Reece Shearsmith

Inside No. 9: Intrigue, unease and emotional intensity

The second series of half-hour stories from Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton has been full of unexpected comedy and deep, dark horror, with nods to everything from Witchfinder General to Alan Ayckbourn.

Inside No 9 review: Nana's Party

The penultimate Inside No. 9 of Series 2 has all of Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's distinctive brilliance, balancing comedy and drama in perfect symmetry, beautifully nuanced and meticulously crafted with almost breathtaking command.

Inside No. 9, series 2 review

Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have produced another series of their critically acclaimed Inside No. 9, which was, for me, undoubtedly one of the best pieces of television to come out of 2014. And the ingenuity of the plot development and sharpness of the writing have certainly not been diluted.

Emotionally affecting and brilliantly crafted, The 12 Days of Christine, starring Sheridan Smith, has been the highlight of the series, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton's next-generation take on Tales Of The Unexpected.

Their curious muse hasn't abandoned them for this final episode, however. The cleverly executed Séance Time gives two of the writers' most cherished obsessions an airing: horror films and - a thrill for fans of The League of Gentlemen's community theatre troupe Legz Akimbo - the pretensions of actors.
The icing on what turns out to be a deliciously poisonous cake is an appearance by Alison Steadman. Do have nightmares.

A slightly sinister man (Reece Shearsmith) acts as the host of a séance. He ushers an innocent young girl into a stuffy room filled with Victoriana and then introduces her to Madame Talbot the medium (Alison Steadman).

Madame Talbot is shrouded from head to toe in black. Her eyes are white with cataracts. She carries one of those spooky dolls with an ivory face that she treats as if it were a real child. Spiritualist vapour pours out of her mouth like mist from an electronic cigarette, and while the lights flicker her voice alternates between a sweet little-odd-lady squeak and a diabolical, growl. And that is as much as I can say for fear of being savaged by a blue dwarf.

Alison Steadman and Sophie McShera (scullery maid Daisy in Downton Abbey) star in the final episode of this series. The action occurs in a vast gothic building where a séance is about to take place.

Tina (McShera) turns up for her session and admits she hasn't lost anyone, but she is 'curious'. Madam Talbot, brilliantly played by Steadman, replies: 'The curious are often drawn here for a glimpse of summerland'. What ensues is chilling and hilarious in equal measure and the final twist is superb. Let's hope Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith bring us a third series.

Inside No. 9, Nana's Party, TV review

League of Gentleman's Reece Shearsmith steals the show in this very clever drama.

With each show being a stand-alone story, Inside No. 9 has been hit and miss. Last night's, "Nana's Party", showed a family unravelling as secrets were revealed at a birthday bash for an elderly relative.

Angela and Jim were a typical middle-aged suburban couple. Angela (played by Claire Skinner -- best known as the mum in Outnumbered) kept an immaculate home and spoke with an affected posh accent. Jim spent the majority of his time locked in his shed.

Only when Angela's brassy, alcoholic sister Carol turned up with her practical joker husband Pat did the secrets start to spill.

The party turned to farce with flatulent Nana choking on ice cubes and a strippergram arriving as drunken Carol blurted out the revelation of her affair with Jim.

Anybody used to the work of the show's writers and stars, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, will know their comedy always comes with a side order of pathos and weirdness. It doesn't always work but last night it mostly did.

To a suburban semi, where Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith have gone a bit Mike Leigh. It's Nana's birthday party, thrown by Angela (Claire Skinner), the more successful of her two daughters. Into a house kept pristine by Angela's crippling OCD blows bitter dipsomaniac Carol (Lorraine Ashbourne). Pemberton and Shearsmith are the golf-sweatered husbands waging a cold war via practical jokes. As one prank blows up a mass of secrets, the script slides effortlessly from funny to dark to desperately sad.

Radio Times review

The praise lavished upon this anthology series from viewers and TV critics alike is justly deserved, and this episode is another cracker. In Nana's Party, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith (writing and directing) play prankster brothers-in-law who, with their wives (Claire Skinner as an OCD mum and Lorraine Ashbourne as her alcoholic sister), gather for Maggie's 79th birthday. Cue another delightfully ditsy turn from Benidorm's Elsie Kelly.

The half-hour unfolds like a micro-packaged Mike Leigh drama, with finely judged performances as secrets and lies are exposed in cosy suburbia. All it's lacking is Timothy Spall grunting.