TV review: Inside No. 9 – ‘Tom and Gerri’

For a writing team so often reductively described as ‘dark’, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton don’t half pack in a lot of different hues.

Having covered the bitterly funnily and teeth-kickingly shocking in Sardines, and the fiercely farcical in last week’s A Quiet Night In, Tom and Gerri turns up the heat slowly and steadily, to devastating effect.

In a flat above a convenience shop lives Tom, a primary school teacher with aspirations of being a British Charles Bukowski.

After a reluctant kindness leads to a drunken night in with a local ‘indigent’ – that’s a tramp, by the way – Tom’s life begins to fray at the seams, leading him on a downward spiral that costs him his job, his friends and his relationship with actress girlfriend Gerri.

And it’s a spiral his new friend Migg is more than happy to encourage…

Creating a perfect arc of character transformation in less time than it takes most people to cook their tea, the pair manage to turn sympathies upside down in less than thirty minutes.

Our affections for the doe-eyed, benevolent vagrant are slowly skewed, as his stranglehold on the initially indifferent Tom’s fortunes begin to unveil a more ominous intent.

Witty and knowing, this third installment gives way to a different kind of claustrophobia, as Tom’s world shrinks, and Migg’s shadow looms ever larger over his withering life.

The confined nature of the story sees Shearsmith and Pemberton truly take centre-stage for the first time in the series, and they certainly make the most of it, turning in captivating, affecting performances.

Rarely has Pemberton been so menacing, and Shearsmith so utterly heartbreaking.

While the beauty of Tom and Gerri is in the smoldering psychological tension surrounding this trio of souls, it has a double sting in its tail, unveiling twists and turns as emotionally shattering as they are visceral.

The best of the series so far, Tom and Gerri is a multifaceted, poignant tale that packs a weighty amount of value into its short turn, leaving a trail of cleverly-strewn breadcrumbs for those keen to take it again through newly enlightened eyes.

It’s quality like this that makes it the anthology series a double-edged sword; though it seems a shame to have to leave Tom and Gerri behind, we’re left to live in hope that the next No. 9 we set foot in will be just as extraordinary.

Inside No. 9 airs Wednesdays at 10pm on BBC Two.