How do you NOT create a vanity project, Charley?

For those who wondered if the title was an innuendo: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Number+9&defid=1949910

Now you've raised the subject, I did wonder if it was anything to do with Revolution 9 from The White Album.

For anyone who didn't know, S1 and S2 are now up on Netflix UK, and I believe 12 Days of Christine is on iPlayer right now as well.

Has anyone bought the S3 DVD/Blu-Ray? I'm dying to hear the commentaries and see the making of the krampus episode. But my copy won't make it across the pond until the 14th Something to look forward to at least.

Also did anyone catch my name at the bottom of the Hidden Hare feature on bcg? *beams with probably undeserved pride* That was a fun project to help Mark with. Of course then Reece had to point out to me on twitter that I got two of the hare locations wrong (in Sphinx and Gadge). Thanks Reece! They've been found now, but I can't take credit for those ones. I looked everywhere but to no avail.

He also pointed out that there were actually two hares in Diddle to keep with the pairs/symmetry theme.

I'm curious, what was everyone's favourite episode from series 3?

Have to bump this thread (sorry)...

Also for anyone who cares or hasn't watched S3 or doesn't want DVD extra spoilers....SPOILERS!

Now that I have my own copy and have gone through the commentaries I can possibly shed some light on some things.

Re: the plot hole in Krampus (namely, the implausibility of there being such a large crew who all knew about it being a snuff film), according to Steve they kind definitely had their cake and ate it too with that one, because initially when they wrote it, it didn't have the commentary, and was just going to be a straight 70s homage, but they thought of the final twist later on and added the commentary track (which they commented on in their commentary of the episode) and say you just kind of have to accept that yes the crew was in on it, (except for the child actor presumably), and they tried to at least keep the crew small. In the 'making of' featurette for that episode they showed the old cameras and pointed out the handpainted floor tiling which was common practice at that time and all the things they put in to make it authentic, including rehearsing beforehand enough to be able to shoot the episode in 2 days, and having the real crew, the crew of inside no 9 dressed in 70s appropriate attire for the final scenes, and little details like Steve hiking up his 70s appropriate y-front pants so that they'd show in the scene where he falls having the heart attack. I thought that was a fun detail.

Re: the plot hole in The Bill. The way Reece explained it was that he was the one holding the knife, and that he had control over where Craig's arm would go with the knife, so it's semi-plausible that he and Ellie's character's characters had rehearsed the knife swing and timed out the blood effect and all that so that it would work in the scam. Still pretty wobbly. Apparently their director, or maybe producer, can't remember which, was hesitant about the whole thing turning out to be a pre-planned scam down to the throat cutting because then the seemingly high stakes leading up to that point are suddenly very low. I kind of agree that it might have been better if the stakes were real, and she did get killed, but then I don't know how it would've ended. I think they're getting a little weary of the 'there has to be a twist' expectation, which is part of why they did Empty Orchestra the way they did. Playing the twist-writing game and trying to stay one bluff ahead of a nitpicky audience is no small task.

In 'Sphinx' Reece slammed Alexandra Roach's head onto the floor while shooting, and accepts zero blame for possibly nearly concussing her? Remorseless!

Apparently both Sphinx and Diddle ran waaaay long and they had to cut a lot out. They described the editing process of 'Sphinx' saying something along the lines of: "It was like we were cutting our own bums off". Anyway, Diddle was going to have an entirely different ending, with Reece getting jailed and Keeley getting together with Steve's character (hence the weird sexual tension in Steve's scene, and a few other bits that suggested there might be something going on there). Reece apparently hated that ending, and thinks his character is blameless, but then, Reece is a bit of a psychopath. I like how that one ended, and am glad it got cut down, and stand by it as my favourite of the series.

And at the end of Private View Steve asks Reece "Do you think it would have won a Turner Prize?" Reece says yes. Steve says, "Really, no Police investigation? No one's families notice their loved-ones missing?" and Reece replies some nonsense about the characters having all said they were going on holiday and so of course there wouldn't have been a police investigation. To which Steve replied simply: "Rubbish", and then laughed his delightfully camp laugh.

And so ended the commentaries.

There's a lot more behind the scenes stuff and info, but I've rambled enough (I didn't even get into Steve's Strap-On-Sally fascination, or his obsessing about BBC rules on acceptible levels of ridigity in portrayals of erections throughout several episodes of the commentaries...)

I will shut up now. I talk about this show way too much...I know.