The Cutprice Guignol

After the horrors of last week, I think it’s only fair we get something a little lighter, you know?

And the Winner is….is, without a doubt, one of the most outrightly comedy-centric episodes of Inside No. 9. We join the committee to select the winner of the Best Actress award from some unknown TV body, as members of the industry gather together to try and figure out how to navigate the rocky territory of expectation, talent, and worthiness to find the woman who deserves to take it all.

For all that it’s got a sniff of previous episodes like The Bill about it with the closed-room comedy and tense unravelling of social conventions, this is, fundamentally, a story taking the piss out of the world of British television. From Kenneth Craham as Rupert, the old-school and politically-incorrect-but-ultimately-well-meaning stalwart, to Clive (Shearsmith, with a bit of toilet paper on a shaving cut and possibly the show’s worst wig of all time), a one-time winner of an up-and-coming award desperately trying to flog a script to well-respected TV director Gordon (Noel Clarke), the episode essentially poses all these opposing forces and compels them all to do the impossible: agree on something. Bringing together the old and new, it clashes the old industry standards with the new ones using the metaphor of the various actors nominated for the award, and the brilliantly-detailed character work is where it really comes together for me.

For me, the standout is Zoe Wannamaker as Paula, the Lange-loathing B-lister who’s basing her pick entirely off what she thinks the industry will expect, though Fenella Woolgar as the living embodiment of the “those who can’t do become critics” quip (and anyone raising their eyebrows pointedly in my direction over her character will be knocked right off the longlist, let me tell you). Watching it for a second time, I was particularly entertained by Steve Pemberton’s attempts to actually steer the committee towards some sort of conclusion, especially his interactions with Jackie (Phoebe Sparrow), a member of the public who won a competition to consult on the ultimate winner of the award – his absolutely unrelenting patronising tone towards her a perfect capturing of the industry insider view of the general public as, fundamentally, media-illiterate dolts.

And, of course, Jackie is the twist in this episode, sitting right in the middle of the story from the first few frames. The reveal at the end that she’s actually one of the actresses nominated, and has been steering the committee to ensuring that she wins. It’s an enormously fun ending, and one that adds to the episode on a rewatch – noticing, this time around, the ways that Jackie nudges those around her into disregarding the others and deciding on her is downright masterful. She really did deserve that award, whatever it was.

As a whole, And the Winner Is…is a frothy, light, and wildly entertaining entry into the show’s fourth season, and a well-needed touch of comedy in between two rough episodes. What do you think of this entertainment-industry comedy of errors? Who do you think the actresses nominated were meant to be a subtle nod to in real life? Let me know in the comments!

If you liked this article and want to see more stuff like it, please check out the rest of my Inside No. 9 reviews. I’d also love it if you would check out my horrible short story collection, and, if you’d like to support my work, please consider supporting me on Patreon!

(header image via The Telegraph)