“We’re both very, very proud of it.”
Going into the ninth season of Inside No. 9 has been a bittersweet time for fans as it’s the final instalment in the hit comedy series.
Speaking in this week’s issue of Radio Times magazine, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith reflected on their years of working together and explained why it’s a good time to bow out.
Pemberton said: “One of the joys of working with another person is you don’t feel alone and that takes the pressure off both of us. I think Reece is a more glass-half-empty person than me. For example, he feels that Inside No. 9 has never quite had the acclaim that other shows get, it hasn’t had that global recognition.
“I spend a lot of time talking him down – and up – from those feelings, because Inside No. 9 has had such an amazing reaction, such acclaim! It’s won many awards, including BAFTAs for direction, performance, for show, for writing – you can’t get much better. And it is respected throughout the industry. We’re both very, very proud of it.
“If I do have a concern about the show ending, it’s to do with feeling creatively wrung out – it’s not the fear that no one will want to work with us, or that no one will remember us. I think we’ve made our mark.”
Similarly, Shearsmith said of working with Pemberton: “Working together structures our lives and it feels like we’ve done it for a long time.
“I found an episode of Omnibus on Morecambe and Wise the other day in which they talked about what they’d achieved. Eric says the fear of it all going away is always there; that you’ve gone so far, but at any point, you’re going to be exposed as being a fraud.
“That really resonated with me. I do pinch myself that it hasn’t gone away and the little man hasn’t rung up to say I have to give it all back.”
He added: “Steve is a very funny person and has very funny instincts; he makes me laugh a lot and that’s why we’ve endured.”
Read the full interview with Shearsmith and Pemberton in this week’s Radio Times magazine , out on Tuesday 4th June – subscribe here.
The anthology series has spanned multiple genres over the years, having first aired back in 2014 and going on to feature a raft of acting talent, mind-bending plots and some extremely twisty – and twisted – endings.
And ending on the ninth season is certainly not a coincidence, as Pemberton and Shearsmith discussed previously in Radio Times.
Read more:
- Inside No. 9’s Boo to a Goose is a genius rallying cry against injustice
- Inside No. 9’s CTRL ALT ESC was right to avoid the darkest ending
Pemberton said: “I don’t think we regret deciding to finish. Numerically, it’s our little in-joke – nine series of Inside No. 9. It could easily have stopped after five series, but we were determined to get to that landmark.”
But just because Inside No. 9 may not be bringing new episodes to our screens, it doesn’t mean that’ll be the last we see of the pair at the helm of the production as they’re bringing Inside No. 9 to the stage.
The show Stage/Fright which will have “plenty of new material and surprises for fans and new-comers alike”, is coming to the West End in January 2025 – and tickets are available now.
Inside No. 9 airs Wednesdays at 10pm on BBC Two. Catch up on BBC iPlayer.
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