BBC Two
You’ve got to laugh haven’t you? Inside Number 9 ended as it probably always would – with an immortal fiend from hell trapped in the body of an ancient cloven hoofed man in a nappy advancing towards a helpless bound schoolgirl in her bra and pants to condemn her to a lifetime of demonic possession. Nurse, my sides! But like an R&B groupie who went on a date with Chris Brown we knew what we were getting ourselves into. The Harrowing was a good way to wrap up the series and showcased once again Pemberton and Shearsmith’s diseased mastery of comedy horror.
We’ve had the paedophile burnt alive in a closet like he was a protected witness on Line of Duty, the doomed silent movie art thieves, the slow descent into grief induced insanity, the dying girl and the dead pop star, the meta-Macbeth and what everyone is asking is: where is the Harrowing of Hell from the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus? Well clearly they had to save that until last.
Like an R&B groupie who went on a date with Chris Brown we knew what we were getting ourselves into.
Looking like the missing Addams Family members siblings Hector (Shearsmith) and Tabitha (Helen McCrory) hire schoolgirl Katy (Aimee-Ffion Edwards), to look after their creepy Gothic mansion as they attend an event. Upstairs is Andras their terribly disabled brother “born inside out as my mother used to say” Tabitha explains and also, apparently, without a mouth. What shitbird mouthless monster lurks upstairs? Maybe Katy’s dopey emo friend Shell (Poppy Rush) could shed some light on that?
There’s nothing scarier than the disabled and nothing funnier than domestic abuse and Pemberton and Shearsmith combine the two perfectly here. It’s been a great first series, the pair possessing what you need to succeed in this sub genre: the eye of a comedian and the heart of an axe murderer.
The verdict: Demon fink.
Marks out of 10: 8
