"Séance Time" is the sixth and final episode of the second series of the British dark comedy anthology television programme Inside No.

It stars Pemberton, Shearsmith, Alison Steadman, Alice Lowe, Sophie McShera, Dan Starkey, Cariad Lloyd and Caden-Ellis Wall.

The writers aimed to begin "Séance Time" with minimal humour, presenting it as straight horror, before introducing the first twist.

Critics responded positively to "Séance Time", praising the horror—several considered the episode genuinely frightening—the humour, and the writing.

Hives (Shearsmith) settles Tina before retrieving Talbot (Steadman), who arrives shrouded in black and carrying a doll.

When the séance begins, objects fly around the room, Talbot's voice becomes demonic and ectoplasm seeps from her mouth.

Scaredy Cam production crew, including the director Gemma (Lloyd) and the make-up artist Amanda (Lowe), enter to prepare for the next prank.

Terry is surprised to hear a child's voice during Anne's performance as Madam Talbot, and, backstage, the camera stream is blurry.

Backstage, people wait for the police and ambulance; Terry is worried about his career, Anne wants to get away for some food and Amanda is keen to retrieve props from the corpse, but Pete and Gemma show some remorse.

Facing away from Terry and speaking in a rasping voice, the figure introduces himself as "Spirit of Little Boy", and talks of a suicide after the embarrassment of wetting himself on television.

He had heard tapping and seen movement on a ouija board, and believed he had experienced something supernatural until Mark Gatiss confessed that he was responsible.

[7] "Séance Time" starred Sophie McShera as Tina—though Tina was played by an uncredited extra in the opening shot of a house's exterior[8]—Shearsmith as "Hives"/Terry, Alison Steadman as "Madam Talbot"/Anne, Dan Starkey as "Blue Demon Dwarf"/Clive,[note 1] Cariad Lloyd as Gemma, Alice Lowe as Amanda, Pemberton as Pete and Caden-Ellis Wall as William.

[15] One journalist commented on the appropriateness of the casting, given the influence of Abigail's Party—in which Steadman starred—on "Nana's Party", the previous week's episode.

[19] The writers found the role of "Blue Demon Dwarf" difficult to cast, but were very happy with the performance of Starkey,[20] who kept some of his character's props.

[23] Meanwhile, Hives's costume and mannerisms were inspired by those worn and adopted by Noel Edmonds in undercover practical jokes.

[24] A related influence for the episode was a prank-gone-wrong seen on YouTube, in which a joke's target punches a costumed person when the latter surprises the former.

[26] In addition to playing Pete, Pemberton provided the deep voice spoken by "Madam Talbot" during the séance.

[8] Thematically, Shearsmith felt that the episode served to tie together a number of ideas with which he had been "obsessed" for years, including horror, ghosts and magic.

[5] The episode's director, Dan Zeff, got behind the idea of genuine horror, and Shearsmith was happy with how the initial séance was portrayed.

[28] Props utilised to heighten the horror included a trick candle—swapped back-and-forth with a real one—which could shoot a large flame.

[18] Nonetheless, humour remained elsewhere in the script; Lloyd looked forward to performing a particular joke involving blue paint.

[43] "Séance Time" draws inspiration from horror films and "the pretensions of actors"—two themes favoured by the writers.

[45] For one critic, Pete's initial failure to believe the prank results in a memorable sequence that "was a lovely statement about how old-fashioned horror imagery and well-worn tropes can be terrifying in the right hands, and plain ludicrous if you refuse to enter into the spirit of things".

[16] Though the episode begins with horror, similar to "The Harrowing", it quickly moves into the more meta subject of television production; something "more intimidating and probably a lot crueller" than the supernatural.

[39] A contrary opinion was offered in a review in the Liverpool Echo; the author called "Séance Time" a "decent enough watch", but felt that it was "a relatively disappointing episode" which was "unable to match what had gone before".

[16] Bennion commended the writing, saying that Pemberton and Shearsmith were able to subvert expectations of séances several times; "just as you're smugly congratulating yourself for working out every twist and turn, they pull it from your grasp".

[47] Bennion said that Steadman "[hammed] it up beautifully" and "[nailed] each [joke] with aplomb", also commending the "comic turns" from Lowe and Lloyd.