Inside No. 9

Inside No. 9 is a British black comedy anthology television programme that first aired in 2014. It is written by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton and produced by the BBC. Each 30-minute episode is a self-contained story with new characters and a new setting, and all star Pemberton or Shearsmith (usually both). Aside from the writers, each episode has a new cast, allowing Inside No. 9 to attract a number of well-known actors. The stories are linked only by the number 9 in some way, typically taking the form of a door marked with the number 9, and a brass hare statue that is in the background of all episodes. Pemberton and Shearsmith took inspiration for Inside No. 9 from an episode of Psychoville, a previous project, which was filmed in a single room - this in turn was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Rope. The series was also influenced by the Hammer House of Horror episode "The Mark of Satan", which featured a character who was obsessed with the number 9.Themes and tone vary from episode to episode, but all have elements of comedy and horror or perverse humour, in addition to a plot twist. The first series was shown in 2014 and featured six regular episodes and a special online-only episode. The second series, again consisting of six episodes, was shown in 2015. Series three began with a Christmas special in December 2016, followed by five more episodes starting February 2017. The fourth series followed in 2018. There was a one-off Halloween special in 2018, and the fifth series was shown in 2020. The sixth series aired in 2021, followed by the seventh series which premiered on 20 April 2022. After the finale, the BBC announced that they had commissioned two further series of the show, bringing it to nine series.Inside No. 9 as a whole has been very well received by critics, who have praised the humour and creativity of the scripts, as well as the talent of the featured actors. Commentators have described it as "never less-than-captivating" and "consistently compelling", offering particularly strong praise for "A Quiet Night In", "The 12 Days of Christine" and "The Riddle of the Sphinx". Inside No. 9 won the Sketch and Comedy prize at the 35th annual Banff World Media Festival Rockie Awards, and won the comedy prize at the 2016 Rose d'Or ceremony. It was nominated for the Best TV Sitcom prize at the 2014 Freesat Awards, the Broadcast Award for Best Original Programme, and at the 2014 British Comedy Awards for both the Best New Comedy Programme and the Best Comedy Drama. In the Comedy.co.uk Awards it was voted "Best TV Comedy Drama" in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017, and was named "Comedy of the Year" in 2017 and 2018. The series has received three nominations at the British Academy Television Awards. In 2019, Pemberton won Best Male Comedy Performance. In 2021, Shearsmith was nominated for the same award and the show won Best Scripted Comedy.The scripts of the first three series were released by Hodder & Stoughton in 2020. A book detailing the production history of Series 1 to 5, The Insider's Guide To Inside No. 9 by Mark Salisbury, was released in 2021.