Inside No 9, starts Tuesday February 21, BBC Two, 10pm
SUPERB BBC comedy drama anthology series Inside No 9 returns to TV next week for a brand new run of five self-contained stories from the skewed imaginations of creators Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton.
The third series will once again feature Shearsmith and Pemberton on-screen alongside a number of top guest star turns including Philip Glenister, Keeley Hawes, Felicity Kendal, Tamzin Outhwaite, Fiona Shaw, Morgana Robinson, Mat Baynton and Jason Watkins.
"If there's a part for us in it, we'll do it," explains Shearsmith of how they cast Inside No 9.
"We don't even write thinking about ourselves in them, because we think that might hamper the best storytelling that might be available to us at that point.
"But then we say, 'Who will play that then?' and iron it out.
"It's also hard to put your eggs in one basket and hope for one person. If you can't get them, you're forever feeling slightly disappointed."
Fans will be excited to learn that a fourth series is already being written for broadcast next year.
"By the end of the fourth series, we'll have written 24 pilots," says Shearsmith.
"That's essentially what they are, one-offs. It's a prolific amount of ideas to try to keep being fresh about."
Pemberton adds: "A lot of the ideas we've used we've had in the bottom draw for a while, and that bottom draw is getting a bit empty now."
Best enjoy them while we can, then.
