Inside No.9 pt 1
00:54:18
About
Christmas is a time for dark stories, over indulgence and variety packs of treats. Thus, we present this December, our “Inside No.9 Christmas Selection Box”. This episode we focus on “The Riddle of the Sphinx”, where we discover what’s long and hard and full of seamen. Then we turn our attentions to “The Stakeout” where we learn just how much piss you can get into an empty Pringles Tube. SPOILERS AHOY SO PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE WATCH THESE FANTASTIC EPISODES BEFORE WE RUIN THE MANY TWISTS AND TURNS SO MASTERFULLY CRAFTED BY SHEARSMITH AND PEMBERTON. Watch (or re-watch), and join us.
Transcript
Show full transcript
LeeGood evening and welcome to horror. I'm Lee.
ChrisHi, I'm Chris.
AdamI'm Adam.
LeeAnd we are here on a cold December evening to discuss the absolutely phenomenal Inside Number 9.
ChrisThat's a good.
LeeThere will be spoilers and there will be swearing. And just to warn everyone, if anyone hasn't seen these and you can find them somewhere to watch because despite me promising everyone last time they're on Netflix and the BBC, they've been taken down from both just this week.
LeeBut do go and find them if you haven't seen them, these, they're fantastic to watch, but a bit like tells the unexpected, it's all in the twist with these and we need to discuss them. So if you haven't seen them and you are tempted, definitely watch them before listening to the episode.
AdamYeah, fantastic.
AdamYeah, without a shadow of a doubt, do not listen to us and fuck up your enjoyment of that. No, absolutely not.
ChrisNow, you say, you say it's in the twist, right? But so does Tals of the Unexpected have a lot of twists?
LeeEvery episode pretty much.
ChrisBut but is it but is it like one major twist?
LeeYeah, it's not like this where it's twist on twist.
ChrisThis is this is just like I don't know what kind of crazy person can come up with a mound that they fire off every scene.
AdamI think it's because when they were doing it, they were because they watched stuff like Tales of the Unexpected. I think it's like most of us can guess the twist because they're stories that have been around for a while. Yeah, yeah.
AdamSo they write it from the perspective of, right, so this is where this story obviously goes. How do we subvert that? How do we change that? Or how do we top that? And that's really why it's so good because they do consistently manage to do that.
ChrisAnd and that might be, I mean, they might have constructed it perfectly or I like to think I'm a bit more intelligent than I am, right? Because yeah, like you say, you're like, well, I know where this is going and then of course, I totally didn't see a lot of it. So as you just said, either they I don't know.
ChrisLike you're trying to work out what what did they know that we were going to get. And then especially because you said you've watched a lot of those sort of things. I haven't seen that many Tails unexpected or a whole lot of similar things. But yeah, no, it's just it's just funny to think what they must have been thinking while they were writing it.
ChrisHow far do we take this? And at what point at what point does it become stupid? Because you could have so many twists and you're like, no, it's just getting silly now. But somehow it's like, no, all the way through, you're like, yeah, that was that was perfect.
ChrisPerfect. Yeah, you've done that again.
LeeSo, so before we crack in too far, we are going to, Adam, would you like to tell people what December has in store?
AdamYes, well, as we originally thought we were going to do, we were going to be very clever and very cryptic and you know, work make it look like we worked at these things the way that Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton clearly work at Inside Number 9 and we were going to do Inside Number 9vember.
AdamAnd we we selected five episodes because that would explain the V in November. So it was inside number V and there you go, the Roman numeral. You know, so clever. And then we realized that with the schedule, the first one would go up on December.
LeeOh.
AdamSo, in a in a shameless bit of backtracking and bravado or clever dissolution, welcome to horror for December would like to present you with the Inside Number 9 Christmas Selection box.
LeeOh.
ChrisThat sounds nice.
AdamAnd we should be running all the way up to Christmas. We've got we're looking at six episodes in depth. Go and watch every fucking thing. Watch the whole of Inside Number 9 and then come back and listen to us because, yeah, that is far more entertaining if nothing else.
LeeYeah.
AdamBut yeah, it's they're all great, but we've concentrated because it's welcome to horror, we've concentrated on those episodes that really branch into that in certain ways.
AdamAnd there's a few that we haven't that we that sort of bubbled under the radar that we haven't covered, but I think that the six that we've got are a good, you know, they're they they represent the dark, the the sort of dark fantasy end of Inside Number 9.
LeeAbsolutely. So, yeah, well done, Adam, for coming up with this splendid plan.
Leeso we are, so would you like to let the listeners know what one we are, which episode we are about to cover now?
AdamWell, coming out of the box, we have Riddle of the Sphinx.
LeeNot wishing to blow our load too soon, but I have said it before and I will say it again, I still think this is the best 30 minutes of TV I have ever seen. This episode is absolutely unbelievable.
LeeI love.
ChrisI might have thought, I might have thought you were a bit too excited saying that before, and then I watched it.
AdamOh, fuck yeah.
AdamNo, it is, it's fucking precision.
ChrisYeah, yeah.
AdamSo well done.
ChrisPerfect distillation.
AdamSo the facts on this one, series 3, episode 3, originally broadcast on the 28th of February, 2017. And as an interesting note to that, the actual crossword in it was written by Steve Pemberton with help from another writer from a crossword poser. And it was and it was in the Guardian that day.
LeeOh God.
ChrisNo, really?
AdamWithout any sort of thing, it was just put in there as and the riddle master was the Sphinx.
LeeThat is so cool.
AdamAnd they were like, that's a little Easter egg for someone who might suddenly go, hang on.
LeeHow awesome. I just I I love this episode. I love all of these, but the two episodes that we're going to cover tonight, there's such a small cast, like three three characters on screen in both episodes.
Leeand you know, as you were saying, Chris, like the amount of twists and turns, we sat and watched this earlier, Lady Jennifer and myself. Yeah, and we said that, like, you can watch a two and a half hour movie that has nowhere near this much plot squeezed in. But it doesn't feel rushed. It feels yeah, lovely pacing and it, oh, it's just work of genius.
ChrisI mean and and and as you said, so three characters and it's all done like how it's almost how can they have so much dialogue that still makes sense and throws you off the scent so often?
ChrisLike it it is, yeah, it's astounding really.
AdamI mean, they they clearly really pour over every last bit.
ChrisYeah.
AdamAnd one thing I would say is people who are fans of Inside Number 9 and I don't wish to make our efforts redundant. Do listen to there's a podcast on BBC Sounds, which is Inside Inside Number 9.
AdamAnd it is Reece and Steve talking about I think it started with series must have done, it started with series 5, where they've done every episode, and then I think somewhere between six and between six series six and seven, they did classic ones. So they did like 12 Days of Christine and stuff, but they did Riddle of the Sphinx was one of those.
AdamAnd yeah, it's the sort of what went into it is fucking fascinating.
AdamBut it's another thing that I've been thinking watching it, though, is they're not even cheating in the sense of not not cheating, but they're not taking like if they were on Netflix, they could do episodes at any length.
LeeYeah.
AdamYou know, like Black Mirror does and stuff like that where it's like, oh, we only this was only 40 minutes because that's how much story we had.
AdamWhereas.
ChrisIt's funny but it's funny you say cheating though, because.
AdamNo, it's not, it's not.
ChrisNo, no, yeah, but yeah, it's yeah.
ChrisYou can like tailor it to the time exactly, whereas they are forced to still make sure it works in the fixed window.
AdamYes, it is. In a specific window of 30 minutes. Yeah.
AdamSo it's no, it's just really good.
AdamAnd obviously, I mean, most of it's a two-hander. It's only really sort of the last, what, 10, five, five, 10 minutes, I think that Reese comes into it.
ChrisYeah.
LeeYeah.
AdamSo it's mostly Steve and Alexandra Roach playing Nina.
LeeWho I I I think we all know from the original Utopia.
AdamYes. Yeah.
LeeYeah, and and she is so perfect in this because this one, although it definitely is one, as you say, we had to cover because it's one of the darker ones, so it's definitely in that horror vein. The comedy in it as well is just at the beginning, it's so laugh out loud. And she just delivers it perfectly. Yeah.
ChrisYeah, she fits in with them so well.
LeeYeah.
AdamIt's it's also the sort of the fact that both both performances and like of the characters are performing.
AdamYou know, they are sort of putting.
ChrisYeah.
AdamBut so you get this sort of the first bit is does feel like it's going to be one of those dodgy 90s sort of things where it's like, oh, yes, a young student and the old professor and they fall in love because he teaches her how to stare. You know.
AdamAnd you know, and dodgy territory like that.
AdamAnd then but the facade drops for both.
Chris
ChrisYeah.
AdamAnd it's like and you just realized how sort of venal and horrible the Sphinx is and the charm is purely you know, it's it's it's purely an act. It's no sort of he's not genuinely a lovely bumbling old academic. He's actually a nasty piece of work.
ChrisYeah.
LeeIt's the way it unfolds that that just catches me. As you say, it's the it it's the twist on twist and every time you think you've worked out where it's going to go, it's suddenly changes again even before Reese has turned up.
ChrisYeah, it's like just as you're catching up almost, it's like, no, there's another one. Yeah, it's really crazy.
ChrisI mean, I'm assuming, you know, you've picked these six, but you said for so they fit in with what we do, but this must be one of the best that they've written.
AdamOh, absolutely. It's it's I don't I don't know if I I was trying to work out earlier what my favorite one was and I'm not even sure, but this is a strong contender and is probably if if I managed to work out a ranking, it would be like.
AdamIf it's not number one, it's like two or three.
ChrisOkay.
AdamBecause, yeah, it's just so incredibly well put together. And also the fact that it just explains itself as it goes, which feels natural to like a university lecturer.
ChrisYeah. And that that should ruin it. Like everything about it should not work almost.
AdamIt's very sort of expositiony, but it works absolutely.
AdamAnd but also the fact you've got in there, like when they go into the whole mythology of the Sphinx, like the but it's the Greek Sphinx, not the Egyptian. So it's yeah, and and the sort that brings in the cannibalism and incest cuz you've got Edipus is the person who solves the Sphinx's riddle. And yeah, and it's just but they put all that in there. They let you know what I mean, it's not sort of.
AdamIt's not just there as subtext. It really sort of they actually teach you something. Yeah, it does.
ChrisIt does, but it's still very fun.
AdamWell, I mean, apparently this one was mostly originally from Steve.
AdamIn terms of like the idea and everything. And he'd been on there's a game show called Only Connect, which is a really good show, but is also one of those ones that will just you could do like three episodes in a row and just go, I am, you know, have I lost it? I am totally fucking stupid. Why can I not? And then you'll have an amazing run on it. And sort of like you realize, oh, no, no, I actually know what I'm talking about. And, but yeah, he was on like a, I think it was like, it was like Comic Relief or, no, I think Children in Need or something like that, it was a charity, a celebrity edition. And he was on there and the host is Victoria Coran Mitchell. And she, they were talking and he she happened to mention that one of their question sets, a guy called Alan Connor, had just written a book called Two Girls, One on Each Knee, which is, like explains cryptic crosswords, but also goes into the history of the crossword and stuff like that. And she sent she sent a copy to Steve because he was like, oh, no, that sounds like I'd really like to read that.
AdamAnd that's where the sort of germ of the idea came in where he was sort of learning that it was all about rules and stuff like that. And there's one that I don't think they mentioned in it, which is, a hidden message in a crossword is called an Anana.
Lee
AdamSo and I think that's the only one that they don't because pretty much everything else they sort of explained as you know, as it's going.
AdamBut yeah, and apparently, this was all filmed at Langley Barry House. It's a weird way to this a really uncomfortable word. Langley, Langley Berry House, which is an 18th century manor house near basically near London. And the trustees have hired it out as a shooting location, has basically to they don't know what to do with the place. So they're renting it out, they're making money on it and people are filming there and everything.
AdamAnd, it's also used in The Harrowing and Séance Time, weirdly enough, because they're episodes that will be covering later on.
AdamAnd it's also Mr. Lomax's house from Psychoville.
AdamSo it's big, you know, with the big staircase and yeah.
AdamAnd, but yeah, so they that's a a regular I'm going to use the word halt.
LeeIt looks fantastic as well. It's got to be said, like his rooms in this just look fantastic. It is how you imagine an, you know, an eminent professor at a university does live. It's got that sort of really look and feel and it again, it's that I think it's their attention to detail in stuff like that that sort of really makes it stand out for me in a lot of them.
LeeIt's.
AdamIt's it's a crew that really gives a shit.
LeeYeah.
AdamAnd I think it's because everyone really gets that they're doing something quality.
ChrisYeah.
AdamYou know, they're doing something that's like it's almost like, look, if you've made, if you've written something so, you know, you've put so much effort into it, so much work into it, it's a bit of an insult to then half-arse it if you're the production designer or whatever like that, you know.
Adam
AdamBut this is directed by Guillem Morales, who I has done 14 Inside Number 9s.
Adamand he's also he did the TV series The Miniaturist, and wrote and directed two horror films that I must say I've not seen, The Uninvited Guest and Julia's Eyes.
LeeOkay.
Adambut he's, he's Catalan. And, yeah, so for Number 9, he's done La Couche, 12 Days of Christine, The Bill, Empty Orchestra, Diddle Diddle Dumpling, Private View, Love's Great Adventure, Misdirection, Wuthering Heights, Simon Says, Lip Service, How Do You Plead, and, and the Stake Out.
ChrisOh.
LeeOh, so he's done both of this evenings. He's done both of this evenings ones.
AdamAnd by the sounds of it, he's a really like he sort of contributes a lot in terms of like he he was the one who said about doing it as a thunderstorm like outside because he said it was to to ramp up as he put it the hammer sort of feeling where you're in those sort of, you know, that wood panel room. So it sort of.
ChrisAnd that that's the same thing that the the sound effects and the music like just really worked.
AdamOh, Kristen Hensen, the guy who does the music on all of these, is just perfect.
AdamHe just really knows I've I've heard I've sort of heard interviews with him, he was on the inside Inside Number 9 podcast.
Adamand it's like the again, he's double thinking stuff.
ChrisYeah.
AdamSo he said that when he's doing the music, he's like, right, they want you to think that this is a light comedy. So I'm going to do it sort of plinky deep strings and sort of quite whimsical. And then it goes fucking dark as shit.
ChrisYeah.
AdamBut I don't want to start sinister or, you know, or or indeed he said that but there are times when he's actually put in hints in in the music.
LeeHuh.
AdamTo sort of, you know, as as little clues or whatever like that, but also he puts in as I say, he puts in like essentially musical misdirection.
Chris
AdamSo to try and keep with it, you know, it's not just a like a blanket of the same stuff every time.
AdamAnd and none of them can really none of them would really work with that, oddly enough.
AdamYou know, if this there's there's no house style, if you know what I mean, apart from this is just done the best it can be.
LeeI think that's what I love about the series and I think it's what's kept it so fresh is obviously not only as we say, the amazing lengths they go to to misdirect you with the twists that happen every time. But yeah, it's the fact that every episode feels so entirely different. yeah, so every every week when you sit down, you have no idea what you're going to get.
LeeYou know, you could get one of those sort of really dark, really sinister, sort of hammery type ones, yeah. And then next week is a full on, full-blown comedy from, you know, the old school of comedy from the old British stuff from the 70s.
Leeyeah, and it's just it's always a surprise, but it's always a pleasant surprise.
Lee
ChrisIt's what the characters and the dialogue seems to be something that they always get just so right that the characters just work so well together and the dialogue just bounces off and it's just flows in, yeah. So they can apply that to almost any style and story.
AdamIt's interesting because I was cuz I was watching them back with Claire and obviously we watched them like first time around and everything.
AdamAnd, it's weird because sometimes in the dialogue, you can hear their voices.
AdamLike you could imagine them delivering the lines almost. And I think it was that one in this which was just where she says about no, like a proper crossword, not one from TV Quick with Vanessa Feltz in the middle of it. And I could so hear that in Reese's voice. Proper crossword, not one in the middle of it. You know, and it just sort of, yeah.
LeeYeah.
LeeYeah.
AdamBut I the weirdest thing, and this seems to be quite quite an interesting thing because they obviously, stuff came out of when they built the crossword that they only spotted afterwards such as RIP NHS.
ChrisYeah.
AdamAnd literally, that was an accident that they spotted when the board was put up that that was there.
AdamSo and it's basically the focal point of the very end.
ChrisYeah. Yeah. Cause it literally says all your middle name is Horus, isn't it? And then leaves and then he blows his brains out and you they close up on RIP NHS. But that was an accident.
AdamYeah. Because literally he says all your middle name is Horace, isn't it? And then leaves and then he blows his brains out and you they close up on RIP NHS. But that was an accident. That wasn't put into the crossword unlike all the other stuff like the and everything else stuff they put in there.
ChrisLike the asxi.
AdamAnd even the, I switched the cups as a diagonal and things like that.
ChrisYeah.
AdamBut, and here's the best bit. So people who might be unfamiliar with Inside Number 9, why the fuck have you listened to this because you've just probably ruined the best fucking half an hour you could watch?
ChrisYeah.
ChrisI don't think we can ever make that up to you, sorry.
AdamNo, no, I don't think we can, but it's their own bloody fault.
AdamBut in every episode of Inside Number 9, there is a a hair is a hair statue.
AdamAnd it's been in they suddenly revealed it in like series 4 or something like that, where it was like, oh, by the way, we put this hair in and you've not noticed it for four series because no one had noticed this thing before until they pointed it out.
AdamAnd everyone thought it was a joke, went back and realized that it is in every episode.
AdamBut here's the best bit. In this one, they put it on a shelf just behind Steve and it was sort of bit in the shadows.
AdamNo one really noticed it.
AdamBut, again, no one noticed this on the production, one of the diagonals in the crossword is Lepus, which is Latin for rabbit.
LeeNo.
LeeWow.
AdamAnd and they hadn't noticed it, but the best bit was, they were getting loads of people going, that was clever, you hit the hair in the in the crossword.
Chriswe saw.
AdamThey were no, we didn't.
LeeOh.
AdamBut as they said themselves, you know, it's quite weird that it almost sort of like starts to converge to that level of like synergy.
LeeYeah, I think when you have that many things crossing over like this, yeah, you know, weird stuff is going to start to happen, I guess.
AdamYeah.
LeeBut yeah, oh, just and again, I I've watched this today. It's probably the sixth time I've seen it and as I said, I still laugh out loud every time. The twists and I think the thing is once you know the end and you go back and rewatch it, you appreciate more.
ChrisYou can almost, yeah.
AdamThat that is one of the few that it's one of I think because of the amount of twisty turniness, like a twisty turny thing that we do.
AdamIs it creates, the rewatchability of them.
AdamIt's not like, tells the unexpected, here's the story, here's the story, here's the story, twist. And once you know that twist, all right, well, that's the story's not interesting now. Whereas you know, not not necessarily all, but certainly a lot of them can really take rewatching again and again and again.
ChrisBecause and some of the the twists almost they're so minor compared to the rest of what's happened and yet you can almost take them and that would be a big twist in something else.
AdamOh, definitely.
ChrisAnd you can almost just forget them because there's just so many.
AdamApparently their influences on this were the 1972 film Sleuth and which I must confess I've not seen, and 1989's The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, And Her Lover, which does feature, spoiler alert, does feature cannibalism.
LeeSo.
AdamIt that is a fucked up film.
ChrisEvery time I hear cannibalism now, which isn't that often, I'm sure in life, but I'm going to think of vegan cannibalism.
LeeYeah.
AdamYeah.
AdamBut, yeah, and one thing I would say and certainly again, the horror side of it, the bit with the pot and the piece of like piece of flesh, that is Hannibal.
LeeYeah.
AdamIt's it's Hanniba it's the end the actual film Hannibal with Anthony Hopkins.
LeeThat's that's the.
ChrisCut cuts out.
LeeNot Matthew.
AdamNo, definitely with with with because in that he cooks and fries a part of someone of Ray Liotta's brain and it's done in a little dish like that.
ChrisYeah.
AdamAnd I know that Reese's quite obsessed with Hannibal.
AdamSo I'm definite that because they didn't mention that, but I'm definite that's where that comes from because it's the same bit of little fizzing skillet and there you go, it's like as a sweet meat.
ChrisBut again, they managed to do that and they do it so it's kind of funny while still being so visceral. Like it was such a perfect blend. Especially when he's eating it and the noises he's making and it's like, oh, that is exactly you've got to push yourself but oh.
LeeAnd even at that point. I mean, even when he opens the suitcase and starts because obviously you think he's brought the antidote with him and the suitcase and then he starts taking that stuff out. I was still like first time, yeah, I was like, where is this going now? Like, I mean, yeah.
LeeAbsolutely beautiful piece of misdirection, but you know, doing it twice as well is just.
LeeYeah.
LeePhenomenal.
ChrisAnd that's it, we haven't actually given away like everything we've said still has not covered everything that's in there. You could still absolutely watch it and be like, did they even tell us anything?
AdamI I I think I didn't mention I'm going to mime it for you guys just in case I didn't, but.
LeeYeah.
ChrisI I reckon people that will have been lost in the Yeah, yeah.
LeeYeah.
Leeyes, so yeah, and say for me as much as I've I wouldn't say I've loved every episode, I think every episode is brilliant.
Lee
LeeBut yeah, some of the darker ones, I just haven't gone back to and I don't think I will.
LeeNot because they're brilliant, but because.
ChrisCan you remember them, the name of them off the top of your head?
AdamI I would say definitely, wise owl. That is dark as fuck.
LeeYeah.
AdamAnd what is the what is the one, it's not Diddle Diddle Dumpling, although that's pretty grim.
AdamBut the, oh, it's the one with Nicola Walker and she's married to Steve and I don't want to say any more because that just basically bollocks is the thing for anyone.
LeeThe one with Reese when he finds the shoe.
AdamYeah, that's that's Diddle Diddle Dumpling.
ChrisOh, okay.
AdamAnd to have and to hold.
AdamThat's the one with, that I'm thinking of, To Have and To Hold, where it that is, yeah, that's.
ChrisAll right, I might I might put these on next just to see how dark things can get.
LeeYou do. Oh, 12 Days.
LeeOf Christina as well.
ChrisYeah, yeah.
AdamYeah, yeah.
LeeCold comfort as well. Yeah, so like.
LeeAnd they are.
AdamCold comfort, I think cold comfort.
LeeYeah.
AdamCold comfort, I think, would have been a contender for this.
AdamBut all of those would be contenders for this, but like we say, we were sticking more the horror end.
AdamAnd I know that and it's that is that they are much more disquieting.
ChrisYeah.
AdamYeah.
AdamYou know.
AdamThey are. That's it, they're they're disturbing rather than, you know.
ChrisAlthough The Harrowing sounds like it could be in that group, but it's not.
ChrisDo they do they mess with us there?
AdamI'm going to I'm going to say nothing, but all I am going to say is that it's it's only what Tim Burton's Dark Shadows could have been.
LeeOh.
LeeSo for our second episode we're covering this week, we are, as previously mentioned, discussing the steak out.
LeeAdam, would you like to give us the low down on the steak out?
Adamseries 5, episode 6, first broadcast on the 9th of March, 2020.
Leebefore the world fell apart.
AdamYeah.
AdamAnd, again, directed by, Morales.
Adamthis was this was a bit of a weird one because apparently they wrote the six episodes of series 5 and then they came back and said, have you got another script because one of the ones you've written's too expensive, so we can't budget it.
AdamHave you got.
Chris
ChrisWell, they.
AdamSo have you got another script that's really cheap? And basically, this was I think they said this was like the run up to Christmas, 2018.
AdamAnd, yeah, they, basically went, right, okay, so cheap, well, just two, the two of us. And two people sitting, right, two policemen in a car. That was literally how they where it came from.
LeeWow.
AdamThis is for an episode that I really I really love this episode.
Chris
Adamand but yeah, to find out that this was like a real like skin of the teeth job.
ChrisIt's one of those where the constraints sometimes help to bring out the best.
LeeYeah.
ChrisLike we've seen a few times, it's.
AdamYeah.
Adamand I think that the yeah, I mean, and obviously you then get the twist.
AdamWhich I remember I remember watching it and I worked it out. but I think they do such a good job with this. How were you with it? I cuz I I think it was it was the bit with the bridge that sort of tipped me off weirdly.
LeeYeah, see I didn't get it. I I don't remember that triggering.
LeeAgain, because they make it in the because it's in the middle of like quite a quick moving scene, so it kind of glossed over.
LeeAnd of course the coffee cups is just so but it's it's because of that misdirection at the beginning, because it shows you the closing scene at the beginning and you're so convinced you know where it's going. I didn't think outside of that box, which is just fantastic.
AdamYeah.
ChrisYeah.
ChrisYeah, absolutely the same. I like once I know I was like, oh, that should have been so obvious.
ChrisBut I think that must have been it, that yeah, just I was just set up and I couldn't you're trying to work out both of the characters. So it's not like I mean, yeah, I just I I was just fascinated by the way they play off each other and they're just yeah, which one of them is really, you know.
AdamI think I think that's another reason I like this is cuz I just really enjoy Reese and Steve as two characters going back and forth.
LeeYeah.
AdamI like there's there's others like what is it? Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room? I think that's just Yeah, just the two of them, yeah.
AdamAnd that's that's great as well. That really that's just really good.
AdamCuz they said that was one of the things with the sort of how quickly they had to do this is they were like, we kind of because it was us, we didn't have to rehearse as intensively because we weren't bringing anyone else in and we know how we work.
AdamBut, but yeah, they do so so and the best part is is that it is a proper, oh, for fuck's sake. Apparently they showed this before the series, they showed it to the BFI.
AdamAnd, like no one there had got it or clearly sort of like the the bulk of the audience had not twitched and then at the end when they were doing the Q&A and they said, well, I mean, it's even the title of steak out and they said the whole audience just went.
LeeOh.
AdamYeah. You know, it's like.
ChrisYeah.
AdamAnd there's this paper with the steak out written on this whole time.
AdamAnd never once gone vampire.
ChrisYeah.
AdamYou know.
AdamIt's sort of and because he's called Varney because of Varney the Vampire, which is the book that predates Dracula.
AdamAnd it was like a penny dreadful and, when was that?
AdamThat was that was like, yeah, that it was completed in 1847.
Adambut it's major influence on vampire fiction, particularly Dracula. It introduces into vampiric law fangs.
Adamfangs.
AdamThe double puncture marks on victims' throat, hypnotic powers and superhuman strength, which are all fairly fundamental.
AdamYeah.
AdamI mean, apparently apparently fucking.
Adamwalks around in daylight.
AdamYeah, so it's you know, there's other bits where you'll be like, oh, fuck off.
AdamBut.
AdamYou know, he's there is a lot in there.
AdamAnd yeah, this was called Varney the Vampire or the Feast of Blood.
AdamWritten by either James Malcolm Rhymer or Thomas Peckett Prest.
AdamAgain, it's sort of a bit of a gray area. It may be both of them.
AdamAnd, yeah, so there was that, but it was the it was the running over water thing that tipped me, I think.
AdamSo that's how I was able to know.
ChrisHow how many how many actual references were there?
AdamOh.
AdamEverything's there.
AdamCuz I mean even like.
LeeFive of them at the end.
AdamYeah. Yeah.
AdamHe has to be invited in.
AdamHe has to Yeah.
ChrisYeah.
AdamAgain, they do a riddle of the Sphinx.
AdamThey do at least take you through it.
AdamAs well.
AdamWhich is which is kind of, you know, I like that.
AdamYou know, because it's not done it never feels like they've it's not that they've had to explain it to you.
AdamIt's just like.
AdamAnd here's what you missed.
LeeYeah.
ChrisYeah.
AdamAnd again.
AdamYeah, I love the fact that they're the best thing is is I hate it when you.
LeeIt does.
AdamYeah, I love the fact that they're the best thing is is I hate it when you.
LeeOkay.
AdamWhere like a thing lies to you where they're like, oh, this is because of that.
AdamNo, that didn't happen or I didn't see that.
AdamOr whatever.
AdamThat opening dialogue where it's done and it's that.
AdamI think I've I've never seen it, but I think it's Sunset Boulevard that starts off with like a body floating in a pool.
AdamAnd then it's like this is me, let me tell you how I end up there and it's sort of like this narration by a dead person.
AdamAnd so at the start of this, when he goes, yeah, I'm dead, and it's like, yeah, they haven't lied to you.
LeeYeah.
AdamHe's a vampire, so he's dead. But yeah, it's just so yeah, just perfect that you can go back and not.
AdamAnd just thread it again, it's like really really impressive.
AdamAnd also just really fucking funny again.
ChrisYeah, yeah.
AdamYou know, for the majority of it.
AdamI mean, that bit about the where he's saying about what they used to have and it's like.
AdamStack of Pringles.
LeeWhy not?
AdamYeah, get two good pieces in one of them, too.
LeeYes.
LeeAnd the bit.
LeeWhen he's starting to open up and he goes, I, I, I spy with my.
AdamYes.
AdamShy away, well, again.
LeeYeah.
AdamRight, you go. Yeah.
LeeYeah, it's.
Leeyeah, it's.
LeeAnd, and you know, and we were saying, you know, I know we mentioned it, we've been discussing it off air quite a lot recently when we've just been chatting.
Leeyeah, just the way they've kept it this fresh for this long, you know.
Leeyou know, I know that,
LeeTausy Unexpected, which again is one that we will reference quite a lot, I'm sure.
Lee
AdamWe maybe need to cover some. You you've you've seen the majority of them, so.
LeeI watched the entire thing.
LeeLast year, I watched all hundred episodes or whatever it was.
AdamYeah, but I mean if you dig out like a good three or something like that, we'll cover them or something.
AdamI think it's for the New Year.
LeeYeah.
LeeYeah, I mean and they've got some really sinister episodes as well.
LeeSo again.
LeeBut the thing is unlike this, it was you know, they they started with the Roledoll stories that were excellent and they picked the best ones and then it very quickly went into the ones that wouldn't translate quite so well.
LeeThen they.
LeeThey ran out of those.
LeeAnd just started.
LeeWriting their own.
LeeAnd it it went off the boil pretty quickly.
Adambut but that's but that's the interesting thing as well is that that you know.
AdamI mean, obviously they were based on Roledoll stories, but they I don't know if he adapted them himself for the screen or whatever.
LeeI'm not sure.
LeeHow involved.
LeeI know obviously he introduces each one with a very unusual introduction, normally.
AdamYes.
AdamBut I think that but again with Inside Number 9 for two people.
AdamEssentially.
AdamAnd that's not to sort of take away from producers and obviously.
AdamThey have a multitude.
AdamBy the way, Lee.
AdamInteresting little factoid, I don't think we're covering any of these episodes.
Adam
AdamAnd I can't for the life of me think of his real name, but one of the directors recently on Inside Number 9 is best known to many of us as Barry Ship P's.
LeeOh, yeah, yeah.
LeeNow who.
LeeWas it you who told me that?
AdamI don't think.
AdamIt was me.
AdamNo.
LeeIt was Jennifer.
LeeSo we were discussing him recently and she was looking on IMDb because we were going to be covering him, and she went, did you know some of the episodes were directed by Barry Ship P's?
LeeAnd I was like.
Adam
AdamOh.
LeeFuck off. Well, she went, I'm telling you.
LeeYeah, no, I, weird, how weird.
AdamYeah.
LeeFor anyone who's unaware, Charlie Brooker does a show called Screenwipe and Gamewipe.
Leeand yeah, he used to have fictional characters who were interviewed on him, one turns up in the first episode of season 7 of this.
Adamyeah, Philly. Yeah.
Leeas Philomena Cunk, Morgan.
LeeYeah, but yeah, Barry Ship's is the other the other guy who they interview on it. yeah, I had no idea he was a director.
LeeSo I'm going to have to find his episodes and work out which ones they are.
AdamAl Campbell, my scientific advisor has just told me.
LeeSo.
AdamSo, yeah, and but again, yeah, that's just a weird one.
AdamAlthough I do feel sorry for him because.
AdamI'll forget that name again and I'll still be saying it's Barry Ship Peace.
LeeYeah.
AdamYou know, Charlie Brooker has done that man a severe disservice.
AdamTo the point where I think, is he going to chuck it all in at one point and just change his name?
LeeYeah.
AdamSo and the bafter lifetime achievement awards goes to Barry Ship P's.
LeeOh.
Adam
AdamYeah.
AdamOh.
AdamYeah.
AdamAnd, again, Morales sort of adding to the plot of like adding to the visuals and adding to the story and everything else like that.
AdamHe was the one who came up with the idea.
AdamThat they would show.
AdamTomo in the rearview mirror being fed on and you could you can see the wound moving like where Varney's latched on to him and then it cuts and it's where he's actually in real life but the reflection in the mirror where obviously Varney's not showing, but just you can see the actions that he's doing and, yeah, I don't think that's been that's not something I've seen in a vampire film.
LeeNo.
AdamSo it's a pretty unique image.
AdamIt'll probably be robbed fucking blind now.
LeeYeah.
LeeI'm sure it will.
LeeOh, cuz it just worked so well. It's yeah, fantastic.
AdamYeah, just perfect. You can go back and not.
AdamAnd just thread it again, it's like really really impressive.
AdamAnd also just really fucking funny again.
ChrisYeah, yeah.
AdamYou know, for the majority of it. I mean, that bit about the where he's saying about what they used to have and it's like.
AdamStack of Pringles.
LeeWhy not?
AdamWhy not?
LeeWhy not?
AdamYeah, get two.
LeeYes.
LeeAnd the bit.
LeeWhen he's starting.
LeeTo open up and he goes, I, I, I spy with my.
AdamYes.
AdamShy away. Well, again.
LeeYeah.
AdamRight, you go.
LeeYeah.
LeeYeah, it's.
Leeyeah, it's.
Leeyeah, it's.
LeeAnd, and you know, and we were saying, you know, I know we mentioned it, we've been discussing it off air quite a lot recently when we've just been chatting.
Leeyeah, just the way they've kept it this fresh for this long, you know.
Lee
LeeYeah, so and you know, and we were saying, you know, I know we mentioned it, we've been discussing it off air quite a lot recently when we've just been chatting. yeah, just the way they've kept it this fresh for this long, you know. you know, I know that, Tausy Unexpected, which again is one that we will reference quite a lot, I'm sure. yeah, I mean and they've got some really sinister episodes as well.
LeeSo again.
LeeBut the thing is.
LeeUnlike this.
LeeIt was you know, they they started with the Roledoll stories that were excellent and they picked the best ones and then it very quickly went into the ones that wouldn't translate quite so well.
LeeThen they.
LeeThey ran out of those.
LeeAnd just started.
LeeWriting their own.
LeeAnd it it went off the boil pretty quickly.
Adambut but that's but that's the interesting thing as well is that that you know.
AdamI mean, obviously they were based on Roledoll stories, but they I don't know if he adapted them himself for the screen or whatever.
LeeI'm not sure.
LeeHow involved.
LeeI know obviously he introduces each one with a very unusual introduction, normally.
AdamYes.
AdamBut I think that but again with Inside Number 9 for two people.
AdamEssentially.
AdamAnd that's not to sort of take away from producers and obviously.
AdamThey have a multitude.
AdamBy the way, Lee.
AdamInteresting little factoid, I don't think we're covering any of these episodes.
Adam
AdamAnd I can't for the life of me think of his real name.
AdamBut one of the directors recently on Inside Number 9 is best known to many of us as Barry Ship P's.
LeeOh, yeah, yeah.
LeeNow who.
LeeWas it you who told me that?
AdamI don't think.
AdamIt was me.
AdamNo.
LeeIt was Jennifer.
LeeSo we were discussing him recently and she was looking on IMDb because we were going to be covering him, and she went, did you know some of the episodes were directed by Barry Ship P's?
LeeAnd I was like.
AdamYeah.
AdamYeah.
AdamYeah.
LeeFuck off. Well, she went, I'm telling you.
LeeYeah, no, I, weird, how weird.
AdamAl Campbell, my scientific advisor has just told me.
LeeSo.
AdamSo, yeah, and but again, yeah, that's just a weird one.
AdamAlthough I do feel sorry for him because.
AdamI'll forget that name again and I'll still be saying it's Barry Ship Peace.
LeeYeah.
AdamYou know, Charlie Brooker has done that man a severe disservice.
AdamTo the point where I think, is he going to chuck it all in at one point and just change his name?
LeeYeah.
AdamSo and the bafter lifetime achievement awards goes to Barry Ship P's.
LeeOh.
AdamOh.
AdamYeah.
AdamOh.
AdamYeah.
AdamAnd, again, Morales sort of adding to the plot of like adding to the visuals and adding to the story and everything else like that.
AdamHe was the one who came up with the idea.
AdamThat they would show.
AdamTomo in the rearview mirror being fed on and you could you can see the wound moving.
LeeYeah.
AdamLike where Varney's latched on to him and then it cuts and it's where he's actually in real life, but the reflection in the mirror where obviously Varney's not showing, but just you can see the actions that he's doing.
AdamAnd, yeah.
AdamI don't think that's been.
AdamThat's not something I've seen in a vampire film.
LeeNo.
AdamSo it's a pretty unique image.
AdamIt'll probably be robbed fucking blind now.
LeeYeah.
LeeI'm sure it will.
LeeOh.
LeeCuz it just worked so well.
LeeIt's yeah, fantastic.
AdamYeah.
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