Marc Wootton

It is amazing what can be achieved in half an hour with just a great script, an excellent cast and a large wardrobe. Written by and starring Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, Inside No. 9 is a series of self-contained comedy dramas set in buildings or spaces numbered nine.

Episode one set a very high standard indeed, with an exquisitely crafted tale of jealousy, revenge, ambition, snobbery and murder centred around a country house game of sardines. With each new player discovering the hiding place, the wardrobe fills not only with bodies, but also hidden agendas, strained relationships, sinister backstories and rancid sweat (one eager participant, Smelly John, hadn't washed since he was a teenager).

No review of Shearsmith and Pemberton's work is complete without the adjectives dark and comic getting a mention, and I'm not about to break with tradition. But Inside No. 9 also offered poignancy, tension, intelligence, horror and several surprises. The lean, mean narrative didn't just twist and turn, it folded back upon itself to provide a totally unexpected, profoundly disturbing and deeply satisfying denouement. Even Smelly John's personal hygiene problem was revealed to be integral to the plot, rather than a mere comedy contrivance.

The writers also put in great performances as a bickering gay couple, supported by an impressively stellar cast that included Timothy West, Anna Chancellor, Marc Wootton and Anne Reid.

This comedy about three friends trying to set up an assisted suicide business has its moments thanks to its talented cast. When it works, the mix of the dark, the absurd and the comic is very funny but crassness (maybe hard to avoid given the subject matter) sometimes gets in the way. Tonight Scott (Blake Harrison) falls for Julia (Laura Aikman), the daughter of his first client. Cozzo (Marc Wootton), meanwhile, has some explaining to do after his girlfriend (Sinéad Matthews) finds a stash of cash. The boys also help an old man find relief and a reason to live - which is not exactly part of their remit!

Feels like they had the title first, then made a show around it. Scott (The Inbetweeners' Blake Harrison) works at an all-night vets, half-brother Joey is up to his eyes in gambling debt and their friend Cozzo (Marc Wootton) is a MacGyver-style vending machine repair man. In a far-fetched set-up, they go into business as clandestine suicide facilitators. It's a comedy, so it has to deal with the whole self-ending thing very lightly, which doesn't work at all. Harold & Maude balanced comedy and suicide perfectly but this can't make up its mind whether to laugh or cry. Quite uncomfortable.

US writer Bob Kushell has devised something absurd and very funny in this new black comedy about three men trying to set up an assisted suicide business. Circumstances force brothers Scott (Blake Harrison) and Joey (Ben Heathcote) and their friend Cozzo (Marc Wootton) into considering the drastic move: Scott has been asked by a terminally ill neighbour to help him kill himself on the promise of a pair of George Best's football boots, Joey has gambling debts and Cozzo's girlfriend is pregnant. Oh, and his experience of mending deep-fat fryers in takeaways means he has the know-how to build a suicide machine.

More gong-oriented silliness as Matt Lucas and his mum are joined by comedian Sue Perkins, presenter Richard Madeley and actor Marc Wootton as they nominate contenders for such unlikely awards as Ghastliest Holiday Destination, Silliest Hair Ever Seen On a Guest's Head, and Most Comprehensive but Utterly Useless Bit of Knowledge.

Marc Wootton to make RSC debut

Marc Wootton and Arsher Ali are to join the ensemble of the Royal Shakespeare Company for A Midsummer Night's Dream this summer.

La La Land DVD review

Marc Wootton's ability to not only remain in character throughout, no matter how potentially dangerous the situation, but also to improvise and conjure humour on the spot, is nothing short of astonishing. It's unfortunate, therefore, that such genuinely jaw dropping talent has been wasted on a show with nothing of interest to say.

Marc Wootton: 'We cut the rope of a pair of climbers'

Comedian Marc Wootton, 33, made his name on The 11 O'Clock Show but his most famous creation is fake medium Shirley Ghostman, one of three Borat-like characters trying to crack Hollywood that he plays in series La La Land, which is out now on DVD.

How La La Land came to be

I first got the chance to work with Marc Wootton on My New Best Friend. I'd never really met an actor quite like him and don't think I have since.

Marc Wootton may be a skilled improviser, but he sometimes picks uneasy targets. The biggest laughs again come from documentary maker Brendan Allen, who wickedly tests the patience of Jeff Schwilk, a minuteman defending America's borders from illegals. But Shirley Ghostman's exploitation of her workforce is cruel - seeing pomposity pricked is one thing, urging a woman staffing a psychic hotline to threaten a caller with suicide is another. Then along comes mattress salesman Neil Leeds, who's obviously never met a camera he doesn't like. By the end of his encounter with wannabe actor Gary Garner, it's hard to know which one's the caricature.