Inside No. 9 (TV Series) 3 by 3 (2023) User Reviews

Wonderfully original.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 20 May 2023]

Lee Mack hosts a brand new gameshow, in which three trios compete against one another, answering General Knowledge questions to win a cash prize.

The first thing I'll say, totally original, as soon as the station announcer said that where was going to be a change, I expected some sort of shenanigans going on, similar to the live Halloween episode, I expected the episode on the buses, this was something very different.

A slow burner, but I have a strong feeling that this is going to become one of those that improves with age, personally I thought that last week's was the far superior episode, but I still really did enjoy this one, especially that totally unexpected shock at the end.

Lee Mack was great, and what a cracking idea for a game show, a better format than most of the ones running now.

Not a cast I'm hugely familiar with, apart from Lee Mack that is, Gemma Page, who played Margaret is perhaps the most well known face, she recently appeared in The Raoul Moat dramatisation.

8/10.

You had to be there

[realhashtagselfie · 8/10 · 18 May 2023]

The experience of watching this episode live was certainly something. The first episode for a while to really puzzle me - and apparently a lot of Twitter too, after seeing the responses.

So, yeah. Well done, lads. I guess we all just go home now?

Almost thirty minutes of being very unsure and confused, I enjoyed it immensely.

Not much else to say without spoiling it, but I do admire the thought and care that went into the set up (starting months before) and the presentation. I'm looking forward to going back and searching for the Hare, if it's in there somewhere I reckon I know which scene.

An Exercise In Authenticity.

[tommo-merison · 7/10 · 19 May 2023]

As we reach the latter half of Inside No 9's 8th season, it is clear that creators Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton are trying to push the boat out in terms of concepts.

3 by 3 is an episode where the presentation may trick you at first. Everything seems just too friendly and clean. The episode seems to plod along in the usual fashion of the typical prime time quiz show. Until you notice subtle hints funnelled in to entice us to ponder the finale.

Given how bright and chipper this episode is, like most great Inside eps, something just doesn't feel right. Reece and Steve have outdid themselves in terms of getting the feel of this particular kind of show right. They know how to represent a genre.

I'd say watch this episode with an open mind and just appreciate the attention to detail that the guys put into this. They do love to play games with their audience and this may be the biggest game they've played in an episode for a while.

Mind-blowing episode!

[laurietbrooks · 10/10 · 18 May 2023]

In my opinion, this is the best episode they've ever done. The ending absolutely blew my mind! You would think that after eight seasons, Reece & Steve would struggle to find more ways in which to surprise and shock the audience, but they've done it again. I was also a big fan of the guest actor in this episode - he was not a choice I had expected, but I was wowed nontheless.

Viewers have also long been anticipating an episode featuring a bus as the 'number 9' location - some of which may find the artistic choices made in this episode somewhat controversial, but then again, it's not Inside No. 9 if it isn't just a little bit divisive.

Those sneaky devils

[mariobowser-80792 · 19 May 2023]

I genuinely don't know what to rate this episode. On the one hand, it is mostly the standard 3 by 3 quiz show with stuff only really becoming suspicious in the second half. Unlike Dead Line, this is absolutely an episode which won't work if you didn't watch it live as you just want to get through the quiz stuff to get to the very few actual No. 9 elements

But on the other hand, this was some of the most fun I had watching a No. 9 episode BECAUSE I watched it live. When this Lee Mack game show appeared instead of the bus episode, I was ready to turn off the TV but my dad kept me watching pointing out that 3 x 3 = 9 and I'm so glad he was stubborn When watching the show and thinking it was a No. 9 episode, I was captivated by what could possibly happen and was suspicious of literally everyone especially the middle family. I was mentally writing down notes on everything they said. This means that when the twist was revealed, I was immensely satisfied as my hard work had paid off. Outside of that though, this was genuinely one of the better quiz shows I've seen. Lee Mack was a great host and some of the events like the sound proof box at the end were creative. Honestly, whilst I was still trying to find hints and clues, I genuinely got into the quiz show and started playing along and answering questions as well with my family. It was so much fun. Due to the quiz show nature of it though, I know it definitely won't be the most rewatchable episode Still, I think there is some rewatch value here. When you know the twist, you can pick up on all the hints. By the way, the twist (for those who don't understand) is that the girl is telepathic which is how she knew all the answers and was able to communicate with her mum in the box before eventually killing her. With the twist in your mind you pick up on the fact that the mum said that she was a scientist which most likely hints to where the telepathy came from. It's clever

Overall, this is objectively one of the weaker episodes especially if you didn't watch live. However it does have a lot of merit to it and it was one of the most enjoyable No. 9 episodes

Also, those academic University students not knowing basic Shrek facts was simultaneously funny and frustrating. I was just screaming EDDIE MURPHY the whole time.

Hold on Tight! or 3 by 3

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 19 May 2023]

Very nice of Robin Askwith to turn up for that photo session for the On the Buses spoof.

For years Shearsmith and Pemberton have been asked to do an episode on the Number 9 bus. This was not it.

Hold on Tight! Was a ruse. Instead this was a brand new quiz show hosted by Lee Mack, directed by Barbara Wilshire who has made loads of quiz shows and panel shows.

The contestants were plausible as members of the public. No one looked terribly familiar as actors. The format of the quiz reminded me of those cheap daytime ones shown by the BBC in the late 1980s early 1990s.

There were a few clues that something was amiss with the family. The daughter got an answer before the question was completed. They struggled with a few questions but managed to pull something out of the bag at the last second.

There was something domineering about the mother. The daughter was doing an online degree, never been anywhere, not allowed to listen to pop music. If they won the top prize the mother wanted to dig out the basement for extra space for the daughter.

The ending was inspired by David Cronenberg's Scanners. Something tells me that 3 by 3 never made it pass the pilot.

I still want the On the Buses spoof. Shearsmith and Pemberton would have a ball ripping it apart!

3x3=9

[maxypaw · 10/10 · 22 May 2023]

Even watching this without the fakeout, this was still smart. Put on a believable yet still impressively bad pilot for a new BBC game show (hosted by who more believable than Lee Mack?), have some awkwardness, tried-and-tested ribbing and bad production design (and that oh-so accurate sound design, with the cheesy canned laughter and scene transition musics) and, if you've just got the show on in the background or you're passively watching the channel, you wouldn't expect much a thing. Well, until you get a nasty surprise at the end.

Of course, the rough edges can be explained away by the fact that this is a pilot, but beyond that the rug is slowly and deliberately pulled away from you; every so often an Inside No. 9 episode comes along where there's less of a twist and more a slow dawning, and this is exactly that. Of course, the multiple options that it could be are whittled down to one at the end - quite obviously waving it in the faces of both the audience and Lee, so clearly not thinking much of the show and getting an easy paycheck that it takes until the very last moment for even he and the crew to notice something is wrong. This isn't an episode where the end recontextualises everything, don't get that in your head - no, every step of a separate story slowly slips into place while piggybacking off your average, schedule-filler game show.

Reaching Tipping Point.

[southdavid · 6/10 · 28 May 2023]

Unfortunately, because I downloaded this episode rather than watching it live, some of the meta messing with the audience that this episode did to real time viewers was a bit lost on me. So unlike with the earlier "Dead Line" I knew what this episode was (or perhaps what it wasn't) before I saw it. In and of itself, I'm afraid it's a second episode where I caught on to what was happening to quickly for my own good and guessed from the film references what would happen at the end.

Lee Mack's brand-new BBC quiz show sees 3 teams of 3 players compete against each other for a chance to win a cash prize. The three teams, a choir, two parents and their daughter and a man, his girlfriend and his ex, answer general knowledge questions and win cash. But within one of the teams the tension is palpable.

I generally write my reviews without spoilers and will try to do so again here. I do remember really really enjoying the "Dead Line" twist, including the real world tweets that played into the episode. I didn't get a chance to participate in that this time, which was unfortunate. Also, I thought that the sexist humour of 70's shows like "On The Buses" would be rife for a post-modern appraisal and that Pemberton and Shearsmith would be ideally placed to have their cake and eat it too in that world, but alas that's not to be. What I did get to see was a well-produced episode with Lee Mack performing admirably as the quiz show host, he's so natural you have to wonder whether it was all scripted or he was adlibbing much of it. It didn't perhaps feel quite like a real quiz show though, it was a little slower and less professional than they appear, and I struggled to imagine that anyone was genuinely thinking that the show would be real.

Unfortunately, as with last week, I zeroed in on what they were doing pretty quickly and was left waiting and hoping for a bit more than the episode actually provided. "Oh, they're doing ....." a movie I can't tell you without giving it away, I thought, and indeed they were. It wasn't bad, Lee Mack provided some good comedy moments to it, but I'm again left with an episode that doesn't quite meet my lofty expectations for the series.

So smart!

[becky-92346 · 10/10 · 12 June 2023]

3 by 3 - Inside No.9 S8 E5 (2023) follows three teams who compete for prizes in a general knowledge quiz presented by Lee Mack. This episode is a work of genius. Steve and Reece's creativity knows no bounds and I have no idea how they thought of this!

This episode nails the game show look, resulting in an incredibly convincing watch! The graphics are spot on, and it's easy to see how so many none No.9 fans were fooled by this! Also, the episode uses some very realistic and tastefully done gore.

A big part of what really sells this episode is Lee Mack, he is the perfect fit for the oblivious TV host and I can't think of anyone who would've done a better job! Also, Catherine is such an intriguing character and her actress does such a brilliant job at making the audience uncomfortable.

Lastly, this episode gradually got more uncomfortable and I found myself having a physical reaction to it, it unnerved me in a way No.9 never has before. It includes some phenomenal writing with subtle foreshadowing that makes it improve upon a second watch!

Fantastic trick surrounding an ok episode

[martinkelly-60324 · 7/10 · 22 May 2023]

The trick they pull this episode hit me differently because I watched it on iplayer the day after. For some reason they cut out the BBC announcer saying the episode was 'cancelled' (something to be wary of since Dead Line) so I full on assumed the BBC had linked the wrong episode. So before watching it I still searched the web about what happened to 'the episode.'

Personally I never really wanted a bus episode (unlike the fans clamouring for one), but what I saw in the promotion of the series made me quite excited. But the fact that those promo images and THE CLIPS IN THE TRAILER were completely fake was an inspired move.

Instead we got a game show episode of No. 9 which in principle I think is a very good idea. Reese and Steve aimed to use this episode to do "a story hidden in an LE quiz show," and I think they succeed. Aside from the blatant hints (Let's put our heads together etc.) I think there is enough 'deeper meaning' to at least watch the episode a second time.

However, I think they could have done better with this setting if it was advertised as its own episode instead of a punchline to a joke. I think a lot is lost in trying to make the quiz look real (ie. Both Steve and Reese are missing for the first time).

Was the trick worth it? Yes. Does the setting have potential? Yes. Does it accomplish what it sets out to do? Yes. Does it authentically recreate a BBC quiz show? Yes.

Could it have been done better? YES.

A good misdirection that slowly loses it's charm as it goes on

[stuarttheking · 5/10 · 20 May 2023]

The idea of advertising an fake episode and then airing an entirely different piece of telly is just the sort of brilliant idea I've come to expect from Shearsmith and Pemperton. And I find that that aspect of this episode terrific, it certainly took my by surprise.

However once the charm of the initial confusion wore off, the episode does begin to drag. The slow paced nature of a quiz show seemed to have been dialled up to eleven as the trivia limps along for the majority of the episode. This isn't helped by the intentional awkwardness of the contestants and too my surprise Lee Mack who, love him or hate him, usually is more charismatic than displayed here.

I was also left disappoint with the ending twist of the main contestant having psychic powers, I think it's pretty obvious that that is what is going on from pretty early on. But I must admit that last minute, was satisfying.

Overall an excellent idea somewhat butchered by the delivery.

Better the Second Time

[william-267 · 10/10 · 23 May 2023]

The first time I watched it was good. . . But getting someone who does not watch Inside No. 9 to watch it was hilarious. They were fooled to the end and when they started suspecting something was odd/creepy near the end, I found it hard not to laugh. The end was great when they finally asked "was that whole show fake?" and I then explained what Inside No. 9 was. If you are on the fence of truly enjoying this episode get an unsuspecting friend to watch it and enjoy watching them get very confused and then outraged on how good you got them. It was fun to point out all the hints that something was off after the show and watch you victim realize that they should have figured it out sooner.

3 by 3

[bobcobb301 · 7/10 · 18 June 2023]

I see a polarizing response to this episode, but I particularly enjoyed it because it felt like it was very authentic. We could see a quiz show like this being on TV and almost all of the answers and banter felt very natural.

We knew there would be some kind of twist at the end, but this one was done quite well. It felt like the jail confession video from a few years ago.

I am a huge fan of game shows so I am sure that that factored into my enjoyment a little bit, but I still think the commitment to the concept was a good decision by Inside No. 9 and I would definitely be open for more episodes like this one.

How did people fall for it?

[neil_mack_uk · 4/10 · 21 May 2023]

I'm a massive fan of Inside No.9 and rate the majority of episodes as 7+ with wonderfully original stories and hard to see twists. But I'm afraid this one left me baffled. Baffled not by the misdirection but because it was just a boring quiz with a sudden shock ending.

Even if the BBC announcer hadn't indicated it was a change to the billed Inside No.9 episode, rather than properly misdirecting by saying a different show altogether, the contestants were clearly actors. At least a couple of the interactions and characters felt fake, early on. I can't believe some really thought it was a real quiz show and they turned over!

There were references to episodes in the questions and other clues early on. But it seemed the main purpose of the episode was to leave people searching for answers on Twitter than giving us a quality show. Afterall, it's not going to be an episode you'll ever want to stick on to watch again - will it?!

Watch it again

[KFL · 9/10 · 27 January 2024]

Yeah, the first time I watched this, I didn't get a lot of it. I don't believe most people do. It is one of those things that will fly clear over the heads of many viewers.

Watch it again. Seriously. You pick up dozens (...literally!) of clues, hints, premonitions.... the kinds of things that we expect to see in Inside No. 9 eps, but not with this frequency or this precision.

There are a number of IN9 eps that push the envelope, are outliers in various ways. This is perhaps the best example.

"I knew this one anyway, it's the Volga"

A dead giveaway, if you think about it. The mother is expecting to be fed answers from her daughter, but she "knew this one anyway".

Brilliant. Easy to overlook, obvious after the fact.

Just what I want from Inside No. 9

[lwcuthbert · 10/10 · 18 October 2023]

There are a few things I have come to expect from an episode of Inside No. 9:

1. Creativity (and the unexpected)

2. Brilliant performances

3. Clever writing full of misdirection, red herrings and subtle foreshadowing to pick up on a rewatch

4. Building tension

5. Immaculate production design

6. Story and characters I'll think about long after the end credits

...and '3 By 3' had it all.

The story of the Oakwoods is fixed in my head now and the performances of Saskia Wakefield and Gemma Page are among the show's most enjoyable (not to mention a brilliantly natural Lee Mack!)

There's so much to unpick and all within a realistic game show framework - itself a wonderful parody of dreary daytime television (with music, graphics and camera work spot on). A thing of beauty, I love it.

Inside no Eleven?

[michaelbennett-78957 · 2/10 · 22 May 2023]

Hmmm. There's homages and then there are rip offs.

Obviously it's very much inspired by Stranger things, Carrie, ect.. even down to what the young girl is wearing. Nose bleeds, telepathy.

But there's no story, no tension. Yes, we know the girl and the mother had some history, but as per other episodes, it seems to be all dullness then all of a sudden....a bombastic ending.

The acting was awful. Even though they were pretending to be 'normal' people, it was obvious from the start.

I love the way Steve and Reece fooled everyone with the fake posters and fake social media posts about a 'no9 bus' episode. To be fair, I think I'd rather have the bus episode.

It's trying to imaginative but lacking any real distinctive quality, especially compared to the Halloween episode that they did, 'dead line'. That was very well acted, executed and fairly spooky.

It was a basically an advert for poor quiz show and then a shock ending.

I wouldn't be surprised if bbc pick the quiz format up!

Anyway. I do love this series and I'm places it's been fantastic. But this wasn't one of them.

Hopefully the finale will be better.

Saskia Wakefield is the MVP

[safenoe · 9/10 · 6 November 2023]

What an awesome episode of Inside No. 9, with 3 by 3 ratcheting up the tension piece by piece, and Lee Mack being so incredibly natural in his performance as a game show host which reminded me of Bradley Walsh, the host of The Chase (the UK version). You could feel the tension in the family where the daughter was played by Saskia Wakefield, who deserves the MVP (most valuable player) award in 3 by 3 (hence the number 9).

You can imagine 3 by 3 being a real-life quiz show, and maybe it can be with Lee Mack at the helm. The ending was explosive (quite literally) and had that scanners element to it.

One of the worst episodes through the whole series

[kjohn-77891 · 3/10 · 21 May 2023]

Let me first say I am a huge fan of this show a watch most episodes multiple times.

This took the biscuit though, I found the build was okay to the outcome but the outcome was a bit of a dud.

Substance without any content.

So the episode start like a quiz show, we then an introduction to each contestant which was more of whose who from what seemed like children's tv. Especially the last team.

Then the quiz starts, after the second round my partner said she knew who was going to win the so called quiz, so where was the guess work for us to work out.

Then, now I am not going to go into detail in case some of you haven't seen this episode.

When the twist comes it was a huge letdown and didn't seem to fit to whole episode.

For me a huge letdown from a great series.

Maybe this is a blip for one episode or is it really time to stop the show.

Can't believe I fell for it

[emilcadd · 8/10 · 31 March 2024]

I had very little knowledge of Inside no. 9 before this having only seen "Cold Comfort" (and remembering next to nothing about it). I knew the show was an anthology but that was it. I walked in on my dad half way through watching the episode (he'd seen it before) but I genuinely thought it was a quiz show as my family are big on those. I thought something about the Oakwoods seemed strange but I kept my mouth shut until my dad said "doesn't something seem off about one of the teams?" and I told him that the middle ones seemed very odd. We kept watching and I even joined in on answering the questions. I recognised Gemma Page however when I asked my dad if they were celebrity teams he said that they were just regular people. I watched this on March 30th so when everything happened at the end I initially thought that it was an early April Fools prank. So even though I did not watch this episode live, it had me completely fooled and it wasn't until the end credits came up with actors listed and the title of the show came up that I realised that my dad had tricked me. Definitely give this episode a watch and trick your family members into thinking it's a game show as I then tricked my brother later on and it's hilarious. Ended up watching multiple other episodes of this show and enjoyed it. Worth the watch.

They said they've got another series before they stop, please just stop now.

[declantill · 1/10 · 19 May 2023]

This episode is categorically the WORST episode the pair have ever put on air, and the die-hards will down vote this from me just giving them a low score, but please hear me out.

I fully love playing with the audience, any big fan of IN9 will know that every man and his dog has approached Steve & Reece asking them to write an episode set on a bus to the point they've actually steered away from it.

So when I saw this game show setup I thought wow, they've played a blinder here, I love it, but if you're going to play with the audience don't spoon-feed them absolute drivel.

This episode is just meant to seem like any generic BBC game show, but it doesn't, it just feels thoroughly staged, its painfully slow, the dialogue is torturous, the puns painful.

You watch a quiz show for some brain dead fun, you go on auto pilot, you may have friends and family to bounce off etc but have you ever tried watching a quiz show as if it was a cerebral show, trying to spot things, listen intently - it's torture.

The entire plot of it, don't get me started, talk about predictable, the ending hahahaha, honestly it's like something you'd expect from gore-obsessed students, I can't stress just how pathetic this episode is.

It's a hallmark of Steve and Reece now, please put your pen down boys, you were once groundbreaking writers, you've now become a parody of yourselves.

Simply put, this episode had every chance to be spectacular just from them messing with us, but eh episode they provided us with was nothing short of a disaster.

Just stop.

WTF ?? .... Awful

[YellowGardenFurniture · 1/10 · 20 May 2023]

I've been a huge fan of everything these guys have done over the years since league of gentleman days and the more earlier series number 9 However , this episode really is the worst of all. I knew it was going to be bad when I realised Lee Mack was the main character - I mean Lee Mack ?? .... The most unfunniest man on TV , who's humour is best suited for last of the summer wine or open all hours etc . He's like the annoying guy down the pub who everyone knows - the guy who has to drop an innuendo onto everything you say or tell crap dad jokes - zero originality - him and frank skinner should form a double act !!

I think using this format for the show totally failed in all aspects - I get they are always trying to come up with new ideas and pushing boundaries etc but this was not it . It was basically watching Lee Mack be annoying for 22 minutes with a "twist" at the end that was not worth the 22 minutes of having to tolerate Lee Mack . It lacked everything that I love about these guys work - the dark undertones that are reminiscent of the 70s horror movies that they often pay homage to and the creepiness that they always manage to inject into the plots etc .

This has all the trappings of a Friday afternoon in the pub scenario where they couldn't think of a plot for filming on Monday so they scrolled though their phones to find someone who they could wing an episode with.

When you compare this to earlier episodes of number 9 and the classic league of gentlemen you would struggle to find any connections. My guess is that Steve and Reece are backing away from the series now as they appear less and less in it as characters and it shows in the quality of the plots etc My hope is , they are working on new ideas somewhere and are going to give a brand new original show that matches their earlier work in the near future !!

Terrible plot with predictable ending

[syfb-49058 · 2/10 · 8 June 2023]

The "episode title hoax" prank doesn't work for people who are watching it online with catch-up services.

So that was a similar trick that had already been attempted at the end of Series 4, which also failed to work for online audiences. Which means that a huge section of their demographic missed out on.

The actual plot was awful, terrible stiff acting by members of the "Oakwood" family.

None of it was convincing and the twist was spotted early on.

The incorrect answers were unrealistic, because apparently Millenial/Gen Z don't know anything about Shrek. Which was MORE unconvincing than the final reveal.