David Morrissey, Maxine Peake, Jenna Coleman join Inside No. 9 Season 5
David Farnor | On 18, Feb 2019
David Morrissey, Maxine Peake and Jenna Coleman are among the stars joining Season 5 of Inside No. 9. Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton’s anthology series, which balances twisted chills with pitch-black laughs, is becoming a long-running jewel in the crown for the Beeb. Last year, the show continued to push boundaries with a live Hallowe’en special, Dead Line, while Season 4 featured an episode written entirely in iambic pentameter and a murder mystery told in reverse chronological order. Now, it’s returning for a fifth run of six standalone stories.
One constant throughout the show is the stellar cast joining Reece and Steve in front of the camera. Season 5’s line-up includes Maxine Peake (Silk, Three Girls), Jenna Coleman (Doctor Who, Victoria), David Morrissey (The Missing), Dipo Ola (Baghdad Central), Phil Davis (Vera Drake, Whitechapel), Ralf Little (The Royle Family, Two Pints of Lager), Jill Halfpenny (Three Girls, In The Club), Steve Speirs (Star Wars, Upstart Crow), Tom Goodman-Hill (Ideal, Mr Selfridge), Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch), Kadiff Kirwan (Chewing Gum, Black Mirror: Nosedive), Debbie Rush (Coronation Street) and Ioanna Kimbook (recently cast opposite John Malkovich in the new David Mamet play Bitter Wheat).
Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton say: “We’re delighted to announce a guest cast brimming with both emerging and established talent, all judiciously chosen to make us look a bit classier by association.”
Shane Allen, Controller, BBC Comedy Commissioning, says: “Reece and Steve consistently dazzle and delight with what is undoubtedly the most inventively prolific storytelling series on television. Their ability to subvert and surprise makes each show a unique experience for the viewers. It’s the antidote to a world of familiar cosy TV formats.”
One of the six new films in this series will be directed by Steve Pemberton, returning to the role after Cold Comfort and Nana’s Party from the 2015 series. Guillem Morales (Julia’s Eyes, Decline and Fall) returns to direct three further films, with the two remaining films directed by Matt Lipsey (Psychoville, Upstart Crow)
