How Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's series could have had a different name

Inside No 9 could have been Inside No 5, creators Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith have revealed.

The pair showed some early notes for their anthology series to Nick Mohammed – who starred in the Simon Says episode of season six – for a documentary about their hit horror-comedy which airs tonight.

Spotting that the notebook includes a drawing of a front door with the Number 5 on it, Mohammed asks:  So it was going to be called Inside No 5?’

And without directly answering the question, Pemberton said: ‘We were just thinking, "let’s make the door number the thing that links them".’

In the programme – much of which was shot behind the scenes of the last-ever episode – the pair reveal mixed feelings about the series coming to an end.

At one point, Shearsmith says: ‘I can't grasp the enormity of it in the way that everyone else seems to be able to. It’s just we've been doing it and we're stopping doing it now. 

Pemberton says: ‘Endings are hard. We've always known endings are hard.’

He said the series had been ‘the best job… working with your best friend. To have had more than 50 different characters over ten years has been amazing.’

And asked whether he preferred writing or performing, he said: ‘I've always thought of Inside Number 9 as a as a more of a writing project having to come up ideas with and keep that level high and keep surprising people .

’As much as it's been hard and we've moaned about it. I have really enjoyed it and I will miss not having it there.’

He also said he had to remind his friend to enjoy the process of making the show.

For his part, Shearsmith said of recording each story: ‘Because we’ve written it and it's been in our heads for a long time. doing it becomes not quite, I suspect, the fun that you might think it is. Because it is serious, because you want to get it right.

He said the show had ‘been a very massive chapter in our careers’ , adding: ‘I don't feel like for the last 10 years I've only done one thing. I feel like we've done a lifetime of ideas.’

• Inside No 9: The Party’s Over is on BBC Two at 9pm tonight.

Published: 22 Dec 2024