By Sam Portillo
ÔÇ£You canÔÇÖt waste this on cruise ships. This is Vegas level!ÔÇØ says student of the magic arts, Neville Griffin, after having a revolutionary levitation routine performed to him for the first time. His sentiment matches my own in wondering how the brilliance of Inside No. 9 is confined to the modest audiences of BBC Two.
Pemberton and Shearsmith return with a fifth series of Inside No. 9, visiting a new range of eccentric locations including a football refereesÔÇÖ changing room, magicianÔÇÖs workshop and police car. Each episode remains fixed to a single location, letting the viewer focus on the people, who really carry the drama. Each ÔÇ£number nineÔÇØ plays host to a life-changing situation, as its inhabitants take a twisted road away from normalcy and toward a dark reality. This series revolves around the theme that people are not what they seem: no one is entirely innocent, clear of corruption or completely ÔÇ£normalÔÇØ ÔÇô whatever that means. The show manages to convey an authentic yet entertaining humanity in its characters. Some are ordinary, and some extraordinary: but none are boring.
The first episode (ÔÇ£The RefereeÔÇÖs A W***er) delves into the mysterious world of the refereesÔÇÖ changing room. David Morrissey takes charge of the team officiating the final game of the season, between Rovers ÔÇô who are playing to escape relegation ÔÇô and United ÔÇô playing to win promotion and a potential ┬ú150m prize. We are reminded that ÔÇ£neutral officiatorsÔÇØ are only human as the boisterous chaos of the ÔÇ£beautiful gameÔÇØ descends into a calamity of passion, love and anger. This episode asks questions about justice and greed which are repeated throughout the series.
The second tells the story of an apartment that never once feels homely. After a chain of unnatural happenings, the new occupant (Jenna Coleman) seeks an explanation from former tenant and serial-killer aficionado David. He recounts the life he lived inside the flat, losing his mother and reciting ÔÇ£Death Be Not ProudÔÇØ at her deathbed: ÔÇ£Death, thou shalt dieÔÇØ. This episode contains arguably the sharpest turn of the series as the sweetest moment becomes a horrible revelation.
ÔÇ£Death Be Not ProudÔÇØ (John Donne) is not the only episode paying homage to a great wordsmith. ÔÇ£Thinking Out LoudÔÇØ (Ed Sheeran) introduces us to a number of characters with seemingly disconnected stories ÔÇô ranging from an American prison convict to a social media influencer. Despite the unexpected ending, this episode feels the weakest of the lot, consisting of disparate video segments in a variety of locations with no coherent story to hold the viewerÔÇÖs attention.
Writer Steve Pemberton is most proud of ÔÇ£LoveÔÇÖs Great AdventureÔÇØ, a grounded story about the strength of family in overcoming adversity. The image of a perfect nuclear unit gradually disintegrates when their troubled son returns home, testing the familyÔÇÖs trust and resilience to the limits. The episode succeeds in presenting the tensions which pull ordinary families apart in a creative and captivating way.
The world of magic naturally lends itself to the style of Inside No. 9; in both cases, characters are deceptive, mistrustful and secretive. ÔÇ£MisdirectionÔÇØ takes place in the workshop of a world-famous illusionist and entertains with its charming depiction of magic as an intellectual game of chess, making the big twist land even sweeter.
The final episode ÔÇô ÔÇ£The StakeoutÔÇØ ÔÇô gives us half an hour of Pemberton and Shearsmith at their uninterrupted best, starring as police officers on the night shift. The enclosed space of the car ÔÇô surrounded by dark windows and eerie silence ÔÇô provides a chilling backdrop to the brilliantly written dialogue which flows like a river (filled with red herrings, for that matter).
Inside No. 9 is a show best appreciated during the end credits when one can marvel at the carefully-sewn script in retrospect. Sometimes the drama feels self-indulgent, but eccentric characters and funny dialogue are enough to carry you through; at the end, you are treated with a shock guaranteed to leave you reeling. Inside No. 9 is simultaneously one of the most fun and intriguing experiences in modern television, and for that, deserves all the praise it gets.
WATCH THE TRAILER HERE: Inside No. 9: Series 5