‘Inside No 9': The Greatest British TV Series Of All Time?
Discuss
Yes, I know what I am saying. No, I am not related to the geniuses behind the show — Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton (see above photo). No, I am not Steve Pemberton. Yes. I am Mark Gatiss.*
There have been 8 seasons of Inside No 9. This is the 9th and is — as has been announced this week — the last. It began in 2014 and has been categorized as a “black comedy”. That is really the same as still in 2024 calling Alien a science fiction film that as most of us now appreciate is one of the best horror films ever made but set in space where no human can hear you scream. Inside No 9 is not set in outer space but in very familiar environs and yet the undeniably Freudian Uncanny pervades everything.
Inside No 9 is so much more. Yes, it is uncanny but simultaneously very funny; it is also clever, profound, shocking, supremely well-acted, and a genuine original. It has been a rollercoaster ride of dark entertaining horror with the best episodes hitting a mark that TV has never reached before, at least in a British terrestrial — homegrown — TV show. Only Black Mirror can compete with this show and had there been more of Black Mirror on British TV then my assertion at the beginning of my piece would not have stood.
