Beyond The Joke was lucky enough to be invited to the British Film Institute earlier this year for an exclusive screening of two episodes from the forthcoming series of Inside No. 9. Needless to say we have been asked not to give away any spoilers about the episodes that were screened. But I think we can say that one is a rather gruesome tale about criminals and the guests are Phil Daniels and Anita Dobson. The other, entitled Paraskevidekatriaphobia, is about a man, played by Reece Shearsmith, who has a fear of Friday, April 13, and has more of a slapstick tone to it. Amanda Abbington plays his wife.
After the screening Shearsmith and Pemberton and producers Adam Tandy, Kim Crowther and director George Kane took to the stage for an interview with Justin Johnson of the BFI. They were later joined briefly by Phil Daniels and Anita Dobson. We have been granted permission to run the entertaining and intriguing interview in full – with a few spoilers taken out! – below.
Inside No. 9 returns to BBC Two on April 27 at 10pm. Watch trailer here.
Justin: I was intrigued, obviously, you've created the show, and you've written these episodes meticulously and appear in them. And then you kind of go away, you do other projects, your preparing to do lots of stage shows, theatre at the moment. And then you watch them again, but this time with an audience for the very first time, what's goes through your head and whether people are necessarily laughing at the things you thought they would, whether there were things that surprised you from the reaction. When you when you watch these episodes now, what's going through your head?
Steve: Oh, it's really pleasing. you spend so long in the writing, you watch them so many times in the edit, obviously, you've filmed them so many times. And it's delightful to have a moment, for example, like the shower moment in which we're so inured to having seen it several times, but in the conception of it, it felt like a funny idea. But to hear like really big sort of buffo laugh.
Adam: Quite frankly, it's a relief.
Reece: Because they're not edited for the wave of laughter that happens in the noise. And then its for telly, so it's nice when mostly, then it was great, because the laughs were happening but not killing the next line that would then set up the next gap. Especially Mother's Ruin was very well calibrated.
Steve: They ruin some laughs I have to say.
Reece: But yeah. I mean its lovely, because you never get it, you get the pleasure in theatre of hearing the audience reaction to it and hoping it's good. I mean, of course if there was silence in here tonight with you lot there would be something really wrong, so it was great.
Justin: There's that kind of that uncomfortableness with the sort of the humour of seeing the gore?
Adam: The dividing line between comedy and horror is tiny.
Justin: And very when I say it's a comedy commission, but you obviously have pushed it through every genre possible,
Adam: Could only get a commission through comedy.
Justin: How far can you push the envelope? And I'm saying that bearing in mind there’s only one season left, there’s only so much you can do.
Reece: I don't know. I mean, we just write and that one particularly was a source of exercise in being more gory than we've ever been. DETAILS OF GORY SCENE REDACTED.
Reece: I mean, it's sort of funny, because it's so horrible. But that's that was the aim was trying to time in the edit at what point, it won't be on it now. I can look back its funny right when it needed to be. So it was it was a fun exercise to do.
Justin: But also from your point of view, as an actor Reece, it must have pushed you as far as you could possibly go in terms of....REST OF THIS BIT REDACTED!
Justin: Bearing in mind the end is in sight in terms of the ninth series and so forth and that you've got these ideas you kind of come back to for example with the episode we just watched, did that come out of one of those ideas?
Reece: this one no. I can't remember I think partly wanting to be brothers and the gangster thing that felt like an interesting area we hadn’t quite done and that thing of it being a bit Pulp Fiction in a way that they are in control of their own world and their situation suddenly its flipped...(REDACTED) it's a very dark sort of first half with all the ritual and necromancy then the lights snap on and you've got these two extraordinary people appear...
Justin: They have both agreed to a single question if we bring them up so if we bring up Phil and Anita.
First and before we before we move on so writing the roles that ended up taking form, can you tells us a little bit about your thinking behind that but I know that you say that you don't often want to guess or think about who the person you're going to cast is but you obviously, I mean they fit like a glove don't they?
Steve: They certainly do. Yeah it's always one of the one of the joyous things is the casting process and with this we didn't cast it as two single characters we cast it as a sort of pair really but yeah, we just had such fun.
Justin: Can you remember your reaction when you received the script, because they’re a very lovable couple back from their holiday. And then you see this other side and look when you're pulling the belt, and Anita as well when you're stubbing his stump. What did you think when you read the role?
Anita: Well, first when the offer came in and my agent sent it to me and I read it and thought this is a horror film I thought it was going to be a really fun gig. And then I rang her back and she said, Yes darling they're brilliant. Read it properly. So I went back read the whole thing sat down and thought I have to work with these two guys, I don’t know what’s in their heads but I have to work with them.
Phil: well, I love inside No.9 So it came through and I went oh my god. This is right up my street we had such fun doing it, didn't we?
Justin: I guess also as an actor, it kind of takes you back to that kind of play of today. Those half hour dramas they used to do, which as an actor, I imagine it's very appealing just going in for a finite amount of time. And you know, it's done and dusted.
Phil: Well, it was done a bit like a play anyway. And it was all in order so we could learn it all which was kind of difficult. First of all, because its a lot of words and I thank my fiancée, Nikki, who's here who went through with me all the time. It was brilliant. Yeah, we had a great time,
Justin: When we talk about these Inside No.9s and people are always desperate to know about life outside the series and stuff. But if ever there was a spin off with the two of you in it, I think there's a lot to be mined there.
Justin: I have to say you did an incredible job and thank you very much for being here. And then the episode that we saw as the format which I'm not going to try and pronounce but I’m hoping one of you will
Steve: Paraskevidekatriaphobia in fact the looking at what the that word meant (editor's note - fear of Friday the 13th), and finding that word really gave birth to the episode because we just thought what fun to have an episode with such an unwieldy title. And then our brilliant director George had this idea that the title is so big that camera would have to sort of pan out to accommodate it but it really sometimes you fall in love with the title and you want to do something so you can get that title on the screen. So Paraskevidekatriaphobia (applause) we had to learn it because we said in the programme, we just thought it was a very interesting idea to look at, you know, all those different superstitions. As we said, Why do we have these irrational fears.
Reece: Yeah, we started talking about pulling at a thread and there’s one little moment and then that domino effect
Justin: It almost feels as traditional as a farce in a way and that theatrical tradition were literally bit by bit everything is kind of falling apart...
Adam: It’s the precision of the writing but also the execution is key to the windup. You can't have a moment of dead space there always has to be a positive action forward within the half hour. So once you start resetting your pulling a little thread and then the whole thing has to unwind smoothly. So it means you just got to keep the keep going.
Justin: I'm guessing you do some research for these episodes. Were you having to research different superstitions on top of what you already knew?
Reece: Yeah, we looked at a few different things, just the gestation of some of the odder ones. I do 1, 2, 3 Good morning mystic magpie, every day
Justin: Is just for one?
Reece: Two you look around and just beg and hope your free.
Steve: I had Seven
Adam: it's a secret don't tell it
Steve: I’m holding a lot of secrets about season 8 and I'm not going to spill it, some of them just depends what questions you have
Justin: So in terms of just confirming where things sit in the order because people like to know, the Christmas special the Bones of St Nicholas is technically episode one of season eight or is it a special in its own right
Reece: That was Episode one so there’s five more
Justin: Nicholas made a big impact and obviously it was part of the Christmas viewing you got Simon Callow who is just like the ultimate person to have. When you think about M. R James and Dickens Christmas and horror you know, that kind of tradition I mean, you couldn't have got more jackpot than Simon Callow.
Reece: Great to get him yeah, all we wanted to do was do an M. R James that was better then Mark Gatiss’ films. And I think we achieved it.
Justin: I couldn’t possibly comment. And that really is the thing the whole thing, Is it champing is it called
Steve: Champing is a real thing and that was one of the things we had on our notebooks for a long time and we wanted to do something, because it's that thing of a bit like a shed where you are forced to spend time in somebody else's company overnight. And we just liked the idea of a very proper person who's some kind of scientist and then he comes in with his mobile atom and his wife's matching coats and they were disrupt what was going on so we built the story up from there and then leaning into the M. R James stuff, really wanting there to be a hidden relic and using the genuine origin story of St Nicholas.
Justin: Which is quite grizzly
Steve: Yeah, there were these children's supposedly chopped up and put in barrels so that's we thought bingo Inside No.9 all the elements just throw Simon Callow in there and we were really delighted with how it was received. I have to say it's great.
Justin: Should we bring on Kim now? Kim has come back as the producer and it’s the time you've worked with George Kane the director lets bring him down as well
Steve: George did ‘The Bones of St Nicholas’ and ‘Mother's Ruin’ and ‘Paraskevidekatriaphobia’
Justin: As I understand it, this has become a Manchester commission now, which meant that you needed to have a bit of a refresh when it came to a lot of behind the scenes people. So obviously George coming as a director and your new DIGOP and some of the other roles as well. How did that kind of come about? And what's that mean in terms of the show?
Kim: We had more money which was good, I mean, I'm from Manchester and so and I know a lot of crew up there and we had a great team this year. And I think it all looks beautiful and brilliant. George isn't from Manchester, but he came up and did a great job for us. And we have more money so we have the luxury of doing a lot more this year.
Justin: I'm always intrigued, George when people join a show like Inside No. 9 which obviously is so established and a lot of the people who are part of it have been there throughout and you've got your writer, performers who are also kind of associate producers. When you're coming into that kind of established group. How does that feel as the outsiders to come in?
George: The main feeling is just not wanting to fuck it up. So we just landed into something that's what series 8 of an establish show a major fan base. And you just want to continue it, do the scripts justice and make the best of it. The shot quite quickly, relatively quickly. You got five days, sometimes four, sometimes six. There's a lot to do and you just want to milk as much as you can out of them.
Justin: When we've talked often on this stage about the fact that each one is like a little mini feature film with their own kind of bespoke budget, different characters, different locations and sets and so forth. As much as It's an enjoyable challenge. It is a big challenge too.
George: Completely Yeah, we started with ‘The Bones of St Nicolas’ needless to say which is a gorgeous location. And we had a bit more time on that one with Simon Callow. It was gorgeous. But then next up, we're in like a suburban house falling off ladders and playing with black cats and it's a complete tone change, completely new cast, you read it and in five days, it just refreshes every single week. And then we finished off with ‘Mother’s Ruin’ which was perfect. That’s the challenge, you get to stretch different muscles and think about each episode differently think about the style differently, what we could do musically differently, performance, tone it's great. You don't get to do that in any other show.
Justin: Going back to “The Bones of St Nicholas” it was shot in a church in Knutsford it's a church that is still practising. But you had to get permission did they go through the script? And what was their reaction to the script?
Kim: They said yeah go ahead and make it. Absolutely fine with it
Steve: We changed a couple of “Oh gods” didn't we
Kim: We did take a few out. Taken a few swear words, a bit of blasphemy out but they were fine with it and the contents of it, we were very lucky really.
Justin: So when you're doing a necromancy scene, or when you're doing a superstition scene breaking mirrors, when you're in a church at night time, with this sort of ghost story being read. I know that you've got all these cast members around you and all these crew and everything, but I would’ve been freaked out I think.
Reece: No, I mean, you just dont. I was excited because it was like a mini preview to Christmas and we hadn’t even had Halloween so it was nice to feel that was coming up. And it did feel very atmospheric, because in the middle of the day, it was all tented off. There was one night where we were outside for the exteriors as well. But filming is all about trying to blot out everything that's going on around you and trying to leave it behind, so you can do the thing that you meant to be doing but there are lots of people there so it's hard to start to feel genuinely spooked.
