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Private View is the sixth and final episode of Inside No.9 and it brings to a conclusion a series which has been almost all good-to-excellent save for the fourth episode, Empty Orchestra.
“Nine” is the art gallery with an installation by Elliot Quinn (Johnny Flynn), where we quickly learn that their Health and Safety procedures need looking at.
Only a select few people have been invited to this private view – including Morgana Robinson‘s Big Brother 8 contestant Carrie, Montserrat Lombard as waitress Bea, who’d rather by anywhere else than there, and national treasure Felicity Kendall plays blind author Patricia – but why these people? That’s what you’ll find out during the programme, but the basic premise and some of its elements gives a hint of the Hammer Horror films of the ’70s, reminding me of The Vault of Horror.
I like how Morgana’s character is claiming to be a celeb despite only ever coming to the fore on a long-in-the-tooth reality show, and that following a situation, she panics it might delay her invite to a better do later on – Edwina Currie’s perfume launch.
There’s also a few chuckles in the script, including lines like “If all the world’s a stage, then where does the audience sit?”, plus a decent ending, and as often is the case with this series, there’s a lot I cannot say about the episode because the whole point is that you have to watch it to find these things out. If I told you every last good thing that was going to happen, then you wouldn’t watch it, which would rather undo the point of watching it.
Private View is broadcast on Tuesday on BBC2 at 10pm, concluding the series. Roll on Series 4, which should air around the same time next year.
Inside No.9 Series 3 is available to pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD. You can also buy Series 1 and 2 on DVD together, plus the recent releases of Inside No.9 Series 1 on Blu-ray and Inside No.9 Series 2 on Blu-ray, and after broadcast, you can also watch this episode on BBC iPlayer until April 20th.
Score: 7/10
Director: Guillem Morales
Producer: Adam Tandy
Screenplay: Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton
Cast:
Carrie: Morgana Robinson
Bea: Montserrat Lombard
Maurice: Reece Shearsmith
Jean: Fiona Shaw
Kenneth: Steve Pemberton
Patricia: Felicity Kendal
Neil: Peter Kay
Elliot Quinn: Johnny Flynn
Reporter: Muriel Gray
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.