The 100% rated dark comedy series you need to binge on BBC iPlayer

The macabre genius of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton is on full display in their wildly ambitious anthology series Inside No. 9.

·Contributor

7 June 2024 at 9:20 am·4-min read

Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton are the creators and stars of Inside No. 9. (BBC)

There aren't many TV shows that can run for nine series without putting as much as a foot wrong. But then again, there aren't many TV shows like Inside No. 9.

Created by seasoned comedy partners Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton — they previously worked on The League of Gentlemen and Psychoville — Inside No. 9 is a dark anthology series that completely defies genre. The easiest way to describe it is as a black comedy with horror elements, but the anthology format means all bets are off from week to week.

Shearsmith and Pemberton appear in almost every episode, surrounded by ensemble casts made up of some of the best British acting talent around. Across the course of the show, just about everybody in showbiz has popped up to film a part — from Sheridan Smith to Nick Mohammed to Alison Steadman to Peter Kay. They don't have to commit beyond one episode, so of course they're up for it.

What the critics thought

The ninth series of Inside No. 9 debuted with a shocking episode set on the London Underground. (BBC)

Praise for Inside No. 9 has been fervent ever since it debuted in 2014 and, if anything, its esteem has only grown over the years. In 2021, NME greeted the arrival of the sixth series by declaring it "the cleverest show on TV" and writing that it's "the only thing that might conceivably be worth staying in for this summer".

In 2022, Martin Carr wrote here at Yahoo UK that the show is "like the gothic child of Black Mirror". He added: "No taboos are off limits, no tragedy is above consideration in the service of character, whilst their understanding of these flawed creations is peerless."

Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have been praised over the years for their incredible range of characters on Inside No. 9. (BBC)

In a May 2024 episode of podcast series The Rest is Entertainment, Richard Osman and Marina Hyde both expressed their admiration for the show. Hyde, who is a columnist for The Guardian, described Shearsmith and Pemberton as "genuine TV geniuses", while Osman admired how they manage to never repeat themselves.

"What they've done with that show is so extraordinary," said Hyde. "To be able to only have a half-hour and to tell very complex and layered, often quite philosophical, emotional, darkly comic stories and to make you care about new characters every single week, you can see why actors want to do it."

The show currently holds an average 100% average rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Yahoo’s take

Inside No. 9 is one of the most inventive shows on British TV. (BBC)

There's nothing on TV right now that's as consistently surprising and inventive as Inside No. 9. Shearsmith and Pemberton's ability to generate completely new worlds and fresh ideas that they can execute within a single 30-minute episode is genuinely remarkable.

The true joy of the show is in its variety. Yes, there are tropes that pop up over and over — secret quests for violent revenge, someone being secretly "dead all along", etc — but they're always contained within something wholly new. We're talking every possible genre and every possible tone.

Read more: Inside No. 9 fans 'can never unsee' the horror of penultimate episode (Yahoo Entertainment UK)

There aren't many shows that could give you a Christmas ghost story, a serial killer mystery, and a Lee Mack quiz show all within one six-episode series. In fact, there's just one — this one. That's the twisted genius of Shearsmith and Pemberton.

Essential info

Inside No. 9 has used locations as varied as an escape room, a sleeper train carriage, and a karaoke booth. (BBC)

Fortunately, it's very easy to watch all of Inside No. 9 in the UK. Every single episode is available to stream via BBC iPlayer and as of 12 June, that will include every instalment of the ninth and final series as well.

That's 55 episodes in total. But before you run away screaming in fear at that sort of commitment, every episode comes in around the half-hour mark — there's none of the streaming era's pick n mix scheduling here — and they're all entirely separate from each other.

Watch: Trailer for Inside No. 9's final series

It's true that this might make the show less bingeable overall and there's no cliffhanger there to make you hit play on the next episode. However, it also means you can dip in and out every few days and never quite know what you're in for each time.

You might be scared, you might be devastated, you might laugh a lot — or you might do all three. The only guarantee is that you'll always be surprised and entertained.

Inside No.9 is streaming on BBC iPlayer.