Now on its fifth series, the magic of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton’s
comedy anthology remains its ability to turn even the most banal of scenarios into disturbingly thrilling TV
The fifth series of Inside No 9 opens with an episode set entirely in a referees’ changing room. Four professional pedants, discussing football minutiae and indulging in weak banter in a glorified toilet stall (this is the Championship, at best). It is not a setup that screams thrills and chills – or even the potential for a passably entertaining comedy. Yet, over a taut half hour of play, creators Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton manage to mine pathos, comedy and nauseatingly high-stakes drama from a superficially tedious setting. And if you had any doubt about whether they would, then you have obviously never been in the presence of this superlative comedy-horror anthology show.
Over the past six years, Inside No 9 has made an artform of extracting scintillating storytelling from utter mundanity. Series three’s The Bill converted the excruciatingly dull discourse over who pays what at the end of a meal into a gratifyingly wild thriller. After that, the show spun a subtly strange and, ultimately, deeply shocking tale from a man’s year-long quest to track down the owner of a misplaced shoe (Diddle Diddle Dumpling). And one of the most depraved and disturbing episodes, The Riddle of the Sphinx, revolved almost exclusively around crossword puzzles.