Recap / Inside No 9 Special Deadline

"please, let us be..."

The episode begins as a live performance where Arthur Flitwick (played by Steve Pemberton) arrives at home after finding an abandoned cell phone in a graveyard. He calls one of the phone's contacts, Moira (played by Stephanie Cole), in an attempt to get her to contact Elsie, the phone's owner; Moira gets him in contact with Reverend Neil (played by Reece Shearsmith) in order to get to the bottom of the missing phone.

While Neil and Arthur are speaking, the sound on the broadcast cuts out, is restored, and cuts out a second time. The continuity announcer for BBC Two apologizes for the interruption before the program comes back with sound restored, but naturally, it loses sound again. The announcer apologizes a second time before stating that "Dead Line" will be rebroadcast at a later date, and instead they'll be showing "A Quiet Night In" from series one of Inside No. 9. However, during the opening minutes of "A Quiet Night In", a ghostly figure appears in the background of a shot multiple times before the rerun cuts out. The announcer, sounding frightened, asks for someone to help explain what's wrong with the program, before apparently seeing a presence and screaming before her microphone is silenced.

Live security cameras from the studio where the live episode is being filmed start to broadcast. A clip from a ghost hunting show plays, explaining that the studio - Granada - is haunted, notably by a former Coronation Street crew member called Alan who hanged himself for unknown ghostly reasons. Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton (as themselves), in their dressing room, lament the episode's failure to broadcast properly, but soon realize that the security cameras from Granada Studios are somehow being broadcast to BBC Two. Meanwhile, Stephanie Cole (as herself) receives a phone call, supposedly from Alan, and begins acting strangely afterwards. When Reece goes to speak with her, she warns him of the spirits haunting Granada Studios, and once he leaves her side she slits her own throat with a prop knife, unnoticed by Steve.

Some other clips from other programs play, explaining the history of Granada; it was built near a church where over 20,000 bodies were buried, and the studio most definitely sits on top of some of the graves. The ending of the rehearsal performance of "Dead Line" is shown, where it's revealed Arthur has killed Neil because he believed him to have pushed Elsie (the phone's owner) off a bell tower to her death. The broadcast cuts to the GoPro camera on Reece's character's prop helmet as Reece and Steve investigate the studio's electrical room to figure out what's going on, but Steve is killed when he tries to open the door and is electrocuted by a puddle of water that's touching an electrical box.

A news clip covering Alan's death then plays, claiming that Alan killed himself after experiencing paranormal phenomena within the studio. Audio that Alan himself recorded of mysterious voices saying "let us be" is heard before Reece's camera comes back on as he frantically searches the studio for help, finding Stephanie dead as well before all the lights go out and his camera cuts to night vision. As Reece fumbles in the dark, ghosts can be seen. After climbing a flight of stairs, Reece is jumped and scared by a ghost, causing him to fall back down the stairs and die upon breaking his neck. Several ghosts are seen on the dead Reece's camera.

The ending of "A Quiet Night In" then plays on an increasingly fast, in which Reece and Steve's characters are both shot and killed, as more ghostly voices are heard before the episode cuts to black with a final ghostly "let us be". The broadcast ends with a clip from an interview with Reece and Steve from The One Show, explicitly stating that neither of them believe in ghosts.

This episode contains examples of:

• Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption: "I'll crack one open and give you a head... [sees the severed head in the microwave]...start."
• Bad "Bad Acting": Steve is really hamming up his line before Stephanie breaks character to ask about her motivation.
• Bathroom Search Excuse: At Arthur's place, Neil excuses himself to use the bathroom but then Arthur finds him going through his mail.
• Calming Tea: It's a British production. So naturally, Reece, unsettled by the disturbing events around him and Stephanie's strange behaviour (unaware that she is possessed) decides the solution is to go and make a cup of tea.
• Chekhov's Gun: The knife Stephanie kills herself with is a prop knife that Arthur used earlier to kill Neil.
• Darkness Equals Death: Reece's death is heralded by the lights going out in the studio.
• Death by Irony: Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith are both killed by the ghosts. At the very end of the episode, we're shown a clip from The One Show filmed just a few days before, in which they are asked if they believe in the supernatural. Naturally, they don't.
• Disconnected by Death: Apparently happens to the continuity announcer who informs the audience of the technical problems delaying the broadcast.
• Distracted from Death: Steve fails to notice Stephanie's suicide (which is being broadcast on a screen above him) because he's distracted by his phone.
• Doomed Appointment: Reverend Neil texted Moira off-screen telling her to meet him at Arthur's place because he had very important information about Elsie. When Moira arrives, Neil is already dead.
• Driven to Suicide: The handyman killed himself in the studio because of this. It may not be the whole truth though as seen with Stephanie's death.
• Electromagnetic Ghosts: Stephanie mentions the ghosts to be tampering with the cables and the television equipment, accounting for the technical difficulties experienced on the set.
• Failed Attempt at Drama: Arthur is delivering a dramatic confession speech to Moira, repeatedly stammering that Elsie told him to kill Neil. Then Stephanie breaks character asking about her character's intention at this point in order to play her right. The writers had previously complained that she didn't get the character.
• Fake Irish / Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: In-Universe, English Stephanie Cole plays Moira with a rather hammed-up Irish accent. Lampshaded later on when Steve and Reece complain behind-the-scenes that she wasn't a good or logical casting choice.
• Found Footage: What comprises the second half of the episode.
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: The episode starts to break down, the audio cutting out, and the film cutting between different locations and channels, talking about the location they are filming at being haunted. It finally has the cast being murdered by whatever haunts the location. Not even the BBC Two continuity announcer is safe from whatever is haunting the episode.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: If you look closely, there are a few different ghosts lurking in the background of several scenes, including a zombie girl and a pair of legs.
• Ghost Butler: The door at the workshop closes by itself behind Reece.
• Halloween Special
• High-Voltage Death: Steve Pemberton is electrocuted to death after the ghosts knock over a bucket of cleaning fluid in front of the workshop.
• If Only You Knew: Moira notes that Reverend Neil will be in pieces (about his stolen bicycle) to which Arthur knowingly agrees.
• Indian Burial Ground: We learn from one of the Coincidental Broadcast clips that the studio was built on a huge graveyard. The ghosts of the dead want to be left alone and use modern communication devices to spread their request to "Let us be". When no one listened they started killing personnel.
• Inheritance Murder: Arthur claims Neil murdered Elsie to get his hands on a bequest she'd left to the church in her will.
• Ironic Juxtaposition: We see Stephanie slicing her throat on a monitor screen above Steve while he unwittingly plays on his phone.
• Jump Scare:
  • Steve surprising Reece with a Halloween mask at the props store.
  • Also the ghost that shocks Reece into falling down the stairs.
• Live Episode: Even after We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties kicks in, most of the episode was filmed live, apart from the excerpts of Found Footage, "A Quiet Night In" and the prerecorded rehearsal. Lampshaded when Reece Shearsmith tweeted live on television.
• Nightmare Face: The ghost that appears at the window during the repeat of "A Quiet Night In".
• Night-Vision Goggles: Reece's GoPro helmet camera films in night vision when the lights go out at the studio.
• Noodle Incident: It's mentioned that Elsie changed her will to favour the church due to unspecified events that took place during a Brownie Guides camping trip.
• Nothing Is Scarier: After the live broadcast is "abandoned", we're treated to protracted silences and lingering views of empty studio corridors through the CCTV cameras. Some of these contain ghostly figures standing just out of sight.
• Ominous Visual Glitch: The ghosts' presence make the camera footage glitch at several points.
• Phone Call from the Dead:
  • The first call Arthur gets on the phone is a Distress Call from the dead Elsie. He mistakes the garbled message for poor reception. Later we learn that Elsie told Arthur on the phone to murder Neil.
  • Stephanie gets a call from the deceased prop man Allen who provides some exposition about the ghosts and tells her to kill herself.
  • A newslady in one of the clips reports about electronic voice phenomena at the studios "with messages beyond the grave".
• Psychic-Assisted Suicide: The dead prop man Allen ordered Stephanie over the phone to slice her throat.
• Pulling the Thread:
  • When Arthur mentions that the Reverend was concerned about his stolen bicycle, Moira looks around and sees the collapsible bicycle by the door but continues with her Obfuscating Stupidity until she finds the head in the microwave.
  • Earlier in the episode, Moira initially mentions that she and Elsie are both widows; but later excuses herself, saying her husband has just come home. Arthur tries to question her about this but she has already hung up.
• Ripped from the Headlines: The episode draws on various real-life incidents at Granada studios, including Bobby Davro having a near-fatal accident on set in 1992, and the 1984 fire which destroyed costumes and sets for The Jewel in the Crown.
• Scatterbrained Senior: Moira tries to reach Elsie on her phone which Arthur just found and called her with.
• Self-Deprecation:
  • Stephanie tells Allen over the phone that she has never heard of Inside No. 9 before.
    Stephanie: Apparently it's a BBC 2 sort of comedy thing.
  • When looking at Twitter, Steve rudely dismisses the idea that the live broadcast being interrupted is part of the story... which it is.
• Self-Parody: The story the episode starts with prior to the "technical difficulties" (and which we later glimpse the end of when the episode cuts to the "rehearsal footage") is a deliberately really bad, by-the-numbers version of the show.
• Shout-Out:
  • When Stephanie tells Reece that the technology is making the ghosts stronger, he mistakes her for talking about Black Mirror.
  • At least two references are made to Hitchcock movies. Elsie was pushed off the bell tower and Arthur killed Neil Psycho-style.
  • At one point, there is a news clip from the 1980s about a mysterious fire at the studio that forced The Jewel in the Crown to halt production.
  • Disruption of a live Halloween Special by the inadvertent broadcast of a genuine haunting recalls the premise of Ghostwatch.
    • The spectre that appears during the rebroadcast of A Quiet Night In is a direct reference to Pipes's manifestations in Ghostwatch.
    • The plight of the suicidal studio worker parallels the story of Raymond Turnstall.
    • Ghostwatch's concept of a live broadcast spreading a haunting across the airwaves is repeated.
    • The POV footage courtesy of Reese's headcam is an homage to the cameraman's search for Susie Early at the climax of Ghostwatch, right down to the switch to night-vision echoing the change to IR mode in the original scene.
• Sinister Minister: Ostensibly Neil.
• Slashed Throat: The ghosts make Stephanie cut her own throat.
• Staircase Tumble: Reece is killed when he falls down the stairs and breaks his neck after one of the ghosts pulls a Jump Scare on him.
• Take That!: Reece and Steve bemoan the fact that the episode is not going out on Halloween itself because of "the bloody Apprentice".
• Talk Show Appearance: Reece and Pemberton's appearance at The One Show at the end.
• We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: The advertised live episode is abandoned after nine minutes due to the audio and signal cutting out. Then the real horror begins.
• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: In-universe. Reece and Pemberton haven't yet decided on whether Stephanie's character is innocent or not while the movie is already at its climax.
• Your Door Was Open: Moira's explanation for why she entered Arthur's flat while he was busy in the bathroom. We never learn how Reverend Neil excused his surprise entry.

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