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".