Stars are queuing up to appear in spooky world of Inside No 9

Nothing else on telly is quite like Inside No 9.

Created by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, who are also the lead stars, each series is a collection of darkly comic tales which all feature the number nine in some way but there’s often no way of guessing how.

The award-winning anthology show can be funny, moving and scary in equal measures, and attracts a high calibre of guest stars – David Morrissey, Ralf Little, Maxine Peake and Jenna Coleman appear in this series.

In 2018, 50-year-old Shearsmith, who was born in Kingston-upon-Hull, and Blackburn-born Pemberton, 52, even pulled off a special live edition of Inside No 9 in spectacular fashion, succeeding in thoroughly freaking out viewers.

But how much of the show is based on real life or personal interests of the duo, who first found fame with BBC sketch show The League Of Gentlemen?

Says Reece: “One of us will have more of an interest in doing it, and then we sit together and think, ‘What’s a good story to spin out of it?’

“Or it can be some weird little news report that you think, ‘Does it seem believable?’”

Steve adds: “We’ve got an episode in this series which is all kind of monologues, and one of the monologues is a YouTuber.

“That came from reading the news story about the girl who tried to blag a free hotel room, just saying, ‘I’m a YouTuber, give me everything for free.’ So that sparked interest, and we’ve done a whole little YouTube section. You learn a lot doing this!”

Would they ever revisit episodes from past series?

“We would think about doing a sequel, if it was worth it,” says Reece. “I’m afraid that we would be accused of running out of ideas if we did it, but if it was a good reason to return to something then that would be good.”

Do actors get in touch asking them to write parts?

“Definitely!” says Steve. “David Morrissey had been saying to us for ages that he would love to be involved.”

After over 30 episodes of Inside No 9, which are the pair’s favourites?

“It’s hard, it’s like choosing your favourite child,” says Reece.

“The ones that people like are the ones that make you cry; it’s not the comedy ever, it’s the ones that move people.

“(On the episode called Bernie Clifton’s Dressing Room) We were surprised that that one took such a grip with people. We thought it was a good one, but we didn’t think it was this amazing, heartfelt… It was a vehicle for me and Steve to do a two-hander, that’s where it was born from. We’d never done that before.”

Are they becoming more sensitive to audiences guessing where the storyline is going?

“Yes,” says Steve. “Even though we know what our story is and what our ending is, we never want you to get there before we want you to get there.

“So, we always say, ‘What do you think you’re watching when you’re watching this?’ and ‘Where do you think it’s going?’

“We plot out where we hope you think it’s going so that we can send you off down the false track and hopefully there’s a nice surprise. But one of the joys of the series, and one of the more difficult things, as we write more and more episodes, is to do that in different ways.”

Is their sense of humour and sense of what is scary changing as they get older?

“Yeah, a little bit; it’s all about health!” says Reece. “I am more squeamish than I ever used to be, and certainly horror-wise I don’t like all the torture-y ones.”

What about an Inside No 9 film or theatre show?

Says Steve: “We haven’t really talked about doing a film – thankfully they keep recommissioning the series.

“We like the 30-minute format… but I think that might be something we look at in the future.”

Inside No 9 is on BBC2, Mondays at 10pm.