Getting the inside track

IN THE wrong hands, I’d imagine tonight’s episode of INSIDE NO. 9, the first of its sixth series (BBC2, 9.30pm), would be nigh on unwatchable, the very worst kind of self-indulgent, selfreferential television.

But it’s not in the wrong hands. Of course it’s not. It’s in the hands, as always, of the show’s gloriously inventive creators, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, and as a result it’s tremendous.

The story – as per normal, a 30-minute standalone affair – is “a sort of cross between commedia dell’arte and a heist movie”.At least, that’s how guest star Gemma Whelan’s character describes it, breaking the fourth wall, as they say in Tellyland, to address us directly through the camera and set the scene.

“Hey, it’s series six,” Gemma goes on to remind us, with an apologetic sigh, “you’ve got to allow for a certain artistic exhaustion…” Put differently, it’s about a bunch of guys planning a diamond robbery, but with their standard gangster-style masks replaced by the sort worn in traditional 16th century Italian theatre.

Yes, quite.

But Pemberton and Shearsmith, ably assisted by a guest cast that also includes Paterson Joseph and Kevin Bishop, have taken what sounds on paper like a tiresomely smug idea and turned it into something that couldn’t be further removed from that – half an hour of infectious silliness, crammed with old-fashioned slapstick, a smattering of juvenile smut (that and the swearing might admittedly put some people off) and corny old gags that come at such a pace that you’re pretty much forced to surrender and just enjoy them, much though you’ll tell yourself you shouldn’t.

“Make me a cheese sandwich!” “Caerphilly?”

“Yeah, use a blunt knife.” The joy of Inside No.9 is that it’s consistently clever, but wears its cleverness lightly.

The show also never ceases to surprise us, every episode being an entirely new tale with fresh characters.This also means that, as viewers, we can hop on board whenever we fancy – there’s none of that exhausting backstory business we need to concern ourselves with.

And by keeping to that 30-minute framework it never outstays its welcome.

Just be warned – there’s always a dark twist. Best to brace yourself for that.

Earlier, THE GREAT NORTHERN GARDEN BUILD (BBC2, 8pm) is a two-part documentary following the creation of RHS Garden Bridgewater in Salford.The voiceover lady insists it’s “one of the most ambitious and challenging garden projects the UK has ever seen”, but then the voiceover lady has never tried weeding my lawn.