Written by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, it stars the writers as a pair of hapless burglars attempting to break into the large, modernist house of a couple—played by Denis Lawson and Oona Chaplin—to steal a painting.

The episode progresses almost entirely without dialogue, relying instead on physical comedy and slapstick, though more sinister elements are present in the plot.

In addition to Pemberton, Shearsmith, Lawson and Chaplin, "A Quiet Night In" also starred Joyce Veheary and Kayvan Novak.

Shearsmith and Pemberton had originally considered including a dialogue-free segment in their television series Psychoville, but ultimately did not; they found the format of Inside No.

Pemberton and Shearsmith have said that they have no plans to do further silent episodes, but have compared "A Quiet Night In" to the highly-experimental "Cold Comfort" from Inside No.

Writers Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, who had previously co-written and starred in The League of Gentlemen and Psychoville, took inspiration for 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.

9 allowed Pemberton and Shearsmith to explore ideas which are less practical for other approaches to storytelling, such as the possibility of a script with little dialogue.

[5] Prior to writing "A Quiet Night In", Shearsmith had spoken with directors, including Ben Wheatley, about the possibility of producing television without speech.

[5] Shearsmith said that, at the start of the writing process, the pair did not have the intention of scripting the entire episode without dialogue, and that it would be "great" to have ten minutes without it.

[5] The story of "A Quiet Night In" revolves around a break-in, which, combined with an argument between the people living in the house, means that the characters all have a reason to be silent.

[5][6][8] At 18 pages of stage directions, the script contained every joke in the episode, an exercise in planning atypical for Shearsmith and Pemberton.

[8] Both writers agreed that their roles were "great to perform", and Pemberton described the resulting episode by saying that it "worked out better than [they] could have dreamed".

[2] In addition to Pemberton and Shearsmith, "A Quiet Night In" starred Denis Lawson, Joyce Veheary, Oona Chaplin and Kayvan Novak.

Ray starts to dismantle the painting while Eddie keeps watch; he tries to guide a Yorkshire Terrier out of the patio window, but inadvertently lets in an Irish Wolfhound.

He turns up his music and the pair fight over the television remote, before leaving through the patio door and arguing, though their voices are muffled.

On the patio, Gerald points the gun into his mouth, as Eddie stumbles around in the lounge area, having accidentally pushed chilli peppers into his eyes.

Ray hides under Sabrina's bed as she reenters the room; lying on a sex doll with both a penis and breasts, he is almost discovered.

[9] Though the comedy remains black,[16][17] the comedic style of the episode differs considerably from that of "Sardines", the previous installment of Inside No.

[18] The episode features various twists, and these are generally in keeping with Pemberton and Shearsmith's typical approach, though one is reminiscent of the Farrelly brothers.

[16] Chater later described the episode as "mindboggling in its originality",[22] and "one of the funniest, most imaginative programmes shown on television in the past 15 years".

[26] Jack Seale, writing for the Radio Times, also stressed how the episode was "beautifully choreographed", praising Pemberton and Shearsmith's "willingness to attempt difficult concepts".

[18] In The Observer, Mike Bradley called "A Quiet Night In" a "priceless silent farce",[20] but, in the newspaper's sister publication The Guardian, Luke Holland was more critical.

He said the episode was "an almost wordless half-hour of physical comedy", and that "it plays out like a French farce, its comedic strokes far broader" than those of "Sardines".

9 series 1 boxset published on theguardian.com described "A Quiet Night In" as "engaging, tense, funny, frightening – and accessibly experimental".

[14] The episode was compared positively to "Last Gasp" by Rebecca McQuillan of The Herald, who said that "A Quiet Night In" was "something close to comedy genius".

[27] An anonymous review in the South African newspaper The Saturday Star picked out "A Quiet Night In" as the strongest episode of the first series.

9 had received no BAFTA nominations,[22][33][34] with Julia Raeside, of The Guardian, describing "A Quiet Night In" as "one of the most inspired pieces of mute theatre I've seen on television".

[32][36][37][38] "Cold Comfort" was also filmed an experimental style, with most of the episode shot from fixed cameras and displayed on a split screen.

The one-off event, entitled "A Quiet Night In with Reece & Steve", also featured Pemberton and Shearsmith discussing the episode on-stage with Robin Ince, followed by a question and answer session with the writers.