TV review: Inside No. 9 - 'The Harrowing'

After six episodes, there's little more to be said about the quality of the writing, the pitch-perfect delivery of the performances, the matchless pleasure of anticipating a brand new story every week, like a series of fiendish, hilarious Christmases, but what can be said about The Harrowing is this; the abrupt, abject revulsion of it is wretch-inducing.

Inside No. 9, BBC2's dark comedy thriller series from half a League of Gents, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, who were also behind Psychoville, has been a critical hit but has not excelled in the ratings. Episodes have attracted a not-so-thrilling average of 800,000 viewers, but fans of the tales with a twist will be relieved to hear that a sequel has been commissioned. The decision was taken before the series was broadcast - if the number-crunchers had seen the figures maybe they would have had second thoughts. Catch the final edition, The Harrowing, with Helen McCrory guesting, on Wednesday.

Comedy doesn't come blacker than this. Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith cut loose in their series-concluding episode and produce a chilling half-hour that really is best avoided by those of a nervous disposition, as the announcers used to say. Schoolgirl Katy (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) arrives to babysit at a gothic mansion where there is no mobile phone signal, no heating and as it turns out, no baby. Hector (Shearsmith) and Tabitha (Helen McCrory) are the spooky siblings asking here to look after the place, which is also home to their infirm brother upstairs.

Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's new comedy-horror anthology, which concludes Wednesday was always likely to have a hint of the macabre about it - these are the men who made Psychoville, after all. What we didn't expect was for Inside No. 9 to show such broad comic range: everything from drawing room farce to silent slapstick is attempted in the show's six episodes, and for the most part, very successfully. Tuck into the full comic smörgåsbord over on the iPlayer.

Its hard to know which to admire more - the rich and perverse imaginations of Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, or the range of acting talents that has brought this strange and memorable series to life. The final episode is also the most Gothic. A sensible young woman goes to babysit in a refrigerated mansion while its owners, a most unusual brother and sister played by Shearsmith and Helen McCrory, are called away on an urgent matter. Upstairs lurks a bedridden brother who was born inside out. The story is called The Harrowing, named after Christ's descent into Hell to free imprisoned spirits. Babysitting doesn't get tougher than this.

Review: Inside No. 9 - 'The Understudy'

This was another strong episode that was even more confined than usual.

Inside No. 9 review - The Understudy

The Understudy, and the series overall, is a big two-fingers to television executives that believe anthology shows fail to engage audiences, due to the short episodes, illustrating that it's quality of material, not quantity, that matters.

Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have strong opinions on the subject of stage actors, a theme they explore in this excellent instalment of their dark anthology series. Jim is understudy to Antony, a bellowing thesp. When Tony is drunk during "the Scottish play", Jim's fiance Laura urges him to take the lead, at which point the episode's satirical retelling of Macbeth becomes delightfully apparent. It's a spooky and highly satirical take on actors, Shakespeare and power - and of course, there's a twist in the tale.

Radio Times review

The biggest challenge Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have set themselves, with this anthology of one-off dark comedies, has been pouring a new story into the pint pot that is half an hour of TV. They manage it with panache here, in another fable of the unforeseeable that gallops unerringly to a horrible conclusion.

Pemberton is a boorish, bitter stage actor taking the lead in the Scottish Play. He's dismissive of his co-stars, the audience and particularly his meek understudy Jim (Shearsmith). But Jim's fiancée isn't willing to let her other half stay stuck in the wings...

It's a magnificent meta-Macbeth, full of daggers before and spots that damn. Knowing the text will take you only halfway and, in any case, the clever plot is really just a vehicle for characters sketched fully in only a few lines, and a torrent of fruity luvvie gags about jealousy, superstition and stage-hogging hams. Delicious.

Preview: Inside No 9: The Understudy, BBC2

This is very much Pemberton and Shearsmith's instalment and they are both brilliant, with one playing an actor on their way up, the other one on their way down.