La Couchette

"La Couchette"
Inside No. 9 episode
Episode no.	Series 2 Episode 1
Directed by	Guillem Morales
Written by	Steve Pemberton Reece Shearsmith
Produced by	Adam Tandy (producer) Jon Plowman (executive producer)
Original air date	26 March 2015

"La Couchette" is the first episode of the second series of British dark comedy anthology Inside No. 9. Written by Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith and directed by Guillem Morales, the episode is set in a sleeper carriage on a French train. English doctor Maxwell, who is travelling to an important job interview, climbs into bed. He is disturbed first by drunk, flatulent German Jorg, and then by English couple Kath and Les. Later, while the others sleep, Australian backpacker Shona brings posh trustafarian Hugo back to the cabin, but the pair make a surprising discovery.

The episode was inspired by the intimacy of sleeper carriages, in which people aim to sleep in close proximity to strangers. Critics and commentators compared the episode to "Sardines", the first episode of the first series of Inside No. 9. Much of the episode's story and humour derives from the unlikability of the characters, played variously by Pemberton, Shearsmith, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Mark Benton, Jessica Gunning, Jack Whitehall and George Glaves. Critics responded positively to "La Couchette", commending the cast and script, but noted that Inside No. 9 is something of an acquired taste.

Production and development

"La Couchette" was cowritten by Shearsmith (pictured, 2003) who starred as English doctor Maxwell.

The first series of Inside No. 9 consisted of six episodes, each with a different cast and collection of characters, aired from February 2014.^[1][2] The programme was inspired by an episode of the first series of Psychoville, which was in turn inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Rope. The episode took place entirely in a single room, and it was filmed in only two shots.^[2] The BBC ordered a second series of Inside No. 9 before the first episode had aired.^[3] The second series was written in 2014, and then filmed from the end of 2014 into early 2015.^[4][5]

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.^[2] Jack Whitehall, who was a fan of the show, says that he "may or may not have nagged Reece and Steve to find a Jack Whitehall-shaped hole in the second series", and was "very thankful" when they did.^[6] In addition to Pemberton, Shearsmith and Whitehall, "La Couchette" stars Julie Hesmondhalgh, Mark Benton, Jessica Gunning and George Glaves.^[7]

"La Couchette" follows six characters on a sleeper carriage travelling from Paris to Bourg St. Maurice.^[6][8] Shearsmith said that the writers aimed to exploit the intimacy of the setting; the unusual situation which is created by trying to sleep in what is potentially a room full of strangers. This was, for Shearsmith, an "odd frisson" to play with.^[6][8] Discussing the filming, Whitehall said that "It's definitely the most intimate location I have ever been on ... It's all on springs so it moves around like a train carriage – and I suffer from very bad motion sickness so on the first day I threw up. I had to literally run off the set half way through a scene and throw up in the loo. So it was quite an auspicious start."^[6] The set, which was situated in Twickenham Studios for the filming, was shaken manually to create the effect of motion; something which surprised Hesmondhalgh. Benton noted that the tight space created a challenge for the camera crews, but, for the actors, it was "great".^[8]

Plot

English doctor Maxwell (Shearsmith) climbs into bunk 9E while travelling from Paris to Bourg St. Maurice. As soon as Maxwell settles, Jorg (Pemberton), a drunk, flatulent German man, enters the room. After disturbing Maxwell, Jorg climbs into bunk 9D and begins snoring. Maxwell is next disturbed by couple Kath (Hesmondhalgh) and Les (Benton). They are travelling to attend their daughter's wedding the following day, and Kath hangs the couple's wedding clothes off bunk 9D. Les is frustrated that Jorg is in his bed, but the couple climb into bunk 9A. Australian backpacker Shona (Gunning) enters the room, while talking on her phone. She places her bag on bunk 9C and leaves. Maxwell gets out of bed to close the door after Shona. Kath and Les, laughing at Maxwell, begin to undress on their bed. Angry with the bed situation, Les wakes Jorg, but the pair struggle to communicate until Maxwell translates. Jorg climbs down to 9F and Les climbs into 9D, and after Les's travel alarm is set off, everyone is able to sleep.

Hours later, Shona re-enters the room with English trustafarian Hugo (Whitehall). The pair sit on 9C and share a can of Carling while swapping travel stories. Hugo says he would rather stay in this carriage than in first class, and the pair begin foreplay. A face appears from bunk 9B, and a man falls to the floor. The carriage's inhabitants awake, and Maxwell confirms that the man is dead. Maxwell leaves the carriage to look for the guard. Jorg finds a photo in the dead man's pocket, showing that he had a family. Maxwell returns alone, and Jorg suggests they use the emergency stop button. Les prepares to smash the glass with one of Kath's Next shoes. However, Hugo stops him, confessing he is ticketless, Maxwell says he has an interview with the World Health Organisation in the morning, and Les confesses that he does not want to risk missing his daughter's wedding, to Kath's annoyance. Maxwell explains the situation to Jorg, Les and Kath argue, and Shona refuses to let Hugo back into her bunk. Maxwell gives Jorg some tablets for his constipation, after which Shona offers a eulogy based on what she could guess about the dead man from the photograph. The body is placed back in 9B, and Hugo climbs into the same bed. The passengers settle, but Kath lies sleepless.

After dawn, Les accidentally wakes Maxwell, then sees that Kath is not in her bunk. The train brakes suddenly, waking everyone, and Hugo falls to the floor with the corpse. Maxwell guesses that Kath has stopped the train, and Jorg jumps up and drops his trousers. Maxwell next guesses that Kath has jumped in front of the train, and Les repeatedly hits him with a pillow as Jorg defecates into Kath's shoebox, which is held by Hugo. Shona sees that the train has hit a deer, and Kath re-enters the room.

Later, Maxwell is dressed, and Hugo enters the carriage, wearing a T-shirt of Shona's. He says that Jorg is cleaning himself. Kath and Les talk. The former feels remorse, and insists that the pair attend the dead man's funeral. Shona and Hugo leave the carriage; the two intend to go "exploring". Maxwell says his goodbyes to Kath and Les, then, alone in the room, receives a call from his driver, who is waiting at the station for Maxwell and Dr. Meier, the other candidate. Maxwell turns to the body and says he is "terribly sorry", but there can only be "one candidate". As he says Meier's name, Jorg, now smartly dressed, answers. Jorg explains that he is Dr. Meier, and that he is travelling to an interview. As Jorg leaves the carriage, Maxwell looks to the corpse in silence.

Analysis

"La Couchette", like "Sardines"—the first episode of the previous series—introduces characters gradually, and explores "man's capacity to behave idiotically within a confined space to creepy and comic effect".^[9] The sleeper carriage setting is, like the wardrobe of "Sardines", a claustrophobic environment into which the various characters are forced.^[10][11] For comedy critic Bruce Dessau, though the setup was similar, "La Couchette" was "maybe more comic, less sinister, but the denouement is no less nightmare-inducing".^[12]

The sleeper carriage setting gave Shearsmith and Pemberton a number of "traumatic" elements to exploit, such as clausterphobia, proximity to strangers, motion, and the various elements associated with settling down to sleep, such as flatulence and getting undressed.^[13][14] These characteristics led to elements typical of Pemberton and Shearsmith's work—characteristics of what The Guardian critic Sam Wollaston calls "Shearsmith’n’Pembertonism"—including "macabre horror, stiff-handling, cadaver spooning" and multiple twists.^[13] The characters are generally not particularly likable people,^[14][9][15] and the actors are somewhat typecast; "Hesmondhalgh was frumpy but compassionate, while Whitehall played yet another clueless, posh student".^[14]

Euan Ferguson identified Roald Dahl and Hitchcock as clear influences,^[16] and Ellen E Jones, writing in The Independent, saw a Hitchcockian element ("La Couchette" being especially reminiscent of Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train) in addition to Inside No. 9‍ '​s usual gothic horror influences.^[14] Wollaston described the episode as a mix of Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected, Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express and Chris Donald's Viz.^[13] Dessau compared the episode's scenario to that of 1970s film Horror Express.^[12]

Christopher Stevens, who reviewed "La Couchette" alongside Cameron & Miliband: The Battle for Number 10, speculated that there may have been a degree of political satire in episode. He noted that Inside No. 9 storylines "were never meant to be topical satires, but we're so steeped in electioneering that everything is starting to look like political comment now". He compared the character of Hugo, a "public school chancer ... with a breezy nonchalance and an answer for everything", to David Cameron, and the character of Maxwell, "the uptight little man with the funny voice ... who had committed murder to win his comfy berth and was now beginning to wonder if he’d made a mistake", to Ed Miliband. Stevens claimed that Inside No. 9 "is bizarre enough for any interpretation".^[17]

Reception

External video

"Wrong bed" Les and Kath try encourage Jorg to switch beds, but encounter a language barrier. Maxwell, frustrated by the noise, translates.

"La Couchette" was well received by television critics, and was awarded four out of five stars by Gabriel Tate (Daily Telegraph), Andrew Billen (The Times) and Christopher Stevens] (Daily Mail).^[9][18][17] It was described as "beautifully, beautifully dark, and guiltily funny" by Euan Ferguson, writing in The Guardian,^[16] as "a delight" by Billen^[18] and as "a tightly worked farce" by Gerard Gilbert of The Independent.^[10] For Paddy Shennan of the Liverpool Echo, the episode was "typically inventive and inspired".^[15]

Jonathan Wright, writing in The Guardian, commended the script of "La Couchette", calling it "a delight, with one line delivered by Jack Whitehall quite possibly the most gloriously tasteless you'll hear on television all year".^[19] Ferguson offered a similar view, saying that Whitehall delivered "seriously undeliverable lines with entirely believable gusto".^[16] Tate said that though he found the revelation at the end of the episode fairly predictable, the "writing and performances were so engaging that it hardly mattered". The episode was, for him, "inventive" and "deliciously wicked".^[9] Similarly, though Billen considered the setting fairly unoriginal and the characters stereotypical, he commended the cast, and said that the writers "scored a laugh every few seconds and then a home run with a savage resolution".^[18] Patrick Mulkern, writing for Radio Times, described "La Couchette" as "hilarious" and "sharply observed". He commended the cast, saying that Pemberton and Shearsmith "give a mini-masterclass" in their performances.^[20] A review in the Scottish Daily Mail described the episode by saying that "the comedy is dark and sometimes gross, but there are some fine moments - and a macabre twist at the end".^[21] Jones called the episode "toilet humour with a twist", saying that "It was Jorg's grunting and squatting that produced the episode's impressively grotesque climax, but it was Whitehall as Hugo who followed up with the instantly quotable line: 'We're going to need a bigger box!'"^[14]

In the course of his review of "La Couchette", Stevens suggested that Inside No. 9 is something of an acquired taste. He noted, though, that "even if they don’t make you laugh, you have to concede this duo are the most febrilely inventive writers on TV."^[17] Wollaston, who reviewed the episode for The Guardian, observed that humour generally is extremely personal, and said that he "never really got Shearsmith and Pemberton's stuff". He said he could appreciate the narrative and artistry of "La Couchette", and could understand why others found it funny, but that he does not love Inside No. 9, and that, when watching, he is "just not laughing".^[13] A viewer unimpressed with the episode wrote to The Times. Disagreeing with Billen's review, the reader claimed that the episode's "puerile humour [was as] flatulent as its one-dimensional figures".^[22]

"La Couchette" was watched by 1.1 million viewers, which was 6.1% of the audience. This was slightly higher than "Sardines", the first episode of the first series, which was watched by 1.05 million (5.7% of the audience).^[23]

References

Further reading

• "'People are disappointed if we don't deliver something horrible'". Chortle.co.uk. 17 March 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2015. 
• Boyd, Phoebe-Jane (30 March 2015). "Inside No. 9 series 2 episode 1 review: La Couchette". Den of Geek. Retrieved 3 April 2015. 

External links

• "La Couchette" on the British Comedy Guide
• "La Couchette" on the Internet Movie Database