Inside No 9: The Devil of Christmas
INSIDE No 9 is one of the best comedies – nay, programmes – that the BBC have produced in recent memory, so thankfully the off-kilter anthology show from the warped minds of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton (who also made The League of Gentlemen, but don't hold that against them) did not disappoint with its first ever 'Christmas special' this week.
The Devil of Christmas served up a spooky, seasonally themed story shot in the style of a 1970s BBC teleplay complete with 4:3 aspect ratio, creaky sets, shonky camera movements and overacting cast delivering their dialogue with the kind of received pronunciation we're almost becoming nostalgic for in the era of Geordie Shore et al.
In true Inside No 9 tradition, nothing was quite as it seemed: the unexpected intrusion of a 'director's commentary'-style audio track alerted viewers that this was to be an unconventional homage to a bygone era of broadcasting.
However, few viewers will have guessed just how skewed this tale of a family's Austrian skiing holiday gone very wrong would become by the time it reached its genuinely shocking finale.
To tell you more would spoil the surprise: best hurry along to the BBC iPlayer and watch it yourself before someone accidentally spills the beans.
:: A new series of Inside No 9 starts early in 2017.
