Cold Comfort (Inside No. 9)

"Cold Comfort"
Inside No. 9 episode
Episode poster, featuring Steve Pemberton as Andy, Reece Shearsmith as George, Jane Horrocks as Liz and Nikki Amuka-Bird as Joanne
Episode no.	Series 2 Episode 4
Directed by	Steve Pemberton Reece Shearsmith
Written by	Pemberton Shearsmith
Story by	Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton
Featured music	Christian Henson
Editing by	Joe Randall-Cutler
Original air date	16 April 2015 (2015-04-16)
Running time	30 minutes[1]
Guest appearances
Jane Horrocks as Liz Nikki Amuka-Bird as Joanne Tony Way as Michael Vilma Hollingbery as a caller Edward Easton as a caller Kath Hughes as a caller James Meehan as a caller Vicky Hall as a caller
Episode chronology
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"Cold Comfort" is the fourth episode of the second series of the British dark comedy anthology television programme Inside No. 9. The episode, which was written and directed by Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, was first broadcast on 16 April 2015 on BBC Two. Most of "Cold Comfort" is composed of a stream from a fixed camera on the desk of Andy, the protagonist, with smaller pictures on the side of the screen, in the style of a CCTV feed. "Cold Comfort" was filmed over two and a half days in Twickenham, and was, like "A Quiet Night In" from Inside No. 9's first series, highly experimental. It was Pemberton and Shearsmith's directorial debut.

The episode starred Pemberton, Shearsmith, Jane Horrocks, Nikki Amuka-Bird and Tony Way as volunteers at Comfort Support Line, a crisis hotline. The story follows Andy (Pemberton), who is starting at the call centre. After taking a particularly disturbing call from Chloe, a suicidal teenage girl, Andy begins to struggle, but he is offered support by his supervisor George (Shearsmith), the gossipy Liz (Horrocks) and the officious Joanne (Amuka-Bird). Andy is later joined by Michael (Way). Vilma Hollingbery, Vicky Hall and members of the comedy group Gein's Family Giftshop (Edward Easton, Kath Hughes and James Meehan) voiced various callers, with the Gein's Family Giftshop comedians also appearing as on-screen extras, playing unnamed call centre volunteers.

The television critics Andrew Billen and David Chater (both writing for The Times) and John Robinson (writing for The Guardian) characterised "Cold Comfort" as somewhat weaker than other episodes of the series, but other critics, including Patrick Mulkern (writing for Radio Times), the comedy critic Bruce Dessau and writers for The Sunday Times were complimentary. Commentators praised the format, the writing and the performances, especially Horrocks's, but offered differing views about the episode's conclusion, plot and atmosphere.