Lots of people taken aback by comedy horror anthology show Inside No. 9 last night, as the apparently scheduled episode based on 70s sitcom On The Buses was changed to a new quiz, 3 By 3, hosted by Lee Mack. I couldn’t tell if you if there is genuinely an On The Buses episode in the pipeline or not, I had heard on the grapevine there was an episode of IN9 that was going to play with the television form this series, so presumably this was that one.
On the face of it a completely normal and boring daytime-style quiz, with apparently quite large five-figure prizes. Three teams of three compete, the first round, 3’s a Crowd, a bit like old Nick Ross show The Syndicate – get a question right and win money, lose and you get frozen out and have to be tactically bought back, lowest scoring team leaves but they keep the money (one of the many clues for the casual watcher to suggest this isn’t a real show). Round two, 3 Point Turn is basically quiz noughts and crosses, select a square, answer question to claim the square, three in a row gets you to the final, the rounds name coming entirely from the hilariously crap visual effect of the word on the board spinning round and round before revealing if the answer is right or not. The final round, 3 Blind Twice, sees one contestant put in a soundproof booth, another teammate answering questions outside it (goodness knows how this would have worked if a team of three made it to the final), both answer the same question, if they both get it right their money is tripled, wrong back to their original stake, play up to three times, it seems like the third question there’s an all-or-nothing risk so if both get it wrong they lose everything. The team use the words “we’re going to gamble” here, which is a bit of shame as quiz shows just don’t use that phrase these days in lieu of any number of euphemisms.
Of course, being an Inside No. 9 story, the whole thing is cut through with decent and well observed gags – Quiztopher Bigwins as a team name for example, the incredible way they’ve come up with round titles, Lee Mack being Lee Mack generally. Also one of the teams is psychic and a bit weird and clearly the mother (who’s a bit like Judith Keppel) and daughter have some issues which come to a head, which you can probably figure out by the end.
Worth a watch – to be clear, it’s under Inside No. 9 on iPlayer rather than 3 By 3, and also probably shouldn’t be watched by the more easily disturbed. I’d like to say I’m a big IN9 fan given Pemberton and Shearsmith’s other work, but in truth I keep intending to binge watch it all and never get around to it, although I do try and watch the ones that play with the TV form when I can.