WHATEVER AGE you are, being summoned to the boss’s office is always a nerve-shredding experience. It was that day in 2012 when Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith found themselves in the throne room of BBC Two boss Janice Hadlow, when they didn’t know if their series, Psychoville, was going to be enthusiastically renewed or brutally axed. In the event, they were told that the show, the pair’s first self-penned sitcom after the 2002 pausing of The League Of Gentlemen, was being quietly put down. Except, asked Hadlow, did they have any other ideas?
Inspired by a rogue, confidently contained episode of Psychoville (series one, episode four, if you’re looking) the pair cobbled together a pitch that would hark back to some of the spine-chilling anthology shows of their youth.
“It was a very vague notion of a show with no particular rules to it,” reveals Steve Pemberton to SFX. “We liked the idea of a limited location, a small cast and telling a story with a beginning, a middle and an end.”
It’s worth remembering that, in 2012, anthology shows had long been out of fashion. Black Mirror had blinked into existence the year before, but wasn’t yet the blazing cultural firework it is today. With no returning characters, no cliffhangers and no continuing storyline, there was, in many TV commissioners’ heads, the lingering question of why a viewer would ever bother to tune in the following week. It was an epic gamble for BBC Two, but one that would pay off handsomely.
“TV generally at the moment is very disposable,” suggests Reece Shearsmith, a long-time fan of anthology shows, “but I think with Inside No. 9 we’ve managed to make something that lingers in the mind.”
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
PURE AND SIMPLE
IN THE FINAL PART OF OUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, SHOWRUNNER RUSSELL T DAVIES TALKS RELAUNCHING DOCTOR WHO
TO CAP IT ALL OFF
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF THE BBC SERIES THE TRIPODS
FRENCH REVOLUTION
THE WALKING DEAD SPIN-OFF SHOWRUNNER DAVID ZABEL ON BEING GIVEN THE TOUGH TASK OF REUNITING DARYL AND CAROL IN FRANCE
SILENT KILLERS
THE DIRECTOR OF HOLLYWOOD'S SPEAK NO EVIL REMAKE ON HORROR, COMEDY AND JAMES MCAVOY
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
THE GHOST WITH THE MOST RETURNS FINALLY - IN BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
TEENAGE DREAM
JOE LOCKE HITS THE ROAD RUNNING
MOB RULE THE PENGUIN
GOTHAM'S UP FOR GRABS IN BRUISING NEW CRIME SAGA BUT WHERE IS THE BATMAN?
SEASON OF THE WITCH
AS MARVEL TELEVISION CARVES OUT A NEW PATH FOR ITSELF, WE SPEAK TO CREATOR JAC SCHAEFFER, PLUS A CAST OF STARS LED BY KATHRYN HAHN AND JOE LOCKE, ABOUT THE MAGIC OF WANDAVISION'S SPIN-OFF AGATHA ALL ALONG
Ghouls Allowed
Even silence can't save you at this year's Halloween Horror Nights
Those '70s Shows
James Swallow takes a trip back in time with his new Space: 1999 and UFO novellas