TELL US ABOUT THE FIRST EPISODE, WHICH IS CENTRED AROUND FOOTBALL
Steve: That was a one-line idea; it started with the notion of where it could be set, and then the story grew from that. Once you start thinking about football and "what are the stories to do with being a referee?", there were lots and lots of stories. Watching it now, I'm amazed how much we packed into 30 minutes, actually.
HOW MUCH OF THE SHOW IS BASED ON YOUR PERSONAL INTERESTS?
Reece: Steve was the driving force behind the football one. I just learnt it phonetically. We've done one about magic and illusion – I wanted to explore that world.
So, one of us will have more of an interest in doing it, and then we sit together and think, "What's a good story to spin out of it?". Or it can be some weird little news report that you think, "Does it seem believable?".
Steve: We've got another episode in this series which is all kind of monologues, and one of the monologues is a YouTuber. That came from reading the news story about the girl who tried to blag a free hotel room, just saying, "I'm a YouTuber, give me everything for free". So that sparked interest, and we've done a whole little YouTube section. You learn a lot doing this show!
WOULD YOU EVER REVISIT EPISODES FROM PAST SERIES?
Reece: We would think about doing a sequel, if it was worth it. I'm afraid that we would be accused of running out of ideas if we did it, but if it was a good reason to return to something then that would be good.
DO YOU GET ACTORS ASKING YOU TO WRITE THEM PARTS?
Steve: Definitely! David Morrissey had been saying to us for ages that he would love to be involved.
It was interesting with the referees one, because we didn't know which parts we wanted to play. Genuinely, we could have played any of those roles within it. But we just thought for the main refereeing character, to have that really big man... I was doing Britannia with him and I was telling him about it, and I could see a little glint in his eye.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE EPISODE?
Reece: It's hard, it's like choosing your favourite child. The ones that people like are the ones that make you cry; it's not the comedy ever, it's the ones that move people.
[On the episode called Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room] We were surprised that that one took such a grip with people. We thought it was a good one, but we didn't think it was this amazing, heartfelt... It was a vehicle for me and Steve to do a two-hander, that's where it was born from. We'd never done one where it was just us two.
ARE YOU BECOMING MORE SENSITIVE TO AUDIENCES GUESSING WHERE THE STORYLINE IS GOING?
Steve: Yes. Even though we know what our story is and what our ending is, we never want you to get there before we want you to get there. So, we always sit and we say, "What do you think you're watching when you're watching this?" and, "Where do you think it's going?".
We plot out where we hope you think it's going so that we can send you off down the false track and hopefully there's a nice surprise. But one of the joys of the series, and one of the more difficult things, as we write more and more episodes, is to do that in different ways.
:: Inside No 9 returns to BBC Two tonight.
