One of the most critically-acclaimed TV series of recent years, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith’s ‘deliciously dark’ anthology series Inside No. 9 is a truly masterful piece of work that, even in its seventh series, has lost none of its ability to shock and delight in equal measure.
Forrest Gump would probably liken Inside No. 9 to a box of chocolates, because you never know what you’re going to get – one story might be grisly horror, the next a romantic comedy, and the next something completely different again. Therein lies the show’s addictive charm. Each episode keeps you guessing until the very last second, and episodes that you expect nothing from will blindside you with a harrowing twist while episodes that feel like they’re building up to a big scare might end with a chilling whimper. This unpredictability makes for compulsive and exciting viewing with every single episode, and it is an approach that no other film or series has been able to pull off in this way.
As in previous seasons, each episode is fronted by the show’s creators Pemberton and Shearsmith in different roles as the cast around them – and indeed the tone/genre – changes. The only constant is that every tale takes place within a No. 9. The guys’ performances are stellar throughout as always, while this season brings in guest stars including Mark Gatiss, Jason Isaacs, Daniel Mays, and Jessica Hynes – to name a few.
The six episodes on offer here offer up some of the series’ best to date, but each should be enjoyed blind. Newcomers to the series will have no trouble jumping in here as there are no overarching storylines to follow; each dark tale is totally self-contained, but even longtime fans of the series will be taken by surprise with this six episodes’ twists and turns.
Funny, frightening, and never less than compelling, Inside No. 9 continues to be the best thing on British TV.