Inside No. 9 creators Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have assembled a starry cast for the penultimate episode of their current series, entitled And The Winner Is...It is a subject that is probably close to their hearts, television awards. It may be even closer to their hearts after this consistently inventive fourth series, which is surely going to collect prizes when they are given out (stop press, it already has).
The scene is a judging room where Giles (Pemberton) is presiding over a panel deciding on a Best Female Actor award. The archetypes making the decision are all present and correct. Zoe Wanamaker plays cynical hasn't-seen-the-shows Paula, Kenneth Cranham is stuffy luvvie Rupert, Noel Clarke is dynamic director Gordon and Shearsmith is needy, anxious writer Clive, who can't stop sucking up to Gordon to get him to read his latest script.
And then there is Jackie (Phoebe Sparrow) the token member of the public who gushes about every nominee. I've been on a few judging panels where there are people like Jackie. The trouble is they get chosen because of their enthusiasm for the art form, but they are so enthusiastic they think everything is awesome. The only character I had an issue with was tabloid hack June (Fenella Woolgar) but that was because I meet people just like her every week.
Anyway, I've given you the set-up, you are going to have to watch it to see what unfolds. No spoilers here (though some below). Needless to say the dialogue is spot-on, crackling with recognisable lines while not being overfull with showbiz in-jokes. Is it the best episode of the series? It would certainly be fun if this particular instalment received a real television award nomination. I'd love to be a fly on the wall in that judging room.
You can read a short review with spoilers below these links
Inside No. 9, And The Winner Is..., BBC2, 10pm, Tuesday, January 30. Catch up after here.
Inside No. 9: To Have And To Hold.
Inside No. 9: Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room.
Inside No. 9: The All-Time Top Six Episodes.
I seem to recall Reece Shearsmith being mildly miffed that Inside No. 9 was not getting the plaudits it so clearly deserved when it first appeared on BBC2. Well if that's the case he is now getting his revenge. Not with this episode about awards panels, but by co-writing the strongest series yet and assuring himself that Inside No. 9 will now be picking up plenty of prizes from panels just like this. In fact it has already just won this one, albeit voted for by the public.
This week's episode is not the strongest of this series but that's mainly because the series has been so consistently strong. The characters this time round almost all seemed to be straightforward archetypes, whereas Pemberton's hubby in To Have And To Hold concealed a dark secret and there was more than met the eye in the veteran entertainers in Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room.
In fact And The Winner Is...was suprisingly restrained. It would not have been a shock, for example, if the tabloid TV critic had been gruesomely bumped off (a la Theatre of Blood, a film I expect the duo like)*. So five stars for an episode where the twist – apart from the very final scene – was that there wasn't really a twist. Or at least not one that was essential to one's enjoyment of the previous 29 minutes. As Shearsmith and Pemberton said recently of this episode, "It's practically a behind-the-scenes documentary,"
Picture: BBC/Sophie Mutevelian
Maybe that's why they resisted - too obvious.
