Hitting screens for the first time in September 1999, Spaced may have arrived at the very tail end of the 90s, but it was still one of the decade’s most innovative sitcoms – and it proved to have a wider-ranging cultural impact than anyone could have expected at the time.

The show centred on two struggling twentysomethings, writer Daisy (Jessica Hynes, then known as Jessica Stevenson) and comic book artist Tim (Simon Pegg), who pose as a couple in order to rent a flat from perpetually drunk but kindly landlady Marsha (Julia Deakin). We follow Tim and Daisy through all manner of madcap misadventures loaded with pop culture references galore, accompanied by Tim’s army-obsessed best mate Mike (Nick Frost), Daisy’s wannabe fashionista friend Twist (Katy Carmichael), and their socially awkward artist neighbour Brian (Mark Heap).

Ditching the proscenium stage/live studio audience set-up of conventional sitcoms, Spaced is one of the rare TV comedies on which the distinctive style of its director is always in evidence. While Hynes and Pegg co-wrote the entire series, every episode was directed by Edgar Wright, who would go on to make the hit films Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End with Pegg and Frost.

With its surreal overtones and celebration of fan culture, Spaced set the scene for many more media-savvy comedies and dramas in the years ahead. Only 14 episodes were ever made, but despite fan demand all involved have been quick to quash any suggestion of a revival.