Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton, Rebecca Callard, Malik Ibheis.
Even in the more cerebrally minded television programmes and across the writer’s who offer the viewer a healthy dose of the macabre and genius inspired, you sometimes know what is coming at you from the beginning, it is how they turn the screw during the transmission that makes the show stand out as something more than just a half hour trip down a certain lane, it becomes the embodiment of performance, of the ordinary bent out of shape.
It is to the performance, the sense of delight in the twist, that Inside No. 9 never fails to lift the point of the story, the small dagger of surprise through the heart and the mind and which both entertains and makes you ask for more. This approach is to be expertly found in the final episode of the latest series, The Stakeout.
The sense of confined minimalism, coupled with the fierce spirit that comes from the minds of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, sees The Stakeout mark the territory of the modern gothic and suspense filled apprehension with their own side take on the procession; a wonderfully paced vignette to which the viewer undoubtedly wishes were a larger piece, the cinematic child to which grows up as a full length feature.
It is in the minimalist space afforded by the tale that the ordinary becomes focused, the tragic death of a policeman in the course of his duty, the grieving copper who betrays a sensitive fear whilst demonstrating an outward fierce demeanour and the new companion in the dark, the special constable who offers a shoulder of solidarity to which the other can unburden.
Whilst this episode may not have the grandeur of the others in the series, it nevertheless is welcome, inviting, overwhelming, we forget the grief of the partnership when it comes to the buddy system, we dismiss the angst of the professional with the outspoken damnation that they get paid enough so why should we worry about them for doing their job; we ignore them to the point where we don’t see them as human anymore, and that is our undoing.
A gracious and well thought out end to a series which has captivated completely; Inside No. 9 has once again bitten down hard on the viewer’s involvement with the writer’s perception of the world and our place within it.
Ian D. Hall