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3 by 3 is the fifth episode of Inside No.9 Series 8.
And although the episode title of Hold On Tight was advertised, at 10pm, it was introduced with “In a change to the publish episode of Inside No.9”, we were going to have an episode of a new quiz show, 3 by 3 (also styled as 3×3), and hosted by Lee Mack.
Bear in mind, I won’t reveal the end of this episode, but I will discuss elements of it, so if you’re reading this before watching this, then for the first time ever, I strong advise to STOP reading… until you’ve seen the episode, and then you can come back 🙂
You have been warned…
Now, I instantly smelled a rat, since Dead Line, the 2018 live episode, had – spoilers – a moment where it broke down during transmission… and then again… and we were duped. So, I wasn’t fooled for a minute… especially, given that this episode – apparently guest-starring Robin Askwith, and looking like an episode of On The Buses – wasn’t available for review before transmission.
3 by 3 is fairly standard quiz show fare – certainly with the canned audience (especially, since COVID19 began) – and I even tried to answer some of the questions. 😀
Catherine, from The Oakwoods, answered a question about the Witchfinder General, before the main part of the question was even asked, which sounds like one of those dodgy quiz shows. In fact, she seemed to know a lot more than she was letting on.
By the time we go to the final round, things were still quite creepy with Catherine and family, especially since it seemed like they had a strict Amish-like background at home, given that Catherine wasn’t allowed to listen to music at home.
In the final few minutes, I did finally suss just how creepy things were going and why, and if you’ve watched a lot of Inside No.9 – if not all of them – then you probably felt the same.
For their final quiz question – I didn’t quite get it right, as I thought it was a similarly-named rapper to the correct answer, but as for the episode overall, it was entertaining for the duration, but I don’t think I’d particularly need to see it again, unlike some of the greats they’ve had. Also, following Dead Line, given that we’ve had the ‘change of programming’ gag before, so that didn’t trick me this time, even though it was a few years ago.
Following the broadcast, the original title, and pic with Mr Askwith (still above), has now been replaced. Given that I generally set the URL for a review in advance (when I’m posting the trailer for something) and with that original title, on this occasion, I’m going to keep it in there. I could alter it with a 301 Redirect if there was a genuine change of programme, but given the circumstances, I’m keeping it as it is.
My only complaint, though, was destroying the end atmosphere by having the usual cuntinuity dickhead waffling over the end credits. I know we usually get those over standard quiz shows, but (a) this wasn’t a standard quiz show, and (b) continuity bods ‘reacting’ to what’s just been shown are about as funny as a stubbed toe. As Kate Winslet said at the BAFTAs about the harsh effects of social media, “We don’t NEED it, and we don’t WANT it”, and similarly, these fuckheads should be criminalised.
In the spoiler section below, you can see some of the interesting tweets that people made with the newly-issued hashtag of ‘3×3’:
Meanwhile, Zara Jackson had never seen Inside No.9 before, and her tweet includes spoilers:
Plus, it looks like sound mixer Chris Mac worked on the episode, so had to sign a NDA:
3 by 3 is now available on the BBC iPlayer.
Inside No.9 Series 8 is available to pre-order on DVD, ahead of its release on May 29th.
There’s also Inside No. 9: Collector’s Edition: The Scripts: Series 1-3 in Hardcover.
Check out reviews of more Inside No.9 episodes.
Also available to buy:
- Series 7 on DVD
- 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: 6.5/10
Director: Barbara Wiltshire
Producer: Kim Crowther
Writers: Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton
Cast:
Maisie: Tiajna Amayo
Gavin: James Bailey
Shindu: Kiran L Dadlani
Margaret: Gemma Page
Enid: Mary Keegan
Bella: Ronay Poole
Niall: Kim Rastall
Stephen: James Tucker
Catherine: Saskia Wakefield
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.