Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Jessica Hynes, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, Noah Valentine.

Kindness is its own reward, but it rarely comes out of a place of virtue, of absolute benevolence to humanity, it always comes with a catch, even it is unthought at the time, it is an action that comes with a price heavily attached with that reward, and one that at any time can be cashed in and exacted as payment.

A moment in time that can be altered, even if believed to be a gift of integrity and righteousness, of kindness to the benefit of humanity, still has a price tag attached to it. It is this estimate of value even in a gift given freely that is the hardest to refuse payment upon, for no good deed, even in A Random Act Of Kindness, goes unpunished,

Whilst the fifth episode of the celebrated Inside No.9’s latest series, A Random Act Of Kindness, may not be seen as one of the strongest of the team’s entire run, it nevertheless captures the spirit of the unexpected, the shadow of the unforeseen, and proves that Time in any form can be vindictive if messed with by the mortality and brief lives of human beings.

Viewers by now have become accustomed to the idea of time travel and parallel universes; long since gone are the days when H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine was considered an aberration of storytelling by those with less than imaginative minds, and whilst A Random Act Of Kindness kind of fades against some of the more popular reals into which the genre has embraced, it nonetheless is a tale having worth being told, especially for the sheer presence of Jessica Hynes as Helen, a single mum with the archetypical Angry Young Man for a son, but one whose life is altered by a bird flying into the glass window, and the appearance of the strange, OCD inflicted, Bob.

Time always wants something back, it is not benevolent, it is often ruthless, wicked, and certainly cruel, but on occasion it offers a glimmer of what can be, but never what it wants in return.

A Random Act Of Kindness comes with a price, and one that we all have to pay.

Ian D. Hall