Inside No. 9

Although every single episode in this series is completely different, somehow Messrs Pemberton and Shearsmith manage to score one bullseye after another. In tonight's episode, a stressed-out daughter (Claire Skinner) invites her mother (Elsie Kelly) over to celebrate her 79th birthday party. The other guests are an alcoholic sister (Lorraine Ashbourne) and her appalling husband (Reece Shearsmith), and it degenerates into the birthday party from hell. And while the inferno is raging all around her, Granny sits there smiling, endlessly reciting the joke on her birthday card or playing games on her granddaughter's iPad. Imagine a more twisted version of Abigail's Party.

Inside No. 9 series 2 episode 5: Cold Comfort review

The CCTV format, that could have worked well as a pleasing novelty on its own, also makes this 'whodunit'/'who's doing it' a refreshingly inventive take on the genre.

In praise of Inside No. 9

Right; I'll only say this once - watch Inside No. 9.

Cold Comford was this week's Inside No. 9, the number nine in this case being the booth at a version of the Samaritans, the Comfort Support Line.

Steve Pemberton was Andy, its new occupant who quickly realised, first, that his co-workers were not folk anyone should ever confide in and, then, that he too had no talent for "active listening".

Jane Horrocks was good as the office gossip "politely encouraged to move on", but the ultimate twist was crude, and the insight that those who offer help need it most just a little banal - by this series' standards, at least.

After some star-studded shows, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith dial back the celebrity guests for tonight's episode, set in a Samaritans-like call centre. Shot on time-coded CCTV, the episode has the tools to ratchet up the suspense, as volunteer Andy (Pemberton) is drawn into both the dramas of his callers and the tensions of his workplace, as managed by supervisor George (Shearsmith). Ultimately, though, the story lacks both the plausibility and element of surprise that characterise the best of this series.

Radio Times review

More warped brilliance from the minds of Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, Cold Comfort is set at a branch of Comfort Support Line as volunteer Andy (Pemberton) starts his first day listening to tales of woe from random callers. It unfolds almost entirely via footage from a fixed camera in booth nine, with other CCTV angles, increasingly important, displayed split-screen on the side. Jane Horrocks plays the snarky Liz, sitting in the booth behind, while Shearsmith is their uptight overseer.

As the calls get bleaker and Andy's sympathetic nature is sorely tested, any real helpline volunteers watching this episode may well wince, but it remains gripping throughout. And there's a creepy pay-off.

Review: Inside No. 9, Cold Comfort

We're treated to a new perspective for this week's Inside No. 9, as we watch its grimly funny yarn spin out through security footage.

TV preview: Inside No. 9 - Cold Comfort, BBC2

It's the CCTV that gives this episode its haunting flavour.

Inside No, 9, witch trials and laughing in church

Laughter, when held back for the sake of politeness, or out of respect or fear of a sombre occasion is the most potent laughter I know of.

Inside No. 9 - The Trial of Elizabeth Gadge review

It's the most overtly comic of the series so far, but crucially, and what makes it work so brilliantly, is the serious tone of the piece.