Inside No. 9: The Party’s Over review – What DVD bonus features are for

While some understandably find it a tough pill to swallow during a cost of living crisis, where so many viewing options are included for "free" via streaming subscriptions, there are still plenty of reasons to own physical media.

One highlight of a well-made DVD or Blu-ray is the bonus features, which give you a behind-the-scenes look at whatever it is you've invested your time and money into. Enter Inside No. 9: The Party's Over.

This hour-long retrospective on Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's acclaimed anthology has nabbed a primetime slot on BBC Two, but in a different era, it probably would have been reserved for the season 9 box set.

No doubt this is a nice capper for fans, with some interesting trivia tidbits and a handful of new interviews with familiar faces from Inside No. 9's ever-changing cast, but it doesn't exactly feel revelatory.

Instead, the stories and insights are tailored for only the most passionate Inside No. 9 fans – of which there are a fair number – but more casual viewers may find their attention wandering over the course of the hour.

The weakest element is the low-fi vlog interludes from Shearsmith and Pemberton themselves, recorded during production on season 9, in which the former repeatedly gives the impression that he's participating in the special under duress.

That's probably just the actor's spiky sense of humour coming through, but it doesn't fit with the broader tone of the special, which is clearly intended to be a celebratory and wistful look back on a long collaboration – as opposed to an irritating chore.

Ultimately, the duo get a bit stuck on repeating how hard the show was to make and how strange it feels to end it. I don't doubt the accuracy of either statement, but after a while you do want the conversation to move on.

What The Party's Over has in common with Inside No. 9's physical media releases is that both are a treat for die-hard fans, which begs the question of why they weren't paired together to begin with?

On the contrary, the DVD-only release of the final season was criticised by some for its lacklustre special features, which left them yearning for the more substantial bonus offerings of Inside No. 9's early days.

So, at the risk of sounding completely consumed by nostalgia for my childhood trips to HMV, I do feel that The Party's Over would simply be a better fit on a collector's disc than on primetime television.

That's especially true during the busiest – and most competitively scheduled – time of year, when Nick Mohammed flicking through a notebook in a deserted cafe is surely not the most exciting thing on telly*.

*At other times of the year, it might well be.

Inside No. 9: The Party's Over airs on BBC Two and iPlayer at 9pm on Sunday 22nd December.

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