From cryptic crosswords to children’s party games, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton’s compulsively horrifying anthology series Inside No 9 has converted all sorts of seemingly innocuous subjects into spine-tingling TV, unearthing incest, murder, modern slavery and more from beneath a host of apparently mundane setups. As well as supplying an endless parade of gob-smacking twists, Inside No 9 sees The League Of Gentlemen duo experiment wildly with the televisual form, telling stories via the medium of CCTV, iambic pentameter and silence.
On Sunday, they return with another ambitious premise: a Halloween special that will also be its first live episode. To get warmed up – or, rather, suitably chilled – we look back at the show’s finest moments so far.
10 Cold Comfort
Series 2, episode 4
Told exclusively through the medium of CCTV, this episode is set at a crisis support helpline – a place where the office politics are a lot more disturbing than the distressing phone calls it receives. Jane Horrocks is a sarky co-worker, while Shearsmith plays the horrible boss. But is either one the crank caller driving newbie Andy to despair?
9 A Quiet Night In
Series 1, episode 2
Drawing on silent-movie-based gurning and comedy crime caper pratfalls, this almost dialogue-free episode follows two burglars as they attempt to steal a painting from an ultra-modern house while its inhabitants remain inside. Violent, surprising and impeccably choreographed, this miraculously funny instalment is a technical marvel.
8 To Have and to Hold
Series 4, episode 4
Shearsmith and Pemberton are experts when it comes to inserting the disturbing into the domestic – this tale of a wedding photographer who loses interest in his wife (primetime drama queen Nicola Walker) holds its nerve right until the end, before dramatically excavating the horror that exists beneath the couple’s comfortable lives.
7 Zanzibar
Series 4, episode 1
Even the show’s bleakest episodes are shot through with humour, but every now and then Shearsmith and Pemberton produce something lighter and brighter. Set in a hotel where guests interact in iambic pentameter, this homage to Shakespearean comedy is one of the show’s most straightforwardly humorous – and conceptually brilliant – episodes. This being Inside No 9, however, death and despair still feature prominently.
6 Tempting Fate
Series 4, episode 6
On occasion, Inside No 9 mines more traditional horror territory, relocating the tropes of the supernatural to run-of-the-mill settings. Taking place in a hoarder’s flat, the final episode of the most recent series takes some paranormal perennials – a spooky statue; a grainy VHS; three wishes that backfire spectacularly – and watches as three cleaners attempt to outsmart an ancient curse.
5 Bernie Clifton’s Dressing Room
Series 4, episode 2
There is nothing overtly horrifying about this instalment, the story of an ageing comic who reunites with his erstwhile partner for a one-off show. Instead, the episode is buffered by a gentle hum of sadness. At rehearsals, the duo reckon with the turbulent history of their friendship – but the real reason behind their attempted reconciliation is heartbreaking.
4 The Devil of Christmas
Series 3, episode 1
Filmed entirely on mid-century camera equipment, this impeccably styled drama-within-a-drama tracks a director as he provides voiceover commentary for a shonky seasonal horror he made in the 70s. But the reason why he has decided to return to this particular work only makes sense in the final few seconds, when the footage’s terrifying denouement is revealed.
3 Sardines
Series 1, episode 1
The idea behind Inside No 9 was sparked by a single-setting, real-time episode of Shearsmith and Pemberton’s previous comedy-horror series, Psychoville (which was in turn inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope). The show’s debut outing sticks to that premise, centring on a claustrophobic party game that involves the entire cast hiding in a wardrobe. Tim Key is on top form as a pallid and oleaginous guest who is not all he seems.
2 The Riddle of the Sphinx
Series 3, episode 3
A Cambridge don and master cryptic-crossword-setter is accosted by a young woman who works in Greggs and wants to learn the tricks of the puzzle trade. That is the initial premise, anyway – a series of increasingly wild left turns mean this episode ends up focusing less on nerdy word games and more on cannibalism, pufferfish poison and incest.
1 The 12 Days of Christine
Series 2, episode 2
The show’s most spectacular episode stars Sheridan Smith as Christine, a woman whose life has been punctuated by inexplicably spooky events. As the real reason behind the story’s fragmented chronology and odd occurrences slowly dawns, the episode morphs into a goosebump-inducing – and devastating – piece of drama.
Do you agree with our top 10? Which is your favourite episode of Inside No 9? Let us know in the comments.
Comments (…)
Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion