Inside No 9 (BBC Two) is the TV show that dares to be clever. It’s certainly earned the right to aim high – six series of self-contained, half-hour Tales of the Unexpected-style plays have yielded some of the best TV of the last decade. What’s more, in an age ruled by big budget dystopian sci-fi or men on horses with swords, Inside No 9 remains wonderfully idiosyncratic. There’s nothing else like it.
The danger is always that something this clever gets too clever, particularly six and a bit series in, when it’s already worked its way through so many set-ups and conceits. When you’ve had riffs on Commedia dell’arte, near-silent episodes, composites of CCTV footage in a call centre and a protracted homage to Macbeth, continued attempts to innovate won’t always hit the mark.
Nine Lives Kat wasn’t a total misfire, but it never quite caught fire either. Sophie Okonedo played Kat, a hard-boiled detective stuck in a time loop. When we joined her she was neck-deep in a tough case – a child abduction – and pouring vodka on her Coco Pops. But then she woke up. It was all a dream.
Or was it? Because just when it looked like we were in Memento or Groundhog Day territory, writers Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith pulled the rug once more: Kat was actually a character in one of the crime novels of Ezra Jones (Pemberton), and not a very good one either. With the boozing, the menagerie of inner demons and one of those I’m-losing-it walls of Post-it notes and photo-fits in a downtrodden flat, she was a walking cliché. What was actually happening in Nine Lives Kat was that Ezra was about to consign her to his desk drawer as a character not worth pursuing. But Kat didn’t want to be put to bed.
What followed was a sort of metatextual battle royale as Kat fought with her author in a bid to remain his lead character. The minute he wrote her out altogether, his own son was abducted. And then there was another twist – Ezra himself turned out to be a figment in another crime author’s imagination, and a cliché to boot, much like Paul Sheldon in Stephen King’s Misery.
These concentric circles of fiction and meta-fiction were both ingenious and, ultimately, a little tiresome. It’s pointless to say that it felt contrived because Inside No 9 is meant to be a contrivance. It’s just that at its best, the working and concepts behind each episode are perfectly balanced with the characters and the story. This episode was like a concept car – fizzing with so many ideas that it could never really work. But I’m still glad they tried.
Related News & Content
-
Use wp.media templates to create totally custom modal
Use wp.media templates to create totally custom modal,Following up on this answer I'm trying to determine how to create a modal with completely unique menu items/content than the media modal. If you add a new state you can add a new menu tab and hav... Tags: media modal stackexchange.com WordPress Development Stack Exchange -
Get post by tag
Get post by tag,I want to get several post by tag. So I try to use get_posts() function: <?php $args = array( 'numberposts' => '3', 'post_status' => 'publish', 'tag' => 'travel' ); $ Tags: functions posts query posts stackexchange.com WordPress Development Stack Exchange -
Elementor + ACF: How to insert dynamic JSON-LD formatted code into ACF field without sanitizing the script tag?
Elementor + ACF: How to insert dynamic JSON-LD formatted code into ACF field without sanitizing the script tag?,On a normal website, I am able to add JSON-LD structured data, such as below, into a Elementor HTML widget, in a proper way. However, as soon as I insert JSON-LD format into an ACF field (Textarea)... Tags: advanced custom fields php stackexchange.com WordPress Development Stack Exchange -
Gutenberg InnerBlocks noallowedblocks on parent but allowedblock on Child
Gutenberg InnerBlocks noallowedblocks on parent but allowedblock on Child,This is a continuation of the following post: Custom Gutenberg block with nested InnerBlocks renderAppender not displaying add button I solved one problem but created a different problem. I'm recr... Tags: block editor plugin development stackexchange.com WordPress Development Stack Exchange -
Delay Issue: Using Wget with JSON Endpoint – Need Help Understanding Headers
Delay Issue: Using Wget with JSON Endpoint – Need Help Understanding Headers,On a WooCommerce website, I have a REST endpoint created with register_rest_route that returns a JSON response. To perform a routine with a certain frequency and urgency, I have added this instruct... Tags: rest api stackexchange.com WordPress Development Stack Exchange -
How do I change top header background color
How do I change top header background color,Please refer to website: https://virginiafrank.com I cannot get the top header background color (or phone numbers) to change color. I would prefer the background gold and text black. I can't make t... Tags: headers stackexchange.com WordPress Development Stack Exchange -
How to display the_tags() as plain text
How to display the_tags() as plain text,the_tags by default is displaying as URL. I need to display it as plain text to insert inside HTML attribute. <?php $tag = the_tags(''); ?> <div class="image-portfolio" data-section... Tags: stackexchange.com tags WordPress Development Stack Exchange -
Give to site admin the option to "skip confirmation email" when adding new user
Give to site admin the option to "skip confirmation email" when adding new user,in wordpress multisite when we give to site admin the option to add new users, site admin dont have the "checkbox" to add the new user without sending the user email with link activation (see the Tags: email verification multisite stackexchange.com users WordPress Development Stack Exchange -
Facing Hamas and Tehran, Israel is left with only vengeful madness | Opinion
Facing Hamas and Tehran, Israel is left with only vengeful madness | Opinion,Despite the Terrible Disaster on October 7, and the Failures It Exposed, Israel Is Still Convinced That the Image of the Mad Man Will Ensure Its Security -
Carol Kirkwood stuns in figure-hugging dress amid BBC Breakfast technical chaos
Carol Kirkwood stuns in figure-hugging dress amid BBC Breakfast technical chaos,CAROL Kirkwood stunned in a figure-hugging dress amid a technical blunder. BBC Breakfast was flung into chaos this morning after a string of sound issues. However Carol, 61, was all smiles as she p… Tags: BBC BBC Breakfast BBC ONE Carol Kirkwood mirror.co.uk The Scottish Sun TV News TV UK daytime TV -
Families ‘to sue prison’ where loud inmates ‘terrorise kids’ with screaming
Families 'to sue prison' where loud inmates 'terrorise kids' with screaming,Residents living next door to a new prison who say their kids have to sleep wearing headphones and some leave during weekends due to the racket are threatening to sue the prison service Tags: mirror.co.uk Neighbours from hell prisons Scottish government The Mirror -
Doctor Strange’s Secret Wars Role May Be More Important Than You Thought – Looper
Doctor Strange's Secret Wars Role May Be More Important Than You Thought - Looper,According to entertainment leaker Alex Perez, Doctor Strange will find himself confronting his inner struggles as he headlines "Avengers: Secret Wars." Tags: Fiction Looper looper.com Marvel Cinematic Universe Science Star Wars The Universal Monsters franchise -
I’ll Show You The Inside Of 12 Disney Homes, All You Have To Do Is Tell Me Which Movie They’re From
I'll Show You The Inside Of 12 Disney Homes, All You Have To Do Is Tell Me Which Movie They're From,I believe in you. Tags: buzzfeed.com evergreen Keycat Keytags Movies Trivia trivia quiz -
Here’s to Our Favorite Tortured Poets
Here’s to Our Favorite Tortured Poets,Taylor Swift and her various modern idiots join a long line of pop-culture poets sanctimoniously performing soliloquies, from real-life figures (‘Shakespeare in Love’) to the fictional but equally tortured (‘Dead Poets Society’). Tags: Keycat Keytags vulture.com -
‘What Jennifer Did’: Netflix doc explores shocking Ont. murder-for-hire case
'What Jennifer Did': Netflix doc explores shocking Ont. murder-for-hire case,Most of Jennifer Pan's entire life was made up of lies. When her parents began to catch on, she decided to bring in hired hitmen. Tags: Crime Entertainment Global News globalnews.ca Jennifer Pan jennifer pan now Trending What jennifer did what jennifer did netflix -
What’s behind the lack of enthusiasm for this year’s music festivals?
What's behind the lack of enthusiasm for this year's music festivals?,The public sentiment about this year's crop of music festivals is an overwhelming "meh." There are good reasons for this. Tags: Coachella Entertainment glastonbury Global News globalnews.ca lollapalooza Music festivals News -
JERA backs AboitizPower’s plan to build offshore wind projects
JERA backs AboitizPower’s plan to build offshore wind projects,JERA Co. Inc., Japan’s largest power generation company, is willing to back Aboitiz Power Corp. should it decide to pursue offshore wind projects. Tags: BUSINESS jera co. inc. Philstar.com -
Insurance penetration declines to 1.75% of GDP
Insurance penetration declines to 1.75% of GDP,The insurance industry saw its net income slightly decline to almost P10 billion in the first quarter amid a drop in the life segment. Tags: BUSINESS gdp Philstar.com
Warning: file_get_contents(https://www.scienceradars.com/wp-output-content.php?pg=1&cat=&kw=&lvl=): Failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.1 526 in /home/wwwroot/xuenou.com/wp-content/themes/chromenews/template-parts/content.php on line 169
Warning: file_get_contents(https://www.bayuexiang.com/wp-output-content.php?pg=1&cat=&kw=&lvl=): Failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.1 526 in /home/wwwroot/xuenou.com/wp-content/themes/chromenews/template-parts/content.php on line 173
TrendRadars
The Most Interesting Articles, Mysteries and Discoveries