# Talk:The Harrowing (Inside No. 9)

EVERY episode was intriguing and lovingly-crafted, but I thought Inside No. 9 (BBC2, Wednesday) was a series of two halves.
It blew hot during the first three tales of the unexpected - and cold during the last three tales (The Harrowing - very creepy - closed the series).
Maybe that's unfair because it's judging the latter against the brilliance of the first three - but that's what you get for setting sky-high standards!

It's hard to know which to admire more - the rich and perverse imaginations of Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith or the extraordinary range of acting talent that has brought this strange and memorable series to life. The final episode tonight is also the most Gothic. A sensible young woman (Aimeé-Ffion Edwards) goes to babysit in a refrigerated mansion while its owners, a most unusual brother and sister played by Shearsmith and Helen McCrory, are called away on a matter of great urgency. Upstairs lurks a bedridden brother who was apparently born inside out. The story is called The Harrowing, named after Christ's descent into Hell to free the imprisoned spirits. Babysitting doesn't get tougher than this.

Comedy doesn't come blacker than this. Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith cut loose in their series-concluding episode and produce a chilling half-hour that really is best avoided by those of a nervous disposition, as the presentation announcers used to say. Schoolgirl Katy (Aimeé-Ffion Edwards) arrives to babysit at a gothic mansion where there is no mobile-phone signal, no heating and, as it turns out, no baby. Hector (Shearsmith) and Tabitha (Helen McCrory) are the spooky siblings asking her to look after the place, which is also home to their infirm brother upstairs. Katy really should forget the big money on offer and get out of there fast, but she has a cheerful schoolmate coming to join her.


### References