I've been wanting to do this for a while but here we go. I've watched this show on and off for years and now I'm going to do a review of each series. All episodes were written by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton and directed by David Kerr.
Episode 1: Sardines
The very first episode where Shearsmith and Pemberton play a couple named Carl and Stuart. It's an episode where the cast, comprising of Rebecca (Katherine Parkinson), Lee (Luke Pasqualino), Geraldine (Anne Reid), Rachel (Ophelia Lovibond), Mark (Julian Rhind-Tutt), Elizabeth (Anna Chancellor), Jeremy (Ben Willbond), Stinky John (Marc Wootten) and Andrew (Timothy West) are all playing the titular game. Or at the very least, they were trying to between family sniping, exes at the engagement party, sibling rivalry and oh yeah, someone adding a little fire into the mix. It's a good start to the series where the number nine factors into each episode as does a hare. 7/10
Episode 2: A Quiet Night In
Now this episode sold me on the premise of this anthology show more than the first one. It's effectively a silent episode for the most part. If you exclude the use of classical music, an episode of EastEnders playing in the background, a barking dog and some actual dialogue at the end. Shearsmith and Pemberton are a bunch of hapless burglars named Ray and Eddie who break into a posh house owned by Gerald (Denis Lawson) and Sabrina (Oona Chaplin). They're a mismatched bickering couple who both meet their ends in different ways as the episode took some interesting twists. Notably with the addition of Paul (Kayvan Novak) who's seemingly harmless demeanor was a smokescreen for a more sinister motive. Such a clever episode with perfectly judged slapstick moments. 9/10
Episode 3: Tom & Gerri
A homage to the iconic cat and mouse duo? Not really but it's got a couple named Tom (Shearsmith) and Gerri (Gemma Arterton). He's a teacher with aspirations of being a writer while she's a struggling actor, who managed to get a part playing D-Day Doris. For the most part, they're a happy pair until the presence of homeless man Migg (Pemberton) disrupts everything. At first Tom seemed openly disdainful of Migg until the latter proved to be useful for his creative juices. However the more creative Tom got, the more he lost the run of himself. It didn't long for the roles to reverse between both Tom and Migg and neither Gerri, nor Tom's co-worker, Stevie (Conleith Hill) could get through to him. As for Migg, his upturn also came crashing as the episode ended on an unpleasant note for him. 8/10
Episode 4: Last Gasp
By far, the weakest episode of the first series. That doesn't mean it bad as such, it's just that it didn't really grip me either. First of all, if you're going to do a singer attending the birthday of a sick child, wouldn't it make sense for the character to be younger? Tamsin (Lucy Hutchinson) got a visit from Frankie J. Parsons (David Bedella) but he seems more like a singer who would appeal to parents Graham (Pemberton) and Jan (Sophie Thompson) than Tamsin herself. Anyways Frankie died early in the episode after blowing up a balloon for Tamsin. The rest of the episode then focused on Graham and Frankie's people - Si (Adam Deacon) and Sally (Tamsin Greg) arguing over selling Frankie's "last gasp" to the highest online bidder. That was until Tamsin derailed their plans. This is the only episode in the series not to feature Reece Shearsmith. 6/10
Episode 5: The Understudy
For the penultimate episode of the first series, how about something wicked this way comes? An episode in five acts, focusing on the production of Macbeth and specifically an understudy named Jim (Shearsmith) who wants his big acting break but not as much as his overly ambitious fellow understudy and girlfriend Laura (Lyndsey Marshall), who seemed desperate to make Jim a star. When the initial star Tony (Pemberton) got taken out of the equation and rendered paralysed and company manager Felicity (Julia Davis) ousted for sexual harassment, it seemed like Laura was going overboard as Lady Macbeth. The twist involving seemingly harmless dresser Kirstie (Rosie Cavaliero) was nicely done as Laura had a far more tragic fate between acts while Jim realised the true cost of his new found success. 9/10
Episode 6: The Harrowing
The last episode of the first series, only turned out to be the best one of the bunch. A thing I noticed with this show is that I tend to gravitate towards the overtly gothic and supernatural episodes the most. This episode was the most gothic and supernatural of the first series and it's an excellent way note to end on. You've got the weird sibling duo of Hector (Shearsmith) and Tabitha (Helen McCrory) who hire a school girl named Katy (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) to housesit while they attend an event. A spooky house that's perpetually cold, a hotspot dead zone and has a frail old man named Andras (Sean Buckley) confined to a bed. Where the episode worked was the twist involving Katy's friend, Michelle (Poppy Rush) being in a cult with Hector and Tabitha and Andras being a dying vessel for the mischievous Castiel. As for Katy, this episode ended on a horrifying note for her. This is also the only episode not to feature Steve Pemberton. 9/10
Webisode: The Inventors
Released shortly during the first series had aired, this was written by Ed Hime and directed by Martin Stirling. A little over ten minutes long, the webisode focused on two brothers played by Tom Verral and Dan Renton Skinner. Both men lost their mother in the Great Storm of 1987 and we're determined to get a working time machine to save her. It's a story told through cinema graphs and it's divering enough but essentially not a must see. 5/10
All episodes of Inside No. 9 are available on BBC iPlayer and Amazon.
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