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"Cold Comfort" is the fourth episode of the second series of British dark comedy anthology television programme ''Inside No. 9''. It was first broadcast on 16 April 2015 on BBC Two. The episode was written and directed by Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, and starred Pemberton, Shearsmith, Jane Horrocks, Nikki Amuka-Bird and Tony Way. It also featured the voices of several other actors. The story follows Andy, who is starting a volunteer position at the Comfort Support Line, a crisis hotline. 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, the gossipy Liz and the officious Joanne. Most of the episode is composed of a stream from a fixed camera on Andy's desk with smaller feeds on the side of the screen, in the style of a CCTV feed. "Cold Comfort" was the most experimental episode of the second series, and was Pemberton and Shearsmith's directorial debut. 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''), 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. ==Production== The second series of ''Inside No. 9'' written in 2014, and then filmed from the end of 2014 into early 2015. The idea for "Cold Comfort" began with the call centre; once the writers had the idea for the setting, they allowed the story to grow out of this. As each episode of ''Inside No. 9'' features new characters, the writers were able to attract actors who might have been unwilling to commit to an entire series. "Cold Comfort" stars Pemberton as Andy, a new volunteer, and Shearsmith as George, Andy's supervisor. Jane Horrocks, Nikki Amuka-Bird and Tony Way star respectively as Liz, Joanne and Michael, other volunteers. Edward Eastern, Vilma Hollingbery, Kath Hughes, James Meehan and Vicky Hall provide the voices of various people who call in to the centre.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05rd99b )〕 According to Shearsmith, he and Pemberton do not typically write ''Inside No. 9'' scripts with particular actors in mind for roles, and nor do they typically write roles specifically for themselves. They were unsure, for a long time, on which characters they should take, initially considering having Shearsmith play Andy and Pemberton play George. This, Shearsmith said, felt like the more "obvious" option, but the characters were switched as they "thought it would be slightly more unusual" to have it that way around.〔 Pemberton and Shearsmith, in addition to writing and starring in "Cold Comfort", directed the episode. This episode—one of two in the second series that they jointly directed—was their directorial debut.〔〔 The pair did not know, while writing for the series, which episodes they would be directing, meaning that their writing was unlikely to be influenced by the knowledge.〔 Pemberton and Shearsmith had always intended to try directing, and the second series of ''Inside No. 9'' offered them the opportunity. David Kerr, who had directed all of the episodes in the first series, was unable to return for the second. Guillem Morales and Dan Zeff each took on directorial duties for two episodes, while Pemberton and Shearsmith decided to direct the remaining two. Shearsmith said in an interview that the pair had considered directing episodes in which they did not appear much, but scheduling concerns left them with "Cold Comfort" and "Nana's Party"; the episodes feature the writers quite heavily.〔 By contrast, Pemberton said that he and Shearsmith, knowing that they were going to be directing two episodes, deliberately chose "Cold Comfort" because the fixed cameras made filming a lot simpler, though Shearsmith said that the filming was more complex than they initially anticipated. For Horrocks, it was "lovely to be directed" by Pemberton and Shearsmith, as she "really () their choices and ... () their work". The episode progresses mostly through footage streamed from a fixed camera in booth nine. Streams from other cameras are displayed on the side of the screen, in the style of a CCTV feed.〔 As such, for much of the episode, viewers simply watch characters taking calls.〔 Shearsmith felt that a whole series filmed in the same manner "would be a bit wearing on the eye", but that the style could be used for a single episode.〔 Pemberton compared the episode to "A Quiet Night In", the second episode of the first series of ''Inside No. 9'',〔 a sentiment echoed by some critics.〔〔 Both were highly experimental—"A Quiet Night In" being mostly silent and "Cold Comfort" being filmed mostly from a fixed camera—something which suits the anthology format.〔〔 On the other hand, according to Pemberton, as "Cold Comfort" is "static and all about listening", it is, in a sense, the "polar opposite" of "A Quiet Night In".〔 Though all episodes in the series were very different in tone, Pemberton felt that "Cold Comfort" was "the most extreme experiment".〔 The format presented certain technical difficulties.〔 The episode was filmed in very long takes—some as long as five or six minutes—without any cuts. This meant that actors could not make any errors, but the result was "something you don't normally see". Pemberton said that the episode would "either be brilliantly tense or incredibly boring". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cold Comfort (Inside No. 9)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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