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"Tom & Gerri" is the third episode of British dark comedy anthology series ''Inside No. 9''. It premiered on BBC2 on 19 February 2014. The episode was based on a play that Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith had written while living together prior to the development of their series ''The League of Gentlemen''. While the play had originally been around two hours in length, the episode was only half an hour. "Tom & Gerri" follows a difficult period in the life of Tom (Shearsmith), a primary school teacher and aspiring writer, and his partner Gerri (Gemma Arterton), a struggling actress, after Tom invites the homeless Migg (Pemberton) into his home. Conleth Hill stars as Stevie, a man worried about the mental health of his friend Tom. The entire episode takes place inside Tom's flat. Reviewers generally agreed that "Tom & Gerri" was significantly darker but less funny than previous episodes of ''Inside No. 9''. Nonetheless, the response to the episode as a whole was very positive. Critics disagreed about the presentation of Tom's mental illness in the episode, with one journalist suggesting that the episode's ending "set back public awareness of mental health at least half an hour",〔 but another saying that the story presented "a fine – if cartoonish – take on mental illness".〔 ==Production== Writers Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, who had previously worked together on ''The League of Gentlemen'' and ''Psychoville'', took inspiration for ''Inside No. 9'' from "David and Maureen", episode 4 of the first series of ''Psychoville''. This episode, in turn, was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's ''Rope''. "David and Maureen" took place entirely in a single room, and was filmed in only two shots. At the same time, the concept of ''Inside No. 9'' was a "reaction" to ''Psychoville'', with Shearsmith saying that "We'd been so involved with labyrinthine over-arcing, we thought it would be nice to do six different stories with a complete new house of people each week. That's appealing, because as a viewer you might not like this story, but you've got a different one next week."〔 〕 As an anthology series with horror themes, ''Inside No. 9'' also pays homage to ''Tales of the Unexpected'', ''The Twilight Zone'' and ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents''. The "loose story" of "Tom and Gerri" was written originally as a two-hour play while Shearsmith and Pemberton were on the dole and sharing a flat, prior to the production of ''League of Gentlemen''.〔 The story was inspired by their experiences in this environment. The character of Tom has his "life energy" drained in the same way that, the writers suggest, is experienced by jobhunters. The "sinister" atmosphere of the episode is meant to evoke the feeling that a person has when they "can't quite manage to leave the flat" and they "can't be bothered to tidy up". "Tom & Gerri" ended up "quite different" from the play, which featured a character much like Pauline from ''The League of Gentlemen''. Pemberton described the feel of the episode as Pinteresque, comparing it to Harold Pinter's ''A Slight Ache''. This sentiment was echoed by critic Gareth Lightfoot, writing in Teesside's ''Evening Gazzette''. As the format of ''Inside No. 9'' requires new characters each week, the writers were able to attract actors who may have been unwilling to commit to an entire series.〔 In addition to the writers, "Tom & Gerri" starred Gemma Arterton and Conleth Hill.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03w7w6x )〕 The flat in which the episode was filmed, with its boardgames and "misery", was, for Shearsmith, similar to the flat once shared by the writers. The episode was filmed in winter, and Pemberton described a "grim" atmosphere during filming. He also said that he hated the wig and beard he wore to play Migg, which irritated his skin.〔 David Chater, writing in ''The Times'', said that the hair meant Migg "has an eerie resemblance to the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz - only not nearly as benign". Considering the title of "Tom & Gerri", critic Bruce Dessau suggested that it was likely not a reference to the Tom and Jerry of 1970s sitcom ''The Good Life'', as the life of Tom and Gerri is "anything but good". Instead, he suggested, the reference was more likely to cartoon characters Tom and Jerry, saying that there "is definitely a hint of cat and mouse" in the plot. ''Metro'' critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Carol Carter concurred, saying that the plot consisted of "a game of cat and mouse".〔 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「Tom & Gerri」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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