Sardines (Inside No. 9)

"Sardines"
Inside No. 9 episode
Episode poster, designed by Graham Humphreys[1]
Episode no.	Series 1 Episode 1
Directed by	David Kerr
Written by	Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith
Featured music	Christian Henson
Original air date	5 February 2014 (2014-02-05)
Running time	30 minutes
Guest appearances
Katherine Parkinson as Rebecca Tim Key as Ian Luke Pasqualino as Lee Ophelia Lovibond as Rachel Anne Reid as Geraldine Julian Rhind-Tutt as Mark Anna Chancellor as Elizabeth Marc Wootton as "Stinky" John Ben Willbond as Jeremy Timothy West as Andrew
Episode chronology
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"Sardines" is the first episode of the first series of the British black comedy anthology series Inside No. 9. Written by Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, it premiered on BBC Two and BBC Two HD on 5 February 2014. In the episode, a group of adults play sardines at an engagement party. Rebecca, the bride-to-be, finds a boring man named Ian in a wardrobe; he introduces himself as a colleague of Jeremy, Rebecca's fiancé. The pair are subsequently joined by family, friends and colleagues of Rebecca and Jeremy. As more people enter the room and step into the wardrobe, secrets shared by some of the characters are revealed, with various allusions to incestuous relationships, child sexual abuse, and adultery. The humour is both dark and British, with references to past unhappiness and polite but awkward interactions.

The story takes place entirely in the bedroom of a country house, with much of the filming taking place inside the wardrobe. Pemberton and Shearsmith wrote the episode with the intention of evoking a feeling of claustrophobia in viewers. In addition to the writers, the episode starred Katherine Parkinson, Tim Key, Luke Pasqualino, Ophelia Lovibond, Anne Reid, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Anna Chancellor, Marc Wootton, Ben Willbond and Timothy West. The cast and writing were praised by television critics, and the episode was chosen as pick of the day in a number of publications. On its first showing, "Sardines" was watched by 1.1 million viewers, which was 5.6% of the audience.