Series 8 of Inside No. 9 continues the return to form, this time with added Anita Dobson
“We rationalise what we don’t understand with ridiculous stories”
There’s little to complain about with Series 8 of Inside No. 9. After an arguable wobble in a couple of seasons, Series 7 steadied the ship and Series 8 continues a strong blend of entertainment and erudition over six new stories, all wildly different and somehow still not managing to retread familiar ground as they approach nearly 50 episodes now – a magnificent feat from creators Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton.
From ghost stories in cathedral naves to testing the paranormal in former gangsters’ living rooms, exploring how phobias can take over lives to the perils of online dating, the variety continues to impress. A rich-voiced Simon Callow and the delightful Shobna Gulati bring charm to the Christmas special The Bones of St. Nicholas in all its haunting creepiness and Anita Dobson and Phil Daniels are perfection as barely reformed gangsters in Mother’s Ruin, which has some real visual treats in it.
Both Paraskevidekatriaphobia and Love Is a Stranger relish their layers of meta-narrative, differently executed but both keeping you on your toes, even if problematic faves like Amanda Abbington and Frances Barber are featured respectively. Claire Rushbrook does anchor the latter in a spectacular performance of controlled emotion that you can’t tear your eyes away from and Samantha Spiro’s luvvie in the former is great fun.
3 by 3 is ingeniously done, another of their ‘you should have watched it at the time’ episodes as it offers up a fully realised Lee Mack-fronted gameshow from start to finish, without Shearsmith or Pemberton present and thoroughly confounding the audience expectations of the time which had been teased in another direction altogether. Rounding things off is the darkly psychologically inclined The Last Weekend which features the pair front and centre with a little help from Sheila Reid – altogether highly watchable.
