NINE LIVES
ON SET FOR THE FINA L SERIES OF INSIDE NO 9, STEVE PEMBERTON AND R EECE SHEARSMITH R EFLECT ON THE TYR ANNY OF THE TWIST
WORDS: DARREN SCOTT
ALL PICTURES © BBC
LATE JANUARY, AND SFX IS AT another vast stately home in England for filming on a gothic production.
“Joanna Lumley said ‘Fuck off ’ in this room,” Steve Ryde, executive producer of Inside No 9, tells us. Not that she’s appearing in the ninth, and final, series of the iconic British anthology show – that we know of, at least. We’re informed that Arley Hall in Cheshire, where their penultimate week of filming is taking place, has also recently been used for Netflix’s Fool Me Once, as well as Peaky Blinders.
We’re in a library, which is almost floor to ceiling with books. Right in front of us is the famous No 9 hare, sitting opposite a bust of one of the guest actors. “We’ll probably give it to him,” Ryde says of the sculpture. The hare – which makes a hidden appearance in every episode – is one of many copies, we’re told. Fact fans: it has blue felt underneath.
Outside the bay window there are a large number of vans filled with production essentials. Someone is painting a strange wooden shape bright green…
BITTERSWEET SYMPHONY
Adjourning to the dining room, via those pesky creaking floorboards that plague almost every period production, crew are stoking the fireplace as Steve Pemberton gets direction. Lillian the maid (Hayley Squires) is taking position. Reece Shearsmith appears to be holding an aged piece of paper. The crew bring in plates of leftover food. Pemberton takes his seat, his collar is dishevelled.
“Everyone quiet! Standby! Action!” someone yells. Lillian clears the plates. It’s a scene where Pemberton and Shearsmith’s characters are being introduced, involving a manuscript that’s been “found jammed”.
“It isn’t poppycock, Lillian, ever since Ludwig it’s been a decisive landmark,” Pemberton’s character warns. He walks over to a gramophone and pretends to light a cigarette. Ready for a take, costume comes in to fix his collar, while make-up comb his moustache.
Scene 430/Take 1 is marked by a clapperboard with the Inside No 9 logo. The boom goes into shot so it’s quickly on to take two. “It looks to be part of a symphony,” one of the characters notes. “To embark upon symphony number nine is considered a folly…”