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A Random Act of Kindness is the fifth episode of Inside No.9 Series 7.
This episode starts with narration from Rudolph (Reece Shearsmith) giving us some seemingly innocuous information about Newton’s laws of motion, relating to the law of inertia, occasionally seeing him onscreen and looking like a fancy version of the Open University (well, anything compared to the ’70s looks fancy!).
Helen (Jessica Hynes), who’s separated from her husband, has a grumpy son, Zach (Noah Valentine), who clearly doesn’t want to eat his mum’s vegan food. He also gets irritated by the fact she’s typing away on her tablet, and has left the fake ‘clicky’ sound blaring away.
Before long, a bird flies into their back window, leading to a stranger called Bob (Steve Pemberton) turning up, who rescues him with a view to bringing him back to health, which leads to the man tutoring Zach because he’s falling behind on his studies. Meanwhile, Helen senses pain in Bob’s life, but what can it be?
Well, cue strange coincidences, discussions about black holes and – without giving any spoilers – an outcome I certainly wasn’t expecting, but then I tend not to think too far ahead when watching a lot of shows or films, and just let them wash over me.
Overall, this episode is a little bit daft, but its heart is in the right place, and it’s certainly one of the better ones in this series.
A Random Act of Kindness is broadcast on BBC2 at 10pm on Wednedsay May 25th.
Inside No.9 Series 7 is available to pre-order on DVD, ahead of the release date on June 6th.
There’s also Inside No. 9: Collector’s Edition: The Scripts: Series 1-3 in Hardcover.
After broadcast, each episode will be on the BBC iPlayer.
Check out reviews of more Inside No.9 episodes.
Also available to buy:
- Series 6 on DVD
- Series 5 on DVD
- Series 4 on Blu-ray
- Series 4 on DVD
- Series 3 on Blu-ray
- Series 3 on DVD
- Series 1 on Blu-ray
- Series 2 on Blu-ray
- Series 1 and 2 on DVD together
Episode Score: 7/10
Director: Kieron Walsh
Producer: Kim Crowther
Writers: Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton
Music: Christian Henson
Cast:
Helen: Jessica Hynes
Bob: Steve Pemberton
Zach: Noah Valentine
Rudolph: Reece Shearsmith
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.