Inside No. 9: Series 8 (2022-23) - Comedy Horror TV Show Review

Inside No.9 is a long running British comedy horror anthology series that started back in 2014. Each episode tells a stand alone story, often mixing horrific and sorrowful events with jet black humour, and often ending with a twist finish. It comes from Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, who I knew from classic The League of Gentlemen sitcom, and the entertaining Psychoville series (from which the idea for this show was born from), both of which similarly mixed grotesque and disturbing themes with comedic elements. It is only in the past few years I began to watch Inside No.9 in earnest, thanks to my father who found it on his own and recommended we start watching it together. Season 8 is the penultimate one, with season 9 currently stated to be where things will end, luckily for me I do have a load of old episodes that I have yet to see.

Every anthology needs a connecting theme, and the core one with this show is that each episode takes place within (as the title suggests) a place that is numbered '9'. Typically that has came to be the address of a building, but there have been episodes that take place within say a dressing room, or as can be seen in this season, a church, and a game show that uses a variation of that number. As always, there are six episodes in this season, typically around half an hour long, and as always, Pemberton and Shearsmith often play leading roles in the episodes.
Serving as both series opener and a Christmas Special was 'The Bones of St Nicholas'. This sees Dr. Jasper Parkway (Pemberton) having booked an overnight stay at a reportedly haunted church on Christmas Eve. Obviously there with a hidden ulterior motive, his plans are hampered by the arrival of Posy and Pierce (Shearsmith), a sociable couple also staying overnight. This one had a good idea to it, with lots of things that happen that are given much greater importance at the mind bending twist. While it appeared to be a good episode, it was ruined somewhat for me and my dad with the arrival of my sister in the room, who without asking, switched it off so she could watch the King's speech. By the time we returned to watch the final five minutes, the atmosphere was ruined through no fault of the show.

While the Christmas Special was the first episode in the season, it wasn't until April 2023 that the series began in earnest. 'Mother's Ruin' sees brothers, Edward (Shearsmith) and Harry (Pemberton) break into their childhood home in order to perform a Satanic ritual to try and summon the spirit of their deceased mother. In life, she was the wife of an East End gangster, and it was believed she had hidden his stolen wealth, so they hope to get the location of this out of her spirit. However, the arrival of the home's current owners leads to more real horror, as they too had links to the criminal underworld. This includes one of the most gruesome scenes shown on camera in the show up to this point, as well as a great side character in the form of Reggie, played by Phil Daniels who I last saw in Al Murry's sitcom Time Gentlemen Please quite a few years back. Combing the supernatural with more grounded horror led to a fun episode that ended on the most perfect ambiguous note.

Inside No.9 has often featured less serious, farcical episodes, and 'Paraskevidekatriaphobia' is a prime example. Shearsmith stars as Gareth, a man with a deathly fear of Friday the 13th, and charts one nightmare day in which his decision to bunk off work and hide away at home on one such date leads to a series of increasingly far fetched events happening. My father liked this one, and while I also enjoyed it, it was lacking some of the more horror based feelings of others, and with a very predictable finish I didn't rate it as one of the better episodes in season 8.

'Love is a Stranger' is the fourth episode and for me was entertaining due to it taking place in Northamptonshire, which is where I live in real life. Set against the backdrop of a serial killer (dubbed 'The Lonely Hearts Killer') on the loose in the area, this sees a lonely woman, Vicky (Claire Rushbrook) having a series of online dates, desperately seeking that special someone, but coming up against a series of terrible people. I liked the format of this, with the first half being the series of online speed dating meetings. It may have been obvious where this was going, but it presents certain characters in a somewhat sympathetic light.

Penultimate episode, '3 by 3' tried something very different. Initially previewed as a typical sounding episode with a different name, when this came to air, it was presented as if that episode had been cancelled and instead a new game show was being shown in its place. This very nearly led to me and my father not even watching it, he had already deleted the episode before my quick Google search led to the reveal this was an Inside No.9 episode disguised as something else entirely. The first episode to not feature Shearsmith or Pemberton in any capacity, the hidden effect was ruined by me having had to research this. If I hadn't done that, we wouldn't have even watched it. It takes the form of a genuine appearing new game show, hosted by Lee Mack (playing himself), in which three teams of three answer questions with the hope of taking home a big cash prize. As the episode plays out, it becomes increasingly clear that there is something weird about one of the teams. My issue with this one is that the actual quiz was pretty dull, with the weirdness creeping in at a glacial pace, that plus the ending having accidentally been ruined during my search to find out if this was an actual episode or not, led to it being a miss for me.

Final episode was also by far the darkest, with a horrific twist that stayed with me long after I had seen the episode. 'The Last Weekend' sees gay couple, Joe (Pemberton) and Chas (Shearsmith) heading to their weekend holiday home on the cusp of their nine year anniversary. With Joe battling terminal cancer, and a bittersweet feel to the sadness the couple are experiencing, this seemed like it was going to be the most emotional one of the season. Without ruining things, the rug is pulled out from under the viewer in the most shocking way, leading to a finish that has haunted me quite a bit since! A great way to end the series.

This was a great season, I may not have thought the experiment with '3 by 3' succeeded, but outside of that there wasn't much to dislike here. Expertly written, with always fantastic performances, I eagerly look forward to seeing what we get with the final season of Inside No.9.

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