My 10 favourite episodes of Inside No.9

I have just finished watching Inside No.9—it is brilliant! It’s a British black comedy series, written by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, and each episode is a self-contained story, almost all starring one of them or both (usually both).

Ingenuous plots, clever twists, good dialogue, good attention to detail. Also, both Shearsmith and Pemberton have a great range. 

Here are my 10 favourite episodes (in chronological order): 

• A Quiet Night In: two hapless burglars trying to steal a (postmodernist?) painting whilst the couple in the house argue; almost entirely without dialogue. 
• The Understudy: about a production of Macbeth, and inspired by Macbeth. 
• The 12 Days of Christine: 12 days from 12 years of Christine’s life; great drama and emotion packed into just half an hour. 
• The Bill: simple premise (four men arguing over a bill), simple location (for most of the episode, around a table); the entire plot driven by characters and dialogue. 
• The Riddle of the Sphinx: one of the most ingenuous episodes in the series; revolving around a cryptic crossword. 
• Zanzibar: a Shakespeare mash-up; the whole dialogue in iambic pentameter. 
• Bernie Clifton’s Dressing Room: double-act Cheese and Crackers reuniting after 30 years to perform in front of an audience. 
• Once Removed: a removal man arriving to help a woman move house, leading to bizarre circumstances that unfold through reverse chronology; one of the cleverest episodes. 
• Misdirection: a battle of wits between magicians, years after a stolen trick. 
• Wuthering Heist: a heist film in the style of Commedia dell’arte and inspired by Reservoir Dogs. 
• The Bones of St Nicholas: a professor camping in a church that is said to be haunted and contain the bones of St Nicholas. 

All right, I know, that’s actually 11. But you can’t make me get rid of one. 

One of my favourite jokes from Inside No.9: 

- Jesus! What a blue-cock!

- What’s a blue-cock?

- A tight-fisted wanker.

On Hannah Arendt and antisemitism

I always wanted to read Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism—now seemed like the perfect time. Very interesting book, at least so far. 

I’m just going to jot down some thoughts. 

1/ “This situation was an important factor in the early rise and continuous growth of antisemitism in the nineteenth century. Which group of people would turn antisemitic in a given country at a given historical moment depended exclusively upon general circumstances which made them ready for a violent antagonism to their government. But the remarkable similarity of arguments and images which time and again were spontaneously reproduced have an intimate relationship with the truth they distort. We find the Jews always represented as an international trade organization, a world-wide family concern with identical interests everywhere, a secret force behind the throne which degrades all visible governments into mere facade, or into marionettes whose strings are manipulated from behind the scenes. Because of their close relationship to state sources of power, the Jews were invariably identified with power, and because of their aloofness from society and concentration upon the closed circle of the family, they were invariably suspected of working for the destruction of all social structures.” (P.1, ch.2)

Still true today, this is something I see on both the left and the right. 

2/ “It is an obvious, if frequently forgotten, rule that anti-Jewish feeling acquires political relevance only when it can combine with a major political issue, or when Jewish group interests come into open conflict with those of a major class in society.” (ibid.)

Over the past few years, I have seen anti-Jewish sentiments expressed among the anti-immigrant crowd, the anti-woke crowd, the “Covid is a hoax” crowd, and other groups, but the biggest political issue adopted by antisemites at the moment is the Palestinian cause. To clarify, I don’t mean that every single pro-Palestinian person hates Jews, or wants to destroy the state of Israel, but I would argue that lots of antisemites hide behind the Palestinian cause and mask their Jew hatred by replacing the word “Jews” with “Zionists” when saying something antisemitic. 

Regarding the pro-Palestinian (or more accurately, anti-Israeli) protests in the West and especially in London, I have no doubt that many people genuinely care about the Palestinians and want the suffering in Gaza to end, but it’s a fact that many others in the marches hate Jews, support Hamas, and want Israel to be destroyed “from the river to the sea”. You can’t deny it. You too have seen the signs. You too have heard the chants. You too have seen people openly supporting Hamas. 

3/ “Many of these bankers were Jews and, even more important, the general figure of the banker bore definite Jewish traits for historical reasons. Thus the leftist movement of the lower middle class and the entire propaganda against banking capital turned more or less antisemitic, a development of little importance in industrial Germany but of great significance in France and, to a lesser extent, in Austria.” (ibid.) 

Interestingly, Hannah Arendt points out that Karl Marx, himself a Jew, was anti-Jewish. 

4/ “Friedrich Engels once remarked that the protagonists of the antisemitic movement of his time were noblemen, and its chorus the howling mob of the petty bourgeoisie. This is true not only for Germany, but also for Austria's Christian Socialism and France's Anti-Dreyfusards. In all these cases, the aristocracy, in a desperate last struggle, tried to ally itself with the conservative forces of the churches—the Catholic Church in Austria and France, the Protestant Church in Germany—under the pretext of fighting liberalism with the weapons of Christianity.” (ibid.) 

As I have said earlier, there are antisemites across the political spectrum.

The thing I find fascinating is that there are elements of antisemitism in both of the two worst ideologies of the 20th century: Nazism and communism. There are also such elements in some of the worst ideologies at the moment. 

5/ “… the German Liberal Party, under the leadership of Schoenerer, was from the beginning a lower middle-class party without connections or restraints from the side of the nobility, and with a decidedly left-wing outlook.

It never achieved a real mass basis, but it was remarkably successful in the universities during the eighties where it organized the first closely knit students' organization on the basis of open antisemitism. Schoenerer's antisemitism, at first almost exclusively directed against the Rothschilds, won him the sympathies of the labor movement, which regarded him as a true radical gone astray. His main advantage was that he could base his antisemitic propaganda on demonstrable facts: as a member of the Austrian Reichsrat he had fought for nationalization of the Austrian railroads, the major part of which had been in the hands of the Rothschilds since 1836 due to a state license which expired in 1886. Schoenerer succeeded in gathering 40,000 signatures against its renewal, and in placing the Jewish question in the limelight of public interest. The close connection between the Rothschilds and the financial interests of the monarchy became very obvious when the government tried to extend the license under conditions which were patently to the disadvantage of the state as well as the public.” (ibid.) 

That reminds me, I should pick up a book about the Rothschilds and the conspiracy theory. 

6/ “It is well known that the belief in a Jewish conspiracy that was kept together by a secret society had the greatest propaganda value for antisemitic publicity, and by far outran all traditional European superstitions about ritual murder and well-poisoning.” (P.1, ch.3)

“Jews run Hollywood”, “Jews own the media”, “Jews control the world”, etc.—it is depressing to read Hannah Arendt’s book from 1951 and recognise many things discussed. Are Jews over-represented in certain fields? Yes, it’s undeniable. But if Jews were controlling the media and controlling the world, they’re doing a pretty bad job—the media, the UN, the WHO… have for a long time been strongly biased against Israel. 

7/ “Not the Dreyfus case with its trials but the Dreyfus Affair in its entirety offers a foregleam of the twentieth century. As Bernanos pointed out in 1931 "The Dreyfus affair already belongs to that tragic era which certainly was not ended by the last war. The affair reveals the same inhuman character, preserving amid the welter of unbridled passions and the flames of hate an inconceivably cold and callous heart." Certainly it was not in France that the true sequel to the affair was to be found, but the reason why France fell an easy prey to Nazi aggression is not far to seek.” (P.1, ch.4) 

Is this the case? I have no idea. But the chapter about the Dreyfus affair is interesting.

Emile Zola was indeed a true intellectual, who stood up for the truth and for justice, putting himself at risk. In contrast, many members of the intelligentsia now pretend to stand up for justice and to side with the oppressed, but they sympathise with terrorists, condone atrocities, and unthinkingly repeat slogans and received opinions.

But then that’s nothing new, I guess. It’s only a few months ago when I read Wonder Confronts Certainty, in which Gary Saul Morson wrote about the educated class’s bloodlust and love of violence, and their embracing of revolution for the sake of revolution. 

8/ “It was against the rich and the clergy, not for the republic, not for justice and freedom that the workers finally took to the streets.” (ibid.) 

That’s a good observation, speaking as someone from a communist country. 

9/ “While the mob actually stormed Jewish shops and assailed Jews in the streets, the language of high society made real, passionate violence look like harmless child's play.” (ibid.) 

And that is happening again now. On the streets of London and other Western cities, there have been people chanting genocidal phrases and calling for jihad and calling for intifada; in the West, there have been intimidations of and attacks on Jews, or Jewish businesses; but some people still pretend or perhaps convince themselves that antisemitism is overblown, that there’s no cause for concern, that the chants are all harmless.

I can’t help fearing that we’re reliving the 20th century. 

10/ “The case of the unfortunate Captain Dreyfus had shown the world that in every Jewish nobleman and multimillionaire there still remained something of the old-time pariah, who has no country, for whom human rights do not exist, and whom society would gladly exclude from its privileges. No one, however, found it more difficult to grasp this fact than the emancipated Jews themselves.” (ibid.) 

The shocking responses to the October 7 massacre, which I never would have expected—remember that the first protests were immediately after the massacre and before Israel’s retaliation—truly opened my eyes. 

100 latest films I've watched

From July 2023 to November 2023

In bold: films and TV episodes I think are good. 

1/ The Mentalist: Strawberries and Cream - Parts 1 and 2 (2011) 

2/ The Mentalist: Blood Money (2010) 

3/ The Mentalist: Red All Over (2010) 

4/ The Mentalist: 18-5-4 (2010) 

5/ The Mentalist: Scarlet Ribbons (2011) 

6/ The Mentalist: Little Red Book (2011) 

7/ The Mentalist: Pretty Red Balloon (2011) 

8/ The Mentalist: Ring Around the Rosie (2011) 

9/ Barbie (2023) 

10/ The Mentalist: Blood and Sand (2011) 

11/ The Mentalist: Where in the World is Carmine O'Brien? (2011)

12/ The Mentalist: Blinking Red Light (2011) 

13/ The Mentalist: Pink Tops (2011) 

14/ The Mentalist: The Redshirt (2011) 

15/ The Mentalist: Always Bet on Red (2012) 

16/ The Mentalist: My Bloody Valentine (2012) 

17/ The Mentalist: Red Is the New Black (2012) 

18/ The Mentalist: At First Blush (2012) 

19/ The Mentalist: War of the Roses (2012) 

20/ The Mentalist: His Thoughts Were Red Thoughts (2012) 

21/ The Mentalist: Cheap Burgundy (2012) 

22/ The Mentalist: Ruddy Cheeks (2012) 

23/ The Mentalist: Pink Champagne on Ice (2012) 

24/ The Mentalist: Something Rotten in Redmund (2012) 

25/ The Mentalist: Ruby Slippers (2012) 

26/ The Mentalist: So Long, and Thanks for All the Red Snapper (2012)

27/ The Mentalist: The Crimson Hat (2012) 

28/ The Mentalist: The Red Glass Bead (2012) 

29/ The Mentalist: Devil's Cherry (2012) 

30/ The Mentalist: Not One Red Scent (2012) 

31/ The Mentalist: Blood Feud (2012) 

32/ The Mentalist: Cherry Picked (2012) 

33/ The Mentalist: If It Bleeds, It Leads (2012) 

34/ The Mentalist: Red Sails in the Sunset (2012) 

35/ The Mentalist: Black Cherry (2012) 

36/ The Mentalist: Panama Red (2012) 

37/ The Mentalist: Days of Wine and Roses (2012) 

38/ The Mentalist: Little Red Corvette (2013) 

39/ Indiscreet (1958) 

40/ The Mentalist: The Red Barn (2013)  

41/ The Mentalist: Red in Tooth and Claw (2013) 

42/ The Mentalist: Red Lacquer Nail Polish (2013) 

43/ Ida (2013) 

44/ The Mentalist: There Will Be Blood (2013) 

45/ The Mentalist: Red, White, and Blue (2013) 

46/ The Mentalist: Behind the Red Curtain (2013) 

47/ The Mentalist: Red Letter Day (2013) 

48/ The Mentalist: Red Velvet Cupcakes (2013) 

49/ The Mentalist: Red and Itchy (2013) 

50/ The Mentalist: Red John's Rules (2013) 

51/ The Mentalist: The Desert Rose (2013) 

52/ The Mentalist: Black-Winged Redbird (2013)

53/ The Mentalist: Wedding in Red (2013) 

54/ The Mentalist: Red Listed (2013) 

55/ The Mentalist: The Red Tattoo (2013) 

56/ The Mentalist: Fire and Brimstone (2013) 

57/ The Mentalist: The Great Red Dragon (2013) 

58/ The Mentalist: Red John (2013) 

59/ The Mentalist: My Blue Heaven (2013) 

60/ The Mentalist: Green Thumb (2013) 

61/ The Mentalist: White Lies (2014) 

62/ The Mentalist: Golden Hammer (2014)

63/ The Mentalist: Black Helicopters (2014) 

64/ The Mentalist: Grey Water (2014) 

65/ The Mentalist: White as the Driven Snow (2014) 

66/ The Mentalist: Violets (2014) 

67/ The Mentalist: Silver Wings of Time (2014) 

68/ The Mentalist: Forest Green (2014) 

69/ The Mentalist: Brown Eyed Girls (2014) 

70/ The Mentalist: Il Tavolo Bianco (2014) 

71/ The Mentalist: Black Hearts (2014) 

72/ The Mentalist: Blue Bird (2014) 

73/ The Mentalist: Nothing But Blue Skies (2014) 

74/  The Mentalist: The Greybar Hotel (2014) 

75/ The Mentalist: Orange Blossom Ice Cream (2014) 

76/ The Mentalist: Black Market (2014) 

77/ The Mentalist: The Silver Briefcase (2014) 

78/ The Mentalist: Green Light (2015) 

79/ The Mentalist: Little Yellow House (2015)  

80/ The Mentalist: The Whites of His Eyes (2015) 

81/ The Mentalist: Copper Bullet (2015) 

82/ The Mentalist: Nothing Gold Can Stay (2015) 

83/ The Mentalist: Byzantium (2015) 

84/ The Mentalist: Brown Shag Carpet / White Orchids (2015) 

85/ The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) 

86/ The French Dispatch (2021)

87/ Panorama: Downfall of the Crypto King (2023) - extended version 

88/ Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990) 

89/ Inside No.9: Zanzibar (2018) 

90/ Inside No.9: Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room (2018) 

91/ Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

92/ Inside No.9: Sardines (2014)

93/ Inside No.9: A Quiet Night In (2014) 

94/ Inside No.9: Tom & Gerri (2014) 

95/ Inside No.9: Last Gasp (2014) 

96/ Inside No.9: The Understudy (2014) 

97/ Inside No.9: The Harrowing (2014) 

98/ Inside No.9: La Couchette (2015) 

99/ Inside No.9: The Trial of Elizabeth Gadge (2015) 

100/ Inside No.9: Cold Comfort (2015)