40 Fun Facts About Coupling

Which Sheffield-born actor plays Jeff Murdock in the first three series of Coupling?

Richard Coyle got his big break as Jeff in 2000, three years after graduating from the Bristol Old Vic drama course.

In Coupling, Jeff's 'giggle loop' theory is tested when the gang attends which occasion for Jane's family?

A funeral, for Jane's aunt, is where the giggle loop strikes: Jeff's name for the urge to laugh at exactly the wrong moment hits the least likely member of the group.

In Coupling, what does Jeff falsely claim to have while chatting to a woman on his commuter train?

A wooden leg is Jeff's lie, and it backfires when the woman reveals that her brother is an amputee and introduces Jeff to his support group.

In Coupling's 'The Girl with Two Breasts', which language is the only one spoken by the woman Jeff meets?

Hebrew is all she speaks, so half the episode plays in it, replaying the pair's chat from her side to show how the confusion grows.

Which Scottish writer created Coupling, basing the sitcom on how he met his own wife?

Steven Moffat wrote all 28 episodes himself, drawing on the early days of his own relationship for the central couple.

Which actor, later James Norrington in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, plays Steve in Coupling?

Jack Davenport came to Coupling from the BBC drama This Life, and his first film role was a trainee zookeeper in Fierce Creatures.

Coupling's creator became lead writer of which revived BBC science-fiction series in 2010?

Doctor Who made him its lead writer in 2010. The BBC had asked for a fifth series of Coupling, but other commitments made gathering the cast impossible.

In Coupling, what is Jane's job at a local radio station?

Traffic reporter Jane is once sacked for changing street names for her own amusement, then rehired because she is so popular.

Which filming technique runs through Coupling's series three opener, after Steve and Susan break up?

Split screen shows the boys at Steve's flat and the girls at Susan's side by side, with the dialogue timed so the two halves never overlap.

In Coupling, what job does Jeff do in the office where he works alongside Susan?

Accountant Jeff is the reason the central couple exist: he once dated Susan, is Steve's best mate, and the pair first meet through him.

In Coupling, what kind of business is run by Sally, who is Patrick's girlfriend by series four?

A beauty parlour is Sally's own business, fitting for a character who frets constantly about ageing and dreads dying alone.

Which channel first broadcast Coupling when the sitcom began on Friday evenings in May 2000?

BBC Two showed the first three series, while the fourth premiered on a sister channel and was repeated a few months later.

Which standard, first a Spanish-language hit by a Cuban songwriter, is the theme song of Coupling?

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps was written by Osvaldo Farrés and became a hit in 1947; the version over Coupling's credits is sung by Mari Wilson.

Which American network aired its own remake of Coupling in 2003, cancelling it after four episodes?

NBC reused the British scripts, shortened to make room for advert breaks, yet pulled the show after four of its thirteen commissioned episodes.

Which New Zealand-born actress, later Sophie Devereaux in Leverage, plays Jane in Coupling?

Gina Bellman was already a household name from Dennis Potter's drama Blackeyes, and she made a cameo in the American remake's first episode.

Which actress from Smack the Pony and Green Wing plays Susan in Coupling?

Sarah Alexander turned down a university place to take her first professional acting job, then made her name in sketch comedy.

Which actor, later Peter Townsend in The Crown, plays the womanising Patrick in Coupling?

Ben Miles played Patrick until the show ended in 2004, and later earned a Tony nomination on Broadway for playing Thomas Cromwell.

In Coupling, Sally struggles with her attraction to Patrick because he supports which political party?

The Conservatives have Patrick's vote, which Labour supporter Sally finds very hard to square with fancying him.

In Coupling, which language does Susan speak fluently, using it to tell off a difficult client?

French comes easily to Susan, and after her tirade a man assumes she is from France and starts chatting her up; she plays along.

In Coupling's first episode, where in the gang's regular bar does Steve ask Susan out?

The women's toilets are where they meet, after Steve steps out of a cubicle where Jane has again derailed his attempt to break up with her.

In Coupling's 'Size Matters', which peril of foreplay does Jeff warn Steve about before dinner at Susan's?

The sock gap is Jeff's warning in the show's second episode, where he also tells Steve to examine Susan's remote controls.

In Coupling, Jeff and Steve picture 'The Melty Man' as a figure resembling which film villain?

Darth Vader is the model for the Melty Man, the pair's personification of the bedroom failure that ruins Patrick's night with Sally.

In Coupling, what is the name of the new boss at work who becomes Jeff's girlfriend in series two?

Julia falls for Jeff because she is just as hopeless as he is at holding a sensible conversation with someone she fancies.

In Coupling's 'Naked', what is the only thing Jeff still has on at his surprise 30th birthday party?

A tie is all Jeff keeps on: his date used it to blindfold him, and he misreads her promise of birthday fun and undresses in front of colleagues and his parents.

Why did the actor who played Jeff say he chose not to return for Coupling's fourth series?

Fear of typecasting kept him away: he refused even a goodbye episode, saying he wanted to still be acting at 60 rather than be pigeonholed early.

In Coupling, what profession do Steve and Susan wrongly assume Oliver has on his blind date with Jane?

Gynaecologist is the mix-up on his first appearance; Oliver, introduced at the start of the fourth series, really runs a science-fiction shop.

In Coupling's final episode, what does Sally find in Patrick's cupboard among his homemade videotapes?

An engagement ring meant for Sally herself turns up, sparking a row that pushes Patrick into proposing, though her answer is never shown.

In Coupling's 'Dressed', Jane turns up at a man's flat wearing only shoes and which other item?

A coat is all Jane has on besides her shoes, and she arrives to find not a private evening but a dinner party with several guests.

In Coupling's 'Remember This', Patrick recalls first kissing a drunk Sally to which superhero's theme tune?

Spider-Man fits the episode, which opens with Patrick turning up at Sally's flat at three in the morning to save her from an imaginary spider.

New York's Daily News said Jeff in Coupling was very much like which character from Seinfeld?

Kramer was the paper's match for Jeff, and the same review called the abrasive Jane a female Newman.

In Coupling's 'Faithless', what do Jeff's mates use to coach him remotely through a date with Wilma?

An earpiece lets the others feed Jeff advice, but Wilma soon proves too cunning for him, and for Steve too.

In Coupling, which piece of office equipment did Jeff once get his head trapped in, as colleague Wilma saw?

A photocopier trapped Jeff's head, and he frets over whether Wilma found the incident funny or horrifying before their drink together.

In Coupling's series two finale, which identical items have Susan and Jeff unknowingly swapped, causing chaos?

Mobile phones are the culprits: a flirty call meant for Jeff reaches Susan instead, and she finds all her saved numbers missing.

Coupling director Martin Dennis also directed every series of which 1990s sitcom created by Simon Nye?

Men Behaving Badly came from the same production company as Coupling, and Dennis directed every episode of the later show as well.

Coupling grew out of its creator's relationship with which television producer, who became his wife?

Sue Vertue produced the show and lent her name to Susan; she read each new script two floors away so the writer could not hear her laughing.

The actor behind Coupling's Jeff later played Moist von Lipwig in a TV film of which Terry Pratchett novel?

Going Postal reached television in 2010 with him in the lead, and he later narrated the Moist von Lipwig audiobooks as well.

Coupling's creator based which earlier 1990s sitcom on the breakdown of his own first marriage?

Joking Apart turned that painful period into comedy, and the surname of its husband, Taylor, was reused for Steve in Coupling.

In the dream sequence of Coupling's final episode, Jeff is said to have been living on which island?

Lesbos is where 'Jeffina' has been living; Samantha Spiro played the part in Steve's dream because the original actor had left the show.

In Coupling's 'Inferno', which reluctant guest does Jane drag along to Steve and Susan's dinner party?

Her therapist Jill would rather not treat Jane at all, and returns in series four retrained as a pregnancy specialist to avoid her.

In Coupling's 'My Dinner in Hell', which broadcaster, Steve's celebrity crush, does he bump into at the pub?

Mariella Frostrup is the star Steve admires, while Susan is implied to feel the same about Angus Deayton, keeping two pictures of him hidden in her bedroom.