Inside No. 9

Review - Inside No. 9: Sardines

It's been a long time since TV embraced the anthology format, but if it creates episodes as classy as these, it could be time for a revival - although it's hard to envisage who else could pull it off as skilfully as these League Of Gentlemen alumni.

Inside No. 9 - comedy makes a triumphant debut

Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have created a masterpiece.

TV review: Inside No. 9 - 'Sardines'

Subtle and disciplined, laden with biting humour and occasional barbs of unsettling suspense, its cleverness is laid bare in the cold light of post-revelation day.

Twitter stats: Inside No. 9 is no average comedy

The most interesting aspect of the Twitter reaction to Inside No. 9 was the shape of the graph produced.

First in an anthology squeezed from the brains of Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, with each darkly diverse tale unfolding within a different residence numbered nine. In this opener, which features Katherine Parkinson, Anne Reid and Timothy West, a country manor hosts an uncomfortable game of sardines between a family long since grown apart. A slow burner compared with the episodes that follow, but a decent introduction to a series stylistically similar to criminally disregarded Dawn French vehicle Murder Most Horrid.

How Shearsmith and Pemberton have revived a lost genre

The anthology series - a collection of individual, unrelated episodes - gave birth to some famous hit shows before falling into disrepute among commissioners.

Radio Times review

Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith return. If their last macabre comedy drama, Psychoville, was slightly weighed down by servicing a tricky overarching storyline, there's no such problem here since this is a series of one-offs, set in a variety of homes that all happen to be number nine on their street.

The opener is confined not just to a house, but to one room in a fusty old family mansion. And mostly, we're in the wardrobe: two grown-up siblings who used to live here (Pemberton and Katherine Parkinson) are celebrating her engagement with a party - and a game of sardines. As more guests squeeze in, everyone gets less and less comfortable, until the bickering turns to bile.

It's a vicious little one-act, one-room play, deftly staged and superbly acted by a cast that also includes Anne Reid, Anna Chancellor, Timothy West and Tim Key.

New interview: Reece Shearsmith & Steve Pemberton

Be still my beating heart. Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith return to our screens with Inside No. 9, six self-contained comedies with some delicious shocks and surprises. They talk about the series, their other plans and the inevitable prospect of a League of Gentlemen reunion.

Inside No. 9, TV review

A top-drawer cast puts these twisted tales in a league of their own.

Inside No. 9, BBC Two, review

Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's new comedy is a top-notch, twisted tale that couldn't have come from any other writing team.