Coupling
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40 free Coupling trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Coupling ran on the BBC from 2000 to 2004 and won a devoted following on both sides of the Atlantic. Its trick was simple: three men and three women talk about the same dates and disasters in entirely different terms, and the plots fold back on themselves in ways few sitcoms attempt. This quiz leans into the character people search for most, Jeff, whose theories about dating gave the show much of its vocabulary. It also covers Steve, Susan, Sally, Patrick and Jane, the actors behind them, the episodes that played with form, and the story of how the series was written, rehearsed and remade abroad. It suits anyone who has watched the series through, and the explanations fill in the rest if a few episodes have faded.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Sheffield-born actor plays Jeff Murdock in the first three series of Coupling?
Richard Coyle
Richard Coyle got his big break as Jeff in 2000, three years after graduating from the Bristol Old Vic drama course.
Q 02In Coupling, Jeff's 'giggle loop' theory is tested when the gang attends which occasion for Jane's family?
A funeral
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.
Q 03In Coupling, what does Jeff falsely claim to have while chatting to a woman on his commuter train?
A wooden leg
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.
Q 04In Coupling's 'The Girl with Two Breasts', which language is the only one spoken by the woman Jeff meets?
Hebrew
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.
Q 05Which Scottish writer created Coupling, basing the sitcom on how he met his own wife?
Steven Moffat
Steven Moffat wrote all 28 episodes himself, drawing on the early days of his own relationship for the central couple.
Q 06Which actor, later James Norrington in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, plays Steve in Coupling?
Jack Davenport
Jack Davenport came to Coupling from the BBC drama This Life, and his first film role was a trainee zookeeper in Fierce Creatures.
Q 07Coupling's creator became lead writer of which revived BBC science-fiction series in 2010?
Doctor Who
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.
Q 08In Coupling, what is Jane's job at a local radio station?
Traffic reporter
Traffic reporter Jane is once sacked for changing street names for her own amusement, then rehired because she is so popular.
Q 09Which filming technique runs through Coupling's series three opener, after Steve and Susan break up?
Split screen
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.
Q 10In Coupling, what job does Jeff do in the office where he works alongside Susan?
Accountant
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.
Q 11In Coupling, what kind of business is run by Sally, who is Patrick's girlfriend by series four?
A beauty parlour
A beauty parlour is Sally's own business, fitting for a character who frets constantly about ageing and dreads dying alone.
Q 12Which channel first broadcast Coupling when the sitcom began on Friday evenings in May 2000?
BBC Two
BBC Two showed the first three series, while the fourth premiered on a sister channel and was repeated a few months later.
Q 13Which standard, first a Spanish-language hit by a Cuban songwriter, is the theme song of Coupling?
Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps
Q 21In Coupling's 'Size Matters', which peril of foreplay does Jeff warn Steve about before dinner at Susan's?
The sock gap
The sock gap is Jeff's warning in the show's second episode, where he also tells Steve to examine Susan's remote controls.
Q 22In Coupling, Jeff and Steve picture 'The Melty Man' as a figure resembling which film villain?
Darth Vader
Darth Vader is the model for the Melty Man, the pair's personification of the bedroom failure that ruins Patrick's night with Sally.
Q 23In Coupling, what is the name of the new boss at work who becomes Jeff's girlfriend in series two?
Julia
Julia falls for Jeff because she is just as hopeless as he is at holding a sensible conversation with someone she fancies.
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.
Q 14Which American network aired its own remake of Coupling in 2003, cancelling it after four episodes?
NBC
NBC reused the British scripts, shortened to make room for advert breaks, yet pulled the show after four of its thirteen commissioned episodes.
Q 15Which New Zealand-born actress, later Sophie Devereaux in Leverage, plays Jane in Coupling?
Gina Bellman
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.
Q 16Which actress from Smack the Pony and Green Wing plays Susan in Coupling?
Sarah Alexander
Sarah Alexander turned down a university place to take her first professional acting job, then made her name in sketch comedy.
Q 17Which actor, later Peter Townsend in The Crown, plays the womanising Patrick in Coupling?
Ben Miles
Ben Miles played Patrick until the show ended in 2004, and later earned a Tony nomination on Broadway for playing Thomas Cromwell.
Q 18In Coupling, Sally struggles with her attraction to Patrick because he supports which political party?
The Conservatives
The Conservatives have Patrick's vote, which Labour supporter Sally finds very hard to square with fancying him.
Q 19In Coupling, which language does Susan speak fluently, using it to tell off a difficult client?
French
French comes easily to Susan, and after her tirade a man assumes she is from France and starts chatting her up; she plays along.
Q 20In Coupling's first episode, where in the gang's regular bar does Steve ask Susan out?
The women's toilets
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.
Q 24In Coupling's 'Naked', what is the only thing Jeff still has on at his surprise 30th birthday party?
A tie
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.
Q 25Why did the actor who played Jeff say he chose not to return for Coupling's fourth series?
Fear of typecasting
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.
Q 26In Coupling, what profession do Steve and Susan wrongly assume Oliver has on his blind date with Jane?
Gynaecologist
Gynaecologist is the mix-up on his first appearance; Oliver, introduced at the start of the fourth series, really runs a science-fiction shop.
Q 27In Coupling's final episode, what does Sally find in Patrick's cupboard among his homemade videotapes?
An engagement ring
An engagement ring meant for Sally herself turns up, sparking a row that pushes Patrick into proposing, though her answer is never shown.
Q 28In Coupling's 'Dressed', Jane turns up at a man's flat wearing only shoes and which other item?
A coat
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.
Q 29In Coupling's 'Remember This', Patrick recalls first kissing a drunk Sally to which superhero's theme tune?
Spider-Man
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.
Q 30New York's Daily News said Jeff in Coupling was very much like which character from Seinfeld?
Kramer
Kramer was the paper's match for Jeff, and the same review called the abrasive Jane a female Newman.