---
title: "That Mitchell and Webb Look"
year: 2006
kind: "series"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/that-mitchell-and-webb-look"
fi1m_id: "that-mitchell-and-webb-look"
imdb_id: "tt0499410"
tmdb_id: 2852
wikidata_id: "Q2158865"
fi1m_score: 78
critics_reviews: 2
published: "2026-10-07T14:17:29.038051+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-07T14:17:29.691995+00:00"
region: "PA"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# That Mitchell and Webb Look (2006)

Created by David Mitchell, Robert Webb · 30m · Comedy

## Identity

That Mitchell and Webb Look

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/tv/that-mitchell-and-webb-look
- **Type:** Series
- **Fi1m ID:** that-mitchell-and-webb-look
- **IMDb ID:** tt0499410
- **TMDB ID:** 2852
- **Wikidata ID:** Q2158865
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499410/, https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/2852, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2158865

**Fi1m score: 78** · Critics: 2 of 6 reviews so far

*In a sentence:* Two men in a bunker notice the skulls on their hats, and British sketch comedy gets its best question in years

> Mitchell and Webb’s sketch show has a higher hit rate than the form usually allows, a supporting cast it did not deserve this early, and a weakness for sketches that are mainly pleased with themselves. We laughed a great deal and winced a little.

## Synopsis

David Mitchell and Robert Webb, the double act from *Peep Show*, front a sketch show that runs for four series of six half-hour episodes from 14 September 2006. Mitchell plays the indignant pedants and Webb plays the cheerful idiots, and the sketches circle back to the same people week after week: two snooker commentators who drink through the afternoon, a pair of SS officers in a bunker who begin to look at the skulls on their caps, the tramp Sir Digby Chicken Caesar and his sidekick Ginger, and a game show called Numberwang in which the rules are never explained. Olivia Colman, Paterson Joseph, James Bachman and Mark Evans fill out the casts, and Bachman and Evans write alongside the two leads. David Kerr directs; Gareth Edwards produces.

## Review

Sketch shows are built to disappoint. Six or seven ideas a week, a couple of them good, the rest making up the time, and an audience that remembers the misses because the hits are over so fast. *That Mitchell and Webb Look* does not escape this, but it comes closer than most. Across four series of six half-hour episodes, beginning on 14 September 2006 and ending in the summer of 2010, the proportion of sketches we would happily watch again is high, and the proportion we would skip is small. That is our verdict, and the caveats follow.

The act itself is simple and old. David Mitchell is the man who is right and cannot understand why nobody will admit it; Robert Webb is the man who is wrong and does not mind. The show finds a dozen ways to stage that pairing. Two snooker commentators get quietly drunk through an afternoon session and say less and less about the snooker. Sir Digby Chicken Caesar, a tramp who believes himself a detective, narrates his own crimes while Webb’s Ginger steals things behind him. A game show called Numberwang runs on rules the contestants seem to understand and we never will, which is the whole joke, and it holds for longer than it should.

The sketch people quote is the one in the bunker. Two SS officers, Mitchell and Webb, in a lull, and one of them has started to look at the insignia on their caps. Skulls, he points out. Have we noticed that we are the ones with the skulls? We laughed, and then the laugh stuck a little, because the sketch never raises its voice. Nobody shouts, nobody is punished, and Mitchell plays the dawning thought with the face of a man checking his bank statement. It is the best thing the show does and it is about ninety seconds long.

The cast around them is the show’s quiet luxury. Olivia Colman, early in her career, turns up as game show hostesses, long-suffering wives and women who have simply had enough, and she is funny in a different register each time; she does not do voices, she does people. Paterson Joseph brings a weight to authority figures that makes the nonsense around them land harder. James Bachman and Mark Evans, who write alongside the two leads, also appear, and the writing has the feel of four people who have argued every line to a standstill. David Kerr directs with a plainness that suits it: flat studio light, a camera that stays put, no winking.

What does not work is the show’s habit of telling us it knows. There is a strain of sketch here that is about sketches, or about the audience, or about the idea of a joke, and it is weaker each time it appears. By the fourth series, which arrived on 13 July 2010, the irony has started to eat the material; a few sketches set up a cliché, point at it, and stop, as if pointing were the punchline. Mitchell’s rant, so good when it is aimed at something, becomes a template the writers reach for when they have not found the something. And a handful of sketches run a full minute past their best line, which in a half-hour programme is a lot.

Against the form’s own standards it sits in the line of double-act shows that prefer a single idea, played slowly, to a barrage of catchphrases, and it is the most assured example of that line since the pair’s own [*Peep Show*](https://film.one/tv/peep-show) made them a name. The fourth series ends with a Sherlock Holmes sketch that turns out to be about something sadder than detection. We will not describe it. It moved us more than a sketch show has any business doing, and it is the right note to go out on.

Watch it two episodes at a time. Six in a row and the rants blur into one; two, and you will still be quoting the bunker at breakfast.

*Fi1m score 78, published 7 October 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is That Mitchell and Webb Look worth watching?**

*That Mitchell and Webb Look* is worth watching for anyone who likes sketch comedy played slowly rather than shouted, and we scored it 78. The hit rate is higher than the form usually manages, with Olivia Colman and Paterson Joseph adding weight the show barely needed, though a strain of sketches about sketches grows weaker as the series go on. Watch two episodes at a time, not six.

**How long is That Mitchell and Webb Look, and what is it rated?**

*That Mitchell and Webb Look* has episodes of about 30m. It is a comedy series.

**Where can I watch That Mitchell and Webb Look in Panama?**

*That Mitchell and Webb Look* is not on any streaming or rental service in Panama at the moment. It is available in 1 other country; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is That Mitchell and Webb Look, and is it suitable for children?**

*That Mitchell and Webb Look* carries a UK 15 certificate, which rules it out for children and puts the line somewhere in the teenage years. There is no violence or fright to speak of; the certificate reflects language and adult themes, including a recurring sketch about two SS officers in a bunker and a pair of snooker commentators who drink through an afternoon. The squeamish have nothing to fear.

**What should I watch after That Mitchell and Webb Look?**

After *That Mitchell and Webb Look*, try [*Peep Show*](https://film.one/tv/peep-show) (2003, Fi1m 88): The same two men, with the thoughts you were spared here read aloud. Then [*Key & Peele*](https://film.one/tv/key-and-peele) (2012, Fi1m 82): An American double act with the same instinct for one idea pushed all the way.

### Reviews we read (2)

- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Ray Richmond (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the sketch series consistently hilarious and unusually successful at translating British humor for American audiences. He singles out its distinctive recurring characters and bits, while noting that one Nazi sketch falls flat. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/mitchell-webb-look-125658/)
- **Den of Geek**, Louisa Mellor (4/5): Mellor finds the fourth series funny and ultimately goes out on a high, despite some sketches that overplay their irony. She especially praises the Sherlock Holmes finale for its acting and genuine pathos. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/that-mitchell-and-webb-look-series-4-dvd-review/)

## Details

- **Created by:** David Mitchell, Robert Webb
- **Creator:** David Mitchell, Robert Webb
- **Director:** David Kerr
- **Writer:** Mark Evans, James Bachman, David Mitchell, Robert Webb
- **Producer:** Gareth Edwards
- **Cast:** David Mitchell as Various Characters; Robert Webb as Various Characters; Olivia Colman as Various Characters; Paterson Joseph as Various Characters; James Bachman as Various Characters; Mark Evans as Various Characters; Keeley Hawes as Keeley Hawes; Seroca Davis as Various
- **Runtime:** 30m
- **Release (Panama):** 14 September 2006
- **Genres:** Comedy

## Where to watch in Panama

Not streaming, renting or buying in Panama at the last check.

Also available in: GB. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Peep Show* (2003), Fi1m 88: The same two men, with the thoughts you were spared here read aloud. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/peep-show.md)
- *A Bit of Fry and Laurie* (1989): The nearest ancestor: two clever men, slow ideas, and a fondness for language.
- *Big Train* (1998): Deadpan absurdity with a cast that went on to run British comedy.
- *Key & Peele* (2012), Fi1m 82: An American double act with the same instinct for one idea pushed all the way. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/key-and-peele.md)
- *The Kids in the Hall* (1988): Canadian sketch troupe, oddly gentle, with recurring characters you come to miss.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/that-mitchell-and-webb-look