Inside No. 9

Inside No. 9 is a British black comedy anthology television programme that first aired in 2014. It is written by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton and produced by the BBC. Each 30-minute episode is a self-contained story with new characters and a new setting, almost all starring Pemberton or Shearsmith (usually both). Aside from the writers, each episode has a new cast, allowing Inside No. 9 to attract a number of well-known actors. The stories are linked only by the number 9 in some way, typically taking the form of a door marked with the number 9, and a brass hare statue that is in the background of all episodes. Themes and tone vary from episode to episode, but all have elements of comedy and horror or perverse humour, in addition to a plot twist. Pemberton and Shearsmith took inspiration for Inside No. 9 from an episode of Psychoville, a previous project, which was filmed in a single room this in turn was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Rope. The first series was shown in 2014 and featured six regular episodes, alongside a special online-only cinemagraph-based webisode. The second series, again consisting of six episodes, was shown in 2015. Series three began with a Christmas special in December 2016, followed by five more episodes starting February 2017. The fourth series followed in early 2018. There was a one-off Halloween special live episode in October 2018, and the fifth series was shown in 2020. The sixth series aired in 2021, followed by a seventh series in 2022. After the finale, the BBC announced that they had commissioned two further series of the show, bringing it to nine series. Following series 9, the show is set to enter an indefinite hiatus. Series 8 premiered on 22 December 2022 with a Christmas special, with the remaining five episodes airing from April 2023. Inside No. 9 as a whole has been very well received by critics, who have praised the humour and creativity of the scripts, as well as the talent of the featured actors. Commentators have described it as "never less-than-captivating" and "consistently compelling", offering particularly strong praise for "The 12 Days of Christine", "The Riddle of the Sphinx" and "Dead Line". Inside No. 9 won the Sketch and Comedy prize at the 35th annual Banff World Media Festival Rockie Awards, and won the comedy prize at the 2016 Rose d'Or ceremony.