BBC’s BAFTA-Winning The Smoking Room Is Finding a New Audience on iPlayer — And Fans Say the Forgotten Sitcom Is ‘Criminally Underrated’

A BBC comedy that first aired more than 20 years ago is suddenly winning over viewers again after resurfacing on iPlayer.

The Smoking Room, the BAFTA-winning workplace sitcom that originally ran on BBC Three between 2004 and 2005, has been rediscovered by fans who thought the series had all but vanished.

One viewer recently shared their excitement after stumbling across the show on iPlayer, saying they had previously bought the DVDs because they loved it so much.

“I bought the DVDs years ago as I loved the series but then it seemed to completely disappear until I saw it on iPlayer yesterday,” they wrote. “It’s total quality.”

A sitcom set entirely inside one room

Unlike most workplace comedies, The Smoking Room keeps its characters almost entirely in one location.

The series is set in the smoking room of a fictional British company, where employees regularly retreat from their desks for cigarettes, gossip and conversations that have nothing to do with their jobs.

At the time the show was made, smoking had already been banned in many office environments, although some workplaces still had designated rooms where employees could go during the day.

That space becomes the center of the comedy.

The characters even maintain an informal rule against discussing work, turning the room into a temporary refuge from everything happening elsewhere in the building.

Robert Webb leads the ensemble cast

Peep Show star Robert Webb plays Robin, one of the main characters.

He is joined by an ensemble cast that includes Paula Wilcox and Jeremy Swift, among others.

The format allows the series to focus less on conventional plot and more on the personalities, arguments, awkward conversations and strange observations that emerge whenever the same group of people repeatedly ends up in the same room.

According to the official synopsis, the Brian Dooley-written comedy revolves around staff members talking about almost anything except work while spending their days smoking and avoiding their responsibilities.

Viewers are calling it a forgotten gem

The rediscovery has prompted a wave of praise from fans.

The series currently carries a 7.8 rating on IMDb, while several viewers have described it as one of the most overlooked British comedies of its era.

One fan gave it a 10/10 review and singled out Webb’s performance.

“Honestly this show is amazing, Robert Webb is utterly brilliant in it, just like he is in everything he does!” they wrote.

The same viewer also praised the wider cast, arguing that the characters represent a wide range of personalities, backgrounds and opinions, all brought together by their shared smoking breaks.

Another fan said they had already raced through the first series again after rediscovering it.

“An absolute slept on gem,” they wrote.

Others described the sitcom as “criminally underrated” and a genuine “blast from the past.”

Its dry humor still works two decades later

Part of the appeal of The Smoking Room comes from how little it relies on big events.

Most of the comedy comes from conversations.

The characters waste time, complain, gossip, argue and reveal parts of themselves while supposedly taking short breaks from work.

That deliberately restrained style gives the series a dry, observational tone that has continued to resonate with viewers years later.

One fan admitted that despite the show’s understated approach, it still makes them laugh harder than many broader comedies.

The strength of the ensemble also means that different personalities can clash without the series needing to leave its single-room setting.

The format captured a workplace culture that has almost disappeared

Watching The Smoking Room now also offers an accidental snapshot of a very specific period in British office life.

Dedicated smoking rooms have largely disappeared, making the show’s central location feel like a relic of another era.

Yet the behavior inside the room remains familiar.

Employees looking for an excuse to escape work, colleagues gossiping about one another and people forming unlikely friendships through shared routines are hardly limited to the early 2000s.

That mix of nostalgia and recognizable workplace behavior may explain why the series has proved so easy for modern audiences to rediscover.

The show originally ran for two series

The Smoking Room aired on BBC Three across two series between 2004 and 2005.

Despite earning strong reviews and industry recognition, it never became as widely remembered as some of the other British comedies from the same period.

Its BAFTA success, however, demonstrated that the relatively simple premise could support genuinely sharp writing and performances.

Over time, the series became harder to find, leaving many fans reliant on DVD copies.

Its appearance on iPlayer has now given both longtime viewers and newcomers a much easier way to revisit it.

A second life for an overlooked BBC comedy

The renewed attention surrounding The Smoking Room shows how streaming platforms can revive shows long after their original broadcasts.

For viewers who remember it, the series offers a strong dose of early-2000s nostalgia.

For those discovering it for the first time, it is a reminder that a sitcom does not need elaborate settings or huge storylines to work.

Sometimes all it takes is one room, a group of mismatched colleagues and conversations that keep spiraling in unexpected directions.

More than 20 years after its debut, The Smoking Room is finally finding another audience — and many fans seem convinced it deserved far more attention the first time around.

The Smoking Room is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.