating and they didn\u2019t really understand it,\u201d he explained. \u201cI spent a lot of time defending it, probably to the detriment of my career.\u201d<\/p> He added that he was a good friend of Gervais at the time, and that it was the comedian\u2019s passion for the show that eventually persuaded the channel to stick with it.<\/p>\n \u201cHe kept talking about it,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause The Office was so huge, his love for Peep Show effectively got it recommissioned.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, executive producer Andrew O\u2019Connor added that in its early days the show \u201cjust kept being recommissioned by the skin of our teeth\u201d.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cIt was an act of survival until it finally took off.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n It helped launch the careers of future Succession<\/a> creator Jesse Armstrong and his writing partner Sam Bain, as well as stars David Mitchell, Robert Webb and Olivia Colman.<\/p>\n In April, it was revealed that a pilot had been ordered for a new gender-swapped US remake of the series, with Minnie Driver (Starstruck) and Amandla\u00a0<\/a>Jahava (DMZ) cast in the lead roles.<\/p> \n