A new programme from the creators of A League of Gentlemen was always going to be an exciting prospect by those of us from a certain generation. As such, when Inside No 9 started on Wednesday 5th February, I turned on with high expectations. Inside No 9 is a new black comedy series from Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith consisting of six standalone stories. Based on past experience, I expected comedy, I expected darkness, and I expected at least a little silliness. Previous outings, namely A League of Gentlemen and Psychoville, have involved surrealism and a decent proportion of dressing up. However, based on Sardines - the first episode - Inside No 9 is quite different. The premise of this opening programme is an engagement party where a game of sardines is being played. For those of you unfamiliar with this, Sardines is like hide and seek except you have a single hider, rather a single seeker. When the hider is found, instead of that being the end of the game, the seeker joins the hider. This continues until everyone is squeezed into a tiny space. As you can imagine, this is the perfect backdrop for social awkwardness.
Among the happy campers squashing themselves into a wardrobe we find Ian, a boring IT guy, Rachel, the prospective groom's ex-girlfriend, Stuart and Karl, a bickering gay couple, and Stinky John, whose issue should be obvious. Many of the people at the party do not know each other, and so as you might expect this situation throws up a number of humorous scenarios. However, awkwardness alone does not make a black comedy, and Pemberton and Shearsmith have only jettisoned the surrealism (at least in this first episode). A grim twist towards the end throws a completely different light on many of the little incidents we have laughed at throughout the thirty minutes. The darkness surpassed my expectations, perhaps because it was so out of kilter with the overall feel of the episode. My perception of what had gone before was completely altered. Watching it back, I realised there were a number of small hints that something wasn't quite right, some very subtle, others less so. However, each time one of these hints occurred, it was immediately followed by something that distracted my attention, and I forgot I was watching something other than a light comedy. As such, I was completely unprepared for the abrupt change of direction. The quality of the writing means that even without the dark twist at the end, it would still have been a really good show. Pemberton and Shearsmith have taken fairly generic character types, for example, the boring IT guy, the beautiful but dim ex, the batty old lady, and given them just enough character background to lift them out of parody without overwhelming a short episode with too much information. They also had some quality acting talent involved. I think I recognised everyone in the show from somewhere, and Katherine Parkinson was particularly outstanding as the bride-to-be withstanding the increasing number of people mistaking her for her fiancé's ex. Even considering my high expectations, it was a really impressive start to the series. My only concern is that they won't be able to maintain the same level of surprise throughout the series, but I'm hoping that won't be a problem. Either way, I'll definitely be tuning in. You can catch the first episode of Inside No 9 on the BBC iPlayer, and subsequent offerings on BBC2 on Wednesdays at 10pm.
