Steve Pemberton

Preview - Inside No. 9: Diddle Diddle Dumpling

Every series of Inside No. 9 appears to have an episode set in suburbia. This time around, the family living at No. 9 sees one of its residents going slowly insane.

Inside No.9 review: series three: 'Empty Orchestra'

'Empty Orchestra' is a very affecting piece. There are moments in it that stay with you and replay inside your head, such is the level of poignancy which builds within it, almost like a piece of music reaching a crescendo.

Inside No.9 season 3 episode 4 review: Empty Orchestra

It's a half hour with significantly more emotional heft, having on its playlist such old classics as betrayal, regret and unrequited love.

Another object lesson in economical narrative from Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith - this time with guest turns from Javone Prince and Tamzin Outhwaite. Tonight, we're at the karaoke leaving do of an office manager. It's a study in communication breakdown; how people use booze, loud music and enforced jollity to fill the gaps between them. As usual, a prickly, fraught affair but, this time, with just a touch of redemption to sweeten the pill.

Preview - Inside No. 9: Empty Orchestra

The latest edition of Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's anthology series takes us into karaoke booth No. 9.

TV review: Inside No 9 - Empty Orchestra

Don't bother trying to second guess the twists. Nothing is predictable here, which keeps you watching to the very end. A hit episode full of hit songs.

Inside No 9: Empty Orchestra review

Anyone who has taken part in a works' karaoke outing knows that it's an arena for bad singing, annoyingly good singing and professional tensions to surface unprofessionally. The latest episode of Inside No 9, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's terrifically clever portmanteau series, exploited this to full effect to provide another 30-minute oddity that was bursting with ideas and left you with a feeling of deep unsettlement, like reading an MR James story and then remembering the denouement in your dreams and waking up in a cold sweat.

TV Review: Inside No. 9 - Empty Orchestra

Taking us inside a comparatively more pleasant No. 9, this latest tale from Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton is fairly enjoyable, but lacks the high dramatic stakes of previous episodes.

The Riddle of the Sphinx review

The episode is proof, if any were needed, that Shearsmith & Pemberton possess two of the most extraordinary imaginations of any writers working in television today.

A brilliant episode of Inside No. 9. Not just because it was a creepy, twisting tale of revenge, based on the riddle of the Sphinx. But because it was also based on, and starred, yesterday's Guardian cryptic crossword (which, of course, you will have completed before watching). Steve Pemberton, who writes and stars alongside Reece Shearsmith, also set the crossword. Hence the answer to 12 across: mystery guest! Genius.