A creepy Tim Key stuffed inside a wardrobe, a miserable Diane Morgan on a pedalo, a sozzled Tamzin Outhwaite in a karaoke booth and a corrupt David Morrissey in a football referee’s dressing room. Along with trains, call centres, alpine chalets, caravans and even an escape room, these are just some of the memorable scenes and settings from the nine series of Inside No 9. With slightly less pleasing numerical symmetry, the show now finally draws to a close this week after, not nine, but 10 years.
Over that period, the show’s writers and creators, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, have conjured up 55 standalone episodes spanning dark comedy, gothic horror and Pinteresque drama, all signed off with what has become a customary plot twist. Loaded with guest stars that have included everyone from Jason Isaacs to Peter Kay and Jenna Coleman to Sophie Okonedo, the show has proved always unpredictable but consistently compelling. The result of this run, according to the show’s producer Adam Tandy, is “unprecedented”: it is now BBC Two’s longest-running current comedy.
