Onto a series, while not my favourite, it certainly had its moments. Those moments also including their first Halloween episode. All episodes are written by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton and directed by David Kerr, Graham Harper, Jim O'Hanlon and Barbara Wiltshire.
Episode 1: Zanzibar
Anyone call for a Shakespearean style opening episode? Well, it's what we got and all on the ninth floor of the Hotel Zanzibar. You've got a slew of characters. First of all, there's Rory Kinnear playing a set of twins. The first twin being Prince Rico, who has a fetish that got fulfilled by the rather hapless Alice (Marcia Warren) instead of the sex worker he had hired named Red (Tanya Franks). Unbeknownst to Rico, his right hand man Henry (Shearsmith) was plotting to murder him, only for hypnotist Vince (Kevin Eldon) to nearly die instead. Other twin Gus spent most of the episode trying to salvage his relationship with Amber (Hattie Morahan) while the despairing Mr Green (Bill Patterson) attempted to end his life before the sight of his long lost sons gave him pause. There was also Alice's son Robert (Pemberton), a cheery bellhop named Fred (Jaygann Ayeh) and his girlfriend Colette (Helen Monks) to round out the cast. 7/10
Episode 2: Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room
Easily the best episode of this specific series and for the first half, I wasn't sure I was enjoying this one. What looked like a rehearsal hall turned into the place for a wake but it took quite a while for that reveal. Before then, the episode was focused on a hostile reunion between failed comedy duo, Len (Pemberton) and Tommy (Shearsmith), formerly and as Cheese and Crackers. Len's desperate to revive the act and Tommy's desperate to leave it in the past, like the majority of their old material. As the episode, the contrasts between both Tommy and Len's lives since their last days as a comedy duo are apparent and tragic too. The twist of Len being dead and Tommy attending his wake and talking to Len's daughter, Leanne (Sian Gibson) added a bitter poignancy to the whole affair. 9/10
Episode 3: Once Removed
It's interesting what can happen in the space of forty minutes and because of an exposed affair. Disgruntled May (Monica Dolan) knew her husband Charles (Rufus Jones) was cheating on her with neighbour Natasha (Emilia Fox) and ended up sending a hired killer named Viktor (Shearsmith) towards Natasha and her senile father, Percy (David Caulder), who thinks he's Andrew Lloyd-Webber. Needless to say, they're killed as was the unfortunate estate agent Hugo (Pemberton). Then Viktor ended up dead at May's hands much to the shock of removal man, Spike (Nick Moran). The idea for the episode was good but the ending was a bit too abrupt for me. 7/10
Episode 4: To Have And To Hold
Ah, wedded life. For some it's bliss but for Adrian (Pemberton) and Harriet (Nicola Walker), it's an endurance. With no trust and a dead sex life over an affair the latter had a long time ago, it would've made sense for the pair to go their separate ways but instead, you got a flash of their marriage being saved before a trip down the basement changed the dynamic between the couple. Adrian having the housekeeper Agnes (Magdalena Kurek) prisoner for a decade while fathering a son with her definitely led to the most deserved comeuppance for Adrian. Shearsmith did briefly appear in this along with Miranda Hennessy as newly wed couple Max and Hannah, who were interested in buying Harriet's house. 8/10
Episode 5: And The Winner Is ...
An episode focused on the acting industry with a slew of characters all connected to said industry. In one room, you had the leading character Giles (Pemberton) assemble a jury of his peers to judge a Best Actress Award, going through all eight nominees. The panel included sycophantic writer Clive (Shearsmith), director Gordon (Noel Clarke), theatre actors Rupert (Kenneth Cranham) and Paula (Zoë Wanamaker), film critic June (Fenella Woolgar) and civilian Jackie (Phoebe Sparrow), the latter included for a more general public perspective on the nominees in question. It's a strong episode with various jabs at castings, performances and background with the reveal working well enough. 7/10
Episode 6: Tempting Fate
The fourth series endeth on an episode where the hare had something of a significant role this time. Well, an object like hare that can grant wishes but it's more of a monkey's paw effect than a genie in the bottle. You've got three council contractors - Keith (Pemberton), Nick (Shearsmith) and Maz (Werucha Opia) clearimg out the house of the recently deceased Frank (Nigel Planer) and its not long before all three of them are tempted into making wishes with the hare, fighting among themselves and ignoring the warnings of their wishes coming with a price. Not even Frank turning up alive could stop the trio from suffering the consequences of their actions given the explosive ending to this one. 8/10
Halloween Special: Dead Line
It's rather impressive it took four full series for a Halloween special for this show to have materialised and so far, it's the only one we've had to boot. Episode wise, it's a strange one that tried to do a few different things but it doesn't quite gel as well as it should have done. On paper a story about poor Arthur (Pemberton) finding Elsie's mobile phone and his interactions with the Reverend Neil (Shearsmith) and dotty Irishwoman Moira O'Keefe (Stephanie Cole) would've been enough to sustain a Halloween special. Instead we've got behind the scenes antics with Shearsmith, Pemberton and Cole all being killed off by ghosts, transmission cuts, appearances on The One Show, clips of A Quiet Night In and even some bits with the cast of Most Haunted and Coronation Street. I admire the ambition of the episode but overall, it didn't really work for me. 6/10
All episodes of Inside No. 9 are available on BBC iPlayer and Amazon.
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