Original Air Date: October 28, 2018
Originally, I planned to review an episode of Millennium, “The Curse of Frank Black,” but it’s nowhere to be found—not even on the darkest corners of the web. So instead, I’m bringing you one of my favorite Halloween specials of recent years: Inside No. 9’s “Dead Line,” which, much like my last-minute substitution, also gave BBC Two viewers something very unexpected.
If you haven’t heard of Inside No. 9, it’s an anthology television show where each 30-minute episode is set in a single location. Writers and creators Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith often star in most episodes, blending horror, drama, and black comedy.
Prior to the broadcast of “Dead Line,” the following synopsis was released to the press: “When Arthur Flitwick finds an old mobile phone in his local graveyard, he makes the mistake of trying to contact the owner, but some mysteries are best left unsolved. As Halloween draws near, Arthur is plunged into a nightmare of his own making.”
Pemberton and Shearsmith promoted the live special on talk shows, discussing their views on ghosts (they don’t believe in them). Naturally, viewers expected a standard spooky episode—until the unexpected happened.
When the special aired, the audio suddenly dropped out a few minutes in. A minute or two later, the broadcast cut to a BBC Two message about technical difficulties. After another failed attempt to resume the episode, the broadcast switched to a rerun of the show’s second episode, “A Quiet Night In.” And then, things got stranger.
A few minutes into “A Quiet Night In,” a spectral figure of a woman appeared in the background. She drew closer, screamed, and the episode cut out again. This led to the actual episode: Shearsmith and Pemberton, playing themselves, grumbling about the broadcast problems in their dressing room at Granada Studios.
From here, the episode spliced in footage exploring the alleged haunted history of Granada. One clip shows a broadcast from Public Enemy Number One, where performer Bobby Davro nearly died in a stunt gone wrong. Other segments show moments from the show The Most Haunted, explaining how Granada is near a massive graveyard at St. John’s Church. The constant misdirection and lore always make the episode engrossing.
Pemberton and Shearsmith’s characters investigate mysterious sounds and voices emanating from the empty studio. Shearsmith even wears a GoPro (a prop from the abandoned live show), giving us eerie POV shots as the whole thing unfolds like a paranormal Blair Witch or Paranormal Activity-style sequence.
What I love about Inside No. 9 is its balls. Or should that be “bullocks”? I’m sure plenty of viewers changed the channel, thinking the broadcast was genuinely botched. But for those who stuck around, they got 30 minutes of brilliantly inventive TV.
Inside No. 9 ended this year (naturally, with its ninth season), and I’m excited to catch up and rank the episodes. Spoiler: “Dead Line” is definitely in my top five, and it’s my favorite Halloween-themed TV episode I watched this year.
Until next year, Happy Haunting!