Inside No. 9

Format

Inside No. 9 is an anthology series, with each episode featuring a new story, new setting, and new characters. Episodes run roughly thirty minutes each, with the self-contained story reaching a conclusion. The stories are linked primarily by the fact that each has an element of the story linked to the number 9, be that a mansion, a dressing room or even a shoe, size 9. Almost every episode stars Reece Shearsmith or Steve Pemberton, and regularly both. Each episode is effectively a short play. Some episodes take place in real-time, following half an hour in the lives of the characters. Every episode of Inside No. 9 features an ornamental hare somewhere on-screen. According to Pemberton, "Because each episode is so wildly different there was nothing really linking them other than the fact they were all inside a Number Nine, I just thought it would be nice to have an object that you could hide and just have there on every set." There is, however, no particular significance to the hare itself.

As is typical of Shearsmith and Pemberton's work, the scripts address dark topics, with, for instance, the first episode touching upon incest, child sexual abuse and murder. The plotlines make use of twists and surprises of various sorts, though in some cases the surprise is the lack of twist. In an interview, Pemberton said that "there is always a desire to wrong-foot the viewer. That's what you strive to do". The tone varies episode-by-episode. For example, while gothic horror was a major component in one case, other times slapstick comedy was used extensively; the humour, however, is typically dark and British. The episodes generally begin with scenes of "utter banality", before the darker elements are revealed. Despite the various episodes featuring unrelated plots and characters, one reviewer said that they are all linked "by a mercurial synthesis of morbid comedy, wicked social commentary and a genuine creepiness".

Inside No. 9 is somewhat more grounded and realistic than the writers' previous work, such as Psychoville and The League of Gentlemen. Pemberton said that he and Shearsmith decided not to mix the worlds of Inside No. 9 and their previous projects, but nonetheless include the occasional reference; for example, a character called "Ollie" is mentioned in one Inside No. 9 episode, and the writers imagined that this was Ollie Plimsoles of Legz Akimbo, a character from The League of Gentlemen. Similarly, Inside No. 9 was referenced in the 2017 reunion specials of The League of Gentlemen. Tubbs and Edward are seen living in flat number 9, and the Inside No. 9 hare is visible on their shop counter. In the 2018 Halloween special, in which Pemberton and Shearsmith play versions of themselves, both the League of Gentlemen and another of its writers, Mark Gatiss, are directly referred to in the dialogue. The 2020 episode "Death Be Not Proud" directly referenced Psychoville by featuring various characters from the series in that particular episode.

Production and development

In 2012, after finishing their previous show, Psychoville, writers Pemberton and Shearsmith were commissioned to produce two series for the BBC by controllers Janice Hadlow and Cheryl Taylor, partially in response to Sky beginning to produce comedy. At the time, it was unclear whether this would be two series of Inside No. 9, then known by the working title Happy Endings, or a series of Inside No. 9 and a series of some other programme. Inside No. 9 was to be produced by a BBC team, which was later revealed to be David Kerr (director), Jon Plowman (executive producer) and Adam Tandy (producer).

Pemberton and Shearsmith took inspiration for Inside No. 9 from "David and Maureen", episode 4 of the first series of Psychoville, which was in turn inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Rope. This episode took place entirely in a single room, and was filmed in only two shots. The writers were keen to explore other stories in this bottle episode or TV play format, and Inside No. 9 allowed them to do this. At the same time, the concept of Inside No. 9 was a "reaction" to Psychoville, with Shearsmith saying that the two of them had "been so involved with labyrinthine over-arcing, we thought it would be nice to do six different stories with a complete new house of people each week. That's appealing, because as a viewer you might not like this story, but you've got a different one next week." Elsewhere, Shearsmith explained that the pair returned to writing macabre stories as they "always feel slightly unfulfilled if [they] write something that's purely comedic, [as] it just feels too frivolous and light". The first story that the pair wrote specifically for Inside No. 9 was about a birthday party. BBC producers felt that this story would work as the opening episode of a sitcom, but, given the script's events, Pemberton and Shearsmith were not happy to develop the idea into its own programme. The script was consequently shelved and revisited during the planning process for the second series, becoming "Nana's Party", the fifth episode of the series and eleventh overall. During the filming of Inside No. 9, Shearsmith professed excitement to be working on the programme, saying that "[b]eing in the middle of filming a third series of Psychoville would be utterly depressing". Pemberton and Shearsmith aimed for a simpler experience with Inside No. 9 than they had experienced with Psychoville, describing "Sardines", Inside No. 9's first episode, by saying that it was "just about some good actors in a wardrobe with a good story."

At the time of Inside No. 9's production, the anthology series was a rare genre for British television programmes. Previous horror anthologies include Tales of the Unexpected, The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents; while these would sometimes use comedic elements, they are more prominent in Inside No. 9. Murder Most Horrid followed a similar format, but was far more comedic than horrific. Other anthology-like series on British television include Seven of One and Comedy Playhouse, though these programmes lacked horror elements, and, unlike Inside No. 9, served as pilots for potential series. However, the British anthology show Black Mirror, which also features elements of comedy and horror, was very popular around the time of Inside No. 9. For Pemberton, the 1970s and 1980s were "full of" anthology shows; other examples included Play for Today, Beasts and Armchair Thriller. More recently, anthologies have become less popular with television executives, but the writers hope that they may be able to contribute to a "renaissance" for the genre. According to journalist and broadcaster Mark Lawson, this is because anthologies can fail to motivate viewers to stay with a series, and, further, new sets and casts are required for each episode, meaning that a six-part anthology series will generally be more expensive than a six-part series in a more standard format. For Lawson, Inside No. 9 was able to overcome these problems through the "pleasing coherence" offered by the fact each episode was set in a number 9, and "the wit and inventiveness" of the opening episodes, which could sufficiently engage viewers. Pemberton and Shearsmith had originally considered alternative ways to link the stories, such as all the settings having a shared post man, but then decided that such a strong relationship between stories was not needed.

Episodes

Halloween special (2018)

This episode was a live broadcast, rather than a pre-recorded episode. The music, by Christian Henson, was also performed live.

Cast

As each episode of Inside No. 9 features new characters, the writers were able to attract actors who may have been unwilling or unable to commit to an entire series. The writers' reputation also helped attract actors, with journalist David Chater saying that they "have developed such a track record over the years that many of the finest actors in the country jump at the chance to appear in their dark imaginings". The fact that Pemberton and Shearsmith only played a single character in each story was a change for them; in The League of Gentlemen, the pair have played some 30 characters each, while, in Psychoville, they had played around five each. Though Pemberton and Shearsmith generally starred in each episode, they did not necessarily take on the main roles. Shearsmith explained this by saying that they "didn't write this for us to be in. We wrote the stories first then thought, could we be in them?" Pemberton and Shearsmith appear in all episodes, other than "3 by 3" in which neither appears, "The Harrowing" in which only Shearsmith appears, and "Last Gasp", featuring only Pemberton. More than 55 actors who previously appeared in former episodes returned for the Season 9 finale "Plodding On", portraying fictionalised versions of themselves. Following the airing of the final episode, Steve Pemberton auctioned his personal copy of the "Plodding On" script which had been signed by a majority of the key cast members across the 9 series. The only other actor to make multiple appearances across episodes as separate characters is Derek Jacobi who had a voice role in "The Devil of Christmas" before later returning in "How Do You Plead?"

Distribution

The first series of Inside No. 9 was shown in the UK on BBC Two (and BBC Two HD) between 5 February and 12 March 2014. It was aired in Australia on BBC First, premiering on 5 January 2015. The second series aired in the UK from 26 March to 29 April 2015, and aired in Australia from 27 July 2015.

The first series was released on DVD on 17 March 2014. In addition to the six episodes, the DVD featured the making of feature "Inside Inside No. 9", including unseen interviews with Pemberton, Shearsmith and Kerr, and a photo gallery with previously unreleased photos. Published by 2 Entertain, the DVD was rated 18 by the British Board of Film Classification. To publicise the DVD, the writers appeared at the Oxford Street, London, branch of HMV for a signing event on 20 March. The DVD was reviewed for webzine PopMatters by David Upton, who gave the main feature an 8/10 rating, and the extras a 5/10 rating, and Ben Walsh for The Independent, who gave the DVD overall 4/5. Phelim O'Neill, reviewing the release for The Guardian, described the boxset as "very lendable", suggesting that it would help Inside No. 9 reach a wider audience. South African newspapers The Sunday Times and The Star both published positive reviews of the DVD, with The Star's anonymous review saying the DVD "makes a great prezzie for cynics, so if you know any lawyers or journalists...". The second series was released on DVD on 4 May 2015. A review in the Leicester Mercury awarded it four out of five stars. A collection of all nine series of the show was released on 24 June 2024 as a DVD boxset.

The scripts of the first three series were released by Hodder & Stoughton in 2020, with scripts of the following three series released in 2022. A book detailing the production history of Series 1 to 5, The Insider's Guide To Inside No. 9 by Mark Salisbury, was released in 2021.

Reception and performance

Critical reception

Many critics responded very positively to Inside No. 9. The overall series has a 100% score at Rotten Tomatoes. Commentators have described it as "never less-than-captivating" and "consistently compelling", offering particularly strong praise for "The 12 Days of Christine", "The Riddle of the Sphinx" and "Dead Line". Inside No. 9 won the Sketch and Comedy prize at the 35th annual Banff World Media Festival Rockie Awards, and won the comedy prize at the 2016 Rose d'Or ceremony. It was nominated for the Best TV Sitcom prize at the 2014 Freesat Awards, the Broadcast Award for Best Original Programme, and at the 2014 British Comedy Awards for both the Best New Comedy Programme and the Best Comedy Drama. In the Comedy.co.uk Awards it was voted "Best TV Comedy Drama" in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017, and was named "Comedy of the Year" in 2017 and 2018. The series has received three nominations at the British Academy Television Awards. In 2019, Pemberton won Best Male Comedy Performance. In 2021, Shearsmith was nominated for the same award and the show won Best Scripted Comedy.

After the final episode of the first series, the comedic critic Bruce Dessau said on his website that it had "really set an early benchmark to beat for comedy of the year. It has been consistently compelling as each week we entered an entirely different world." On the same day, David Chater, writing in The Times, said of the series as a whole that "[i]t's hard to know which to admire more – the rich and perverse imaginations of Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith or the extraordinary range of acting talent that has brought this strange and memorable series to life." Chater had previously described "A Quiet Night In", the second episode of Inside No. 9, as "the funniest, cleverest, most imaginative and original television I have seen for as long as I can remember – one of those fabulous programmes where time stands still and the world around you disappears". Mark Jones (The Guardian) considered the whole series, saying that the Inside No. 9 was "never less-than-captivating", while a review in the Liverpool Echo described every episode as "intriguing and lovingly-crafted", though it was felt that the first three episodes were stronger than the latter three. In December 2014, Metro television critic Keith Watson named Inside No. 9 the twentieth best television programme of 2014, and in January 2015, Daily Star Sunday columnist Garry Bushell named Inside No. 9 the best comedy TV programme of 2014.

Writing before Inside No. 9 was televised, broadcaster and journalist Mark Lawson suggested that, among anthology series, the programme possessed "the potential to be remembered as a singular achievement". Commending both the acting and writing of Inside No. 9, New Statesman television critic Rachel Cooke offered a positive verdict of the programme after seeing the first half of the series. Cooke expressed particular admiration of Pemberton and Shearsmith's ability to squeeze "perfectly formed narratives – characters with proper backstories, scenarios that are complicated and unwind relatively slowly – into just 30 minutes". Also writing mid-series, journalist Gareth Lightfoot called Inside No. 9 "hands down the best, freshest thing on [television] at the moment" in the Evening Gazette, though he doubted whether it could truly be considered comedy.

Viewing figures

Despite the generally positive reception among critics and viewers, the viewing figures for the first series were poor. The average viewing figures for the series were 904,000 people, or 4.9% of the audience, lower than the slot average of 970,000 (5.1% of the audience). The series had a strong start, with 1.1 million viewers, which was 5.6% of the audience, watching "Sardines". The series low was the fifth episode, "The Understudy", which attracted 720,000 viewers (4.1% of the audience). The highest ratings were achieved by The Bones of St. Nicholas with 2.7 million viewers watching within 28 days of broadcast.

In total, the first eight series of the show have been collectively viewed more than 100 million times, according to the BBC. The ninth series of the show launched with 531,000 viewers, which comparatively was an increase from the eighth series, though slightly lower than the seventh series' opener.

Awards and nominations

Inside No. 9 won the Sketch and Comedy prize at the 35th annual Banff World Media Festival Rockie Awards. The other nominees were Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?, It's a Date, Tiny Plastic Men, Gangsta Granny and The Revolution Will Be Televised. In response to the nomination, Shearsmith tweeted that he was "[t]hrilled", joking that the programme was "in 'Comedy'. I knew it was one". Inside No. 9 was also nominated for Best TV Sitcom at the 2014 Freesat Awards, which celebrate the best of free British television. The programme lost to BBC2's The Wrong Mans, as determined by a panel made up of television experts and commentators. In November 2014, it was announced that Inside No. 9 had been shortlisted for the 2015 Broadcast Award for Best Original Programme. At the award ceremony in London on 4 February 2015, Glasgow Girls was granted the award, but Inside No. 9 was highly commended. Inside No. 9 won the TV award at the 2015 Chortle Awards. The programme was longlisted for the Best Comedy prize in the 2015 TV Choice Awards. The programme won the 2016 comedy Rose d'Or, beating the Finnish Pyjama Party and the German Crime Scene Cleaner (Der Tatortreiniger).

At the 2014 British Comedy Awards, Inside No. 9 was nominated in the Best New Comedy Programme and the Best Comedy Drama categories. In the former category, it lost to Toast of London, in the latter category, it lost to Rev. For Chater (The Times), the comedy drama category was the strongest of the awards, but for Ben Williams (Time Out), Inside No. 9 should have won. Writing in The Independent, journalist Alice Jones said she was "sorry to see the relentlessly innovative Inside No 9 go unrewarded".

Stage productions

China immersive stage production (2023–25)

Following the TV series' popularity in China, an immersive stage adaptation of Inside No. 9 premiered in December 2023 at the Shanghai Grand Theatre and ran until February 2024. The episodes performed were "Once Removed", "Séance Time" and "La Couchette" in separate spaces. In December 2024, the production opened in Beijing for a limited run.

Stage/Fright (2025)

On 3 May 2024, it was announced that Pemberton and Shearsmith would write and star in a stage adaptation of the series, called Inside No. 9 Stage/Fright, which opened at the Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End from 18 January 2025 for a limited run until 5 April, directed by Simon Evans. Tickets for the 85 shows were released on 8 May 2024. Each performance featured a celebrity guest star, which included Lee Mack, Ian McKellen, David Tennant and Bob Mortimer. The show also toured the UK during autumn 2025, before returning to London for a final run at the Hammersmith Apollo from 2 to 6 January 2026.