Séance Time

Séance Time is the Sixth episode of the second series of Inside No. 9.

Tina (McShera) arrives at a Victorian villa for a séance. Hives (Shearsmith) settles Tina before retrieving Talbot (Steadman), who arrives shrouded in black and carrying a doll. Talbot, an elderly woman with heavy cataracts, speaks in a high-pitched voice, unnerving Tina. When the séance begins, objects fly around the room, Talbot's voice becomes demonic and ectoplasm seeps from her mouth. Hives encourages Tina not to break the circle, but she does so when a blue-faced demon (Starkey) appears behind her. She is terrified until Hives reveals himself to be Terry, the host of a hidden camera programme called *Scaredy Cam*.

*Scaredy Cam* production crew, including the director Gemma (Lloyd) and the make-up artist Amanda (Lowe), enter to prepare for the next prank. "Talbot" is being played by the demanding stage actress Anne, but the other crew are unable to remember the name of the extra (who they falsely believe to be a dwarf) playing "Blue Demon Dwarf". They mostly ignore him, despite his eagerness to talk about his acting experiences and his requests for a drink. Terry is irritable and impatient, unwilling to talk to Tina or Gemma about a prank with him dressed up as a gorilla. This prank led to a young boy wetting himself and a previous cancellation of *Scaredy Cam*. The programme is due to return on a different channel, and Terry has chosen a different prank to be announced as the winner of a "public" vote for the programme's best. The extra confronts Terry about the fact he was originally cast as "Spirit of Little Boy", but Terry does not care, and the extra is sent back into a chest to wait for the next member of the public.

Pete (Pemberton), a new mark, enters, but the prank does not work as well as with Tina. Among other problems, Pete swears too much and does not seem affected by the atmosphere, while cues are missed by the pranksters. Terry is surprised to hear a child's voice during Anne's performance as Madam Talbot, and, backstage, the camera stream is blurry. When "Blue Demon Dwarf" appears, Pete punches him, and the production crew rush in. The extra drifts in and out of consciousness before Gemma—having covered her face in blue paint after giving mouth-to-mouth—says he has died. Backstage, people wait for the police and ambulance; Terry is worried about his career, Anne wants to get away for some food and Amanda is keen to retrieve props from the corpse, but Pete and Gemma show some remorse. When alone, Terry looks to the camera feed and sees the extra standing in the séance room, and, relieved, runs to see him. Facing away from Terry and speaking in a rasping voice, the figure introduces himself as "Spirit of Little Boy", and talks of a suicide after the embarrassment of wetting himself on television. After speaking to the "boy", Terry believes that he himself is on *Scaredy Cam*, but no one is watching from backstage. When he touches the figure, the extra collapses, but a child's voice continues to shout. A corpse-like child (Wall) begins to rise from the cot used for Madam Talbot's doll. Backstage, Gemma and a police officer look for Terry. They find him in the séance room; he has wet himself, and insists that he is on *Scaredy Cam*. The child's face appears on the camera feed.

## Cast

 Sophie McShera
 Alison Steadman
 Dan Starkey
 Cariad Lloyd
 Alice Lowe
 Steve Pemberton
 Caden Ellis Wall