Inside No. 9

Inside No 9 series 4 episode 4 review

This has been a remarkable series of Inside No 9, and this episode is no exception.

Laughter in the dark

Talk about laughter in the dark. With every successive episode, the fourth series of Inside No. 9 (BBC Two) has perceptibly turned a shade blacker.

TV Review: Inside No. 9 - To Have and To Hold

Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have proven themselves, time and time again, to be masterful writers of dark comedy. But while all of their projects contain a certain ode to horror, this latest episode of Inside No. 9 might just be their darkest yet.

Irony defines Adrian's life. As a wedding photographer, he provides undying records of newlyweds' blossoming bliss - a high-contrast counterpoint to the lack of love left in his own marriage to Harriet. She struggles to reignite an emotional flame long extinguished, but Adrian is reluctant to leave his basement darkroom. The spleen-squeezing unease in this latest episode of Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's anthology leaves little room for laughter, but is as essential a visit to No 9 as ever.

Inside No 9: To Have And To Hold

After all the fun - if occasionally murderous fun - in this season of Inside No 9 comes an episode with a distinct chill in the air.

Inside No 9: relationship drama hides horror

You have to hand it to the creators of Inside No 9. Four series in, their stories still have the power to surprise and shock.

Inside No 9: To Have and to Hold, review

Just when you thought this series couldn't get any darker.

Inside No. 9: Series 4, Episode 4 - To Have and To Hold

A terrace house is the setting for this week's tale, about a married couple and some dark secrets.

Inside No. 9 series 4 episode 4 review

A wedding photographer's tired marriage comes under the microscope in yet another tremendous Inside No. 9 episode.

Inside No 9 (BBC Two) continues its most successful series ever. Perhaps it will never quite reach the inspired heights of last week's "Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room" episode, a quite beautifully judged (and touching) jewel of a half-hour's acting/writing/comedy masterclass; already, there's talk of awards. But the relatively mundane "Once Removed", which aired a few days ago, still stood on commanding heights. Not only did it successfully manage to tell the story of a series of (comedy) murders backwards, timeslipping back 10 minutes every 10 minutes in a way the makers of Rellik must have gritted their teeth to see executed so well - ah, so that's how you do it. It also had one tiny gem that could be said to sum up an entire philosophy. Reece Shearsmith, being suffocated by bubble wrap, has to pause to poke quick, staccato holes in the bubbles before his hands can grab the polythene properly to rip an airhole (and let him continue on his killy spree). In this tiny, wordless mix of wanton silliness and dark peril lie oceans of singular comedy.

Inside the many number nines stretch continents of the imagination, and they can now call on the finest actors, such as Monica Dolan, Rory Kinnear, Jason Watkins, Kenneth Cranham, Zoe Wanamaker, to aid and slyly abet them... let it long be inexplicably underrated, so I can just squeezefully enjoy it on my own, before the bandwagon-jumping begins.