Inside No 9 – ‘And The Winner Is…’

It should be a great shame of the TV awards establishment that Inside No 9 has received so little recognition, despite consistently being one of the strongest shows on the smaller screen and one that is acclaimed by viewers and critics alike. It should come as no surprise, then, that Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith should turn their attention to the inside of a TV jury room for an episode skewering the self-important types within the business. ‘And The Winner Is…’ is a good parody of the TV industry, but it’s a weak entry in an otherwise strong season.

A group of seven gather to decide which of the year’s stars will be awarded the coveted Best Actress trophy. Upbeat chair Giles (Pemberton) leads struggling writer Clive (Shearsmith), veteran actor Rupert (Kenneth Cranham), successful director Gordon (Noel Clarke), TV critic June (Fenella Woolgar), vapid American star Paula (Zoe Wanamaker) and, for the first time, a member of the public – dentist receptionist Jackie (Phoebe Sparrow). As the group deliberates, tensions rise and things get more foul-mouthed until a winner is chosen.

It’s just easy satire, and nothing more

After some of the darkness in this series (including last week’s very dark ‘To Have and To Hold’), ‘And The Winner Is…’ is a massive change of tone – it’s almost light-hearted, a take on TV people being hypocritical and terrible than dishes its mockery fairly equally. Rupert’s sexism, June’s realisation at how pointless her profession can be, Clive sucking up to Gordon in the hope that his latest screenplay will be made – we’ve got a bunch of self-important, pompous media types who are all attacked. You have to wonder how much of this is based on real-life, given how well-observed it is (and there are a decent number of amusing lines to enjoy, too).

I think that ‘And The Winner Is…’ stumbles a bit because it doesn’t add anything new to the conversation or offer a new way of looking at things. Entertainment awards are a bit of a sham, based on almost anything other than who is best and actually deserves to win (speaking of which, the Oscars are coming up) and people in media are horrible. There’s no massive tonal shift of the type Inside No 9 does so well – it’s just easy satire, and nothing more.

‘And The Winner Is…’ delivered one of the weakest twists of the show thus far

Obviously, being an episode of Inside No 9, we expected a twist. ‘And The Winner Is…’ delivered one of the weakest twists of the show thus far, and a lot of people had guessed it on social media before the episode wrapped up. It transpired – SPOILER ALERT – that Jackie was, in fact, one of the actresses up for the award, and was trying to manipulate the other members of the jury in order to win. It’s not a twist that seemed particularly shocking, nor did you immediately want to rewatch it in order to see how clever Pemberton and Shearsmith have been in seeding hints throughout the episode (‘Once Removed’). No, it’s just there, presumably because we needed a twist.

It reads as though I’m really slating ‘And The Winner Is…’, but I want to emphasise that this is an enjoyable half-hour of TV. The acting is good, there are good gags and if any other show turned out something of this quality, we’d be praising it to the rooftops. But this isn’t any other show – this is Inside No 9 and, by the high standards previously set, it just doesn’t compare.

Next week: Three council contractors have to clear out the flat of a dead hoarder but, when they discover a bloodstained floor, their lives will never be the same again…

You can read our review of the previous episode, ‘To Have and To Hold,’ here.