'Inside No.9' duo Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith planned something special for Halloween - a live episode of their well-received horror/comedy anthology series. That in itself is worthy of praise, but what the pair of seasoned writers truly had up their sleeve was truly remarkable.
It starts out rather normally as befits the show, with the viewers seeing the main stars getting into new roles. Then 5 minutes in, horror strikes - we lose audio. How typical and disappointing. Anything can go wrong on a 'live' edition of anything, but sound of all things?! And so it breaks away and we get an apology as they try and resolve the problems. Then the unthinkable happens - they abandon the live broadcast and replace it with a backup episode (the truly ingenious 'A Quiet Night In'). But then that cuts out! By now, viewers are furious (including myself), but then all is not as it seems, and it is all just another stroke in the duo's master plan, the most sneakiest of tricks.
It then goes very meta, the actors are themselves, taking to twitter, voicing their frustrations along with viewers, and slowly realising that all is not as it seems in the studio as they see themselves on BBC2. Saying anymore threatens to spoil what occurs after, but lets just say Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith add comedy and frights into their real Halloween surprise that is bold in its creation.
What they accomplish is nothing short of praise-worthy. They tricked the audience and risked losing them with the 'sound faults' before delivering a clever horror experience centred around themselves and the studio. Its a bit disjointed because of the (at first) seemingly random extracts from other shows and the news... but it has vital purpose, and in hindsight it must be appreciated the next setup going on whilst we get ghost story exposition on the studio they're in. They tried something new, deceived their fans skilfully, then presented a treat of an episode that is audacious and utterly insane. They are a solid writing/acting pair that will be difficult to beat in terms of doing a 'live' episode, and 'Dead Line', for all its disjointedness, is ultimately a winner that you'll appreciate afterwards the more you give thought to the work they put in.
8/10
It starts out rather normally as befits the show, with the viewers seeing the main stars getting into new roles. Then 5 minutes in, horror strikes - we lose audio. How typical and disappointing. Anything can go wrong on a 'live' edition of anything, but sound of all things?! And so it breaks away and we get an apology as they try and resolve the problems. Then the unthinkable happens - they abandon the live broadcast and replace it with a backup episode (the truly ingenious 'A Quiet Night In'). But then that cuts out! By now, viewers are furious (including myself), but then all is not as it seems, and it is all just another stroke in the duo's master plan, the most sneakiest of tricks.
It then goes very meta, the actors are themselves, taking to twitter, voicing their frustrations along with viewers, and slowly realising that all is not as it seems in the studio as they see themselves on BBC2. Saying anymore threatens to spoil what occurs after, but lets just say Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith add comedy and frights into their real Halloween surprise that is bold in its creation.
What they accomplish is nothing short of praise-worthy. They tricked the audience and risked losing them with the 'sound faults' before delivering a clever horror experience centred around themselves and the studio. Its a bit disjointed because of the (at first) seemingly random extracts from other shows and the news... but it has vital purpose, and in hindsight it must be appreciated the next setup going on whilst we get ghost story exposition on the studio they're in. They tried something new, deceived their fans skilfully, then presented a treat of an episode that is audacious and utterly insane. They are a solid writing/acting pair that will be difficult to beat in terms of doing a 'live' episode, and 'Dead Line', for all its disjointedness, is ultimately a winner that you'll appreciate afterwards the more you give thought to the work they put in.
8/10
