Didn't Fox decide that X-Files ep was a little too creepy, so they weren't going to show it ever again? And then it was one of the winners of some viewer's choice of best episodes to be reshown? Or did I dream all of that?

I think this did happen. I saw it on the one replay.

If it's that creepy, that's too creepy.

Yeah, I'm in the crowd that thought Angelus's episodes would have been improved by more onscreen bloodshed and tormenting of human victims, and even I got a case of the willies when Mrs. Peacock slid out from under that bed. That much creep factor on a weekly basis would almost have to put the majority of viewers off, consciously or unconsciously.

Of course I also think a show that hardcore would have sent the Fox network suits running to emergency appointments with their therapists in short order. Their continued enthusiasm surely means it's more accessible to mainstream audiences?

Remember that X-Files ep, I think called Home? With the brothers and the mother under the bed?

Ooooh, I loved that one! I was gonna watch The Inside anyway, but now I'm even more enthused. Creeptastic goodness!

Is there any supernatural/sci-fi/genre element to it all, Allyson? If not -- does this make the first show of Tim's to not have any?

I think I'm not being clear. It's difficult without being able to give specific examples, and I can't do that, so I feel like I'm talking around it all taking the long route, and I am. Maybe I'm doing it all a disservice.

The thing about Home is that the entire episode was built around that moment when she slides out from under the bed and we know that it's incest, so the feeling of dread was building and building to reach that moment.

With the Inside, the characters are strong and it's very plot driven. So it's not all about that one shocking moment, there's a lot of moments of discovery that lead up to a whole picture.

So it's not all about That One Scene. There's notes that will hit everyone differently. There will be currents of dread, but it's like the bassline under the guitar, keeping the beat under the story/characters.

The most recent one I read had that dread undercurrent with HSQ solos peppered throughout.

I think it will appeal to a wide audience, I'm confident of that.

But it works on the two levels, like Buffy did. For some, it's the little girl, big stake, and her wacky adventures.

For others, there's the subtexty yumminess, that makes us need to discuss it for days. You'll want to pick up on the clues about who these characters are and what makes them tick. Others will be drawn to the whodunnitness.

I think this is what makes something like House work (though I'm not a big fan of House, I don't have the Hugh love), because it is different and you can get attached to the characters, and wonder how they came to be and where they are going.

But the mysteries themselves are interesting in both plot and presentation.

Is there any supernatural/sci-fi/genre element to it all, Allyson? If not -- does this make the first show of Tim's to not have any?

No, there's no supernaturalness.

For us, I think looking at this with a knowledge of Tim's previous work, we'll note that the thing under the bed is so much scarier when it's human.

And heroism means much more when the Orb or the W&H box o' Darla can't bring you back. There's so much more on the line.

So when Tim kills you, you're really most sincerely dead.

So when Tim kills you, you're really most sincerely dead

I think I just found my new tag.

I think looking at this with a knowledge of Tim's previous work, we'll note that the thing under the bed is so much scarier when it's human

I wouldn't go that far. I think the most gutting scary thing (to me) Tim's written was the moment where Angel betrayed us in Reunion. It's not about humanity -- it's about trust, and the complacency of thinking you know the boundaries of the situation.

I think Allyson is right when she describes Home as being about that one scene. Viewer and investigator alike are thinking rescue, right up until the reveal. The key shot, for me, wasn't Mrs. Peacock, but the long closeup on Mulder's face as he goes through WTF?, past Ew, and into the realm of Brains-Explodey. Reflecting back at the viewer her own thought-process, you know?

Of course, that is also the episode in which a sherriff (named Andy Taylor, no less) and his wife are beaten to death with baseball bats to the sweet strains of Jerry Mathis. Actually, the X-Files had a number of memorably sonorous violent tableaux (see: Never Again).

One thing I'd worry about, with this new show, is Millennium Bed Death -- the grimness is all people remembered about that show. It had its flashes of brilliance (the ending of the second season seemed to flirt with real, serious apocalypse, signalled by the narrative coherence of the episode fraying and failing), but the grimness and gratuitous ugliness made it hard for people to get into. (Compounded, I think, by the hero guy, who was like a charisma vacuum. On purpose, I think, but the show really needed some charisma.)

Allyson, have you ever seen the BBC show Wire in the Blood? Any comments?