"Insider Number 9" returns for its 5th season and opens with this solid addition, lacking in the occasional horror elements that Shearsmith and Pemberton enjoy but high on farce, wordplay and plotting.
It's the last day of the season, and promotion and relegation is in the balance for United and Rovers. There to uphold fair play is the four man referee team. Martin (David Morrissey) is a respected referee retiring after this game. This linesmen are Phil (Ralf Little), a young up and comer eager to confirm his place at the next World Cup, and Oggy (Steve Pemberton) unfit and more suitable for Sunday league than the Championship. His fourth official is the fastidious Brendan (Reece Shearsmith) capable, but forever banging on about his day at the San Siro thirty years ago. The prematch meetings are straightforward, but come half time, Rovers have a controversial one - nil lead.
There were a good few funny lines in this episode. The early banter between the four is quite strong and there were a few references that would keep football fans, such as myself, happy. The plotting was clever, especially if you piece together some of what might have happened, once you're aware of the final twist. To be fair, overthinking like I do, it's probably unlikely that the proposed outcome of the show would happen. I'd imagine that the game would be replayed, particularly as the allegiances Martin has seems to be pretty widely known.
Not the show's finest hour, but yet another decent entry in comedy's most consistent series.
