The incredibly clever British dark comedy Inside No. 9 is known for its exceptional twists. In fact, the draw of pretty much every single episode is built around the twist you know is coming at some point. The most remarkable thing about the show is that even though you know this twist is coming, it gets you pretty much every time.
We’ve ranked the ten best twists Inside No. 9 has ever delivered, from the exciting but decipherable to the cleverest viewer, all the way to the downright incomprehensible genius, just in time for season 5.
Cold Comfort
‘Cold Comfort’ is one of the most experimental episodes of Inside No. 9. It focuses almost exclusively on Steve Pemberton’s character Andy sitting at his desk in a crisis hotline office, filmed through CCTV.
The show looks at some disturbing interactions with a suicidal teenager called Chloe, before Andy indirectly causes an old woman to commit suicide after her cat died and Andy failed to give her appropriate . The twist comes when his supervisor George is revealed to be faking Chloe’s voice and has given the dead lady’s son the location of the call center. He’s behind Andy with a gun.
Once Removed
This episode is considered one of the greats in Inside No. 9 history, with its reverse chronology played in 10-minute flashbacks telling a very interesting story of deception. When the jigsaw finally comes together, the repeatedly twisting and turning plot reveals that Natasha and her lover had organized a hitman to take out her problematic husband.
If you were to watch each scene in chronological order, it would appear to be a much more simple story of accidental/very much intentional murder. Their genius storytelling turns a relatively simple plot into an incredible piece of work.
Bernie Clifton’s Dressing Room
The plot and structure of ‘Bernie Clifton’s Dressing Room’ is a lot simpler than much of season 4 of the show. It sees a comedy double act get back together for a one-off reunion show, with one member very much up for it, and the other, very much not.
Only, when the twist comes around, it turns out that Bernie Clifton’s dressing room was where the more enthusiastic partner ed away. The seemingly angry, dismissive partner was on his own the whole time, just wishing he had his friend back. Despite the slapstick comedy present throughout, this episode ends up as one of the series' most heartbreaking.
The Devil Of Christmas
The show’s only Christmas special so far was aired as the first episode of season 3 way back at the end of 2016. The pastiche of '70s TV horror that is presented throughout creates an unsettling atmosphere in the film-within-a-TV show episode from the get-go, but it's the brutal twist that allows this episode a place on our list.
The episode includes commentary from the fiction film’s director Dennis Fulcher, but when the film seems to conclude, he explains that it isn’t quite over. The cast moves out, and the film’s star (Kathy) is killed. For real. We finally see David, who is under interrogation by police for producing a snuff film.
Diddle Diddle Dumpling
This episode is built around David, who is totally obsessed with a shoe he found outside his house. He is reluctant to let go of the shoe, and is haunted by the idea of not finding the other shoe to complete the matching pair.
We find out that David is scarred by the death of his daughter's twin, which explains why he is so concerned by a pair of shoes being kept apart. Then he takes things a little too far and kills his daughter so the two can be together... Oh, and then the credits provide the double twist. David was the one who put the shoe outside in the first place.
Dead Line
The most recent episode of Inside No. 9 (at the time of writing) is their most ambitious project yet. Billed as a live episode, the seemingly quite standard setup of the episode was quickly demolished in favor of an incredibly meta use of BBC error messages, old episodes of Inside No. 9 and assorted other BBC shows to create a collage of horrifyingly scary interactions from a supposed ghost in the studio they’re filming from.
To be honest, the entire episode is one big twist. However, the feeling of looking on Twitter to find that Reece Shearsmith’s on-screen Tweet was really live is completely impossible to recreate.
The Bill
This is another episode that seems simple to start with. A group of overly masculine guys have gathered together for a meal and all want to one-up each other and pay for the bill. It ends up with Craig accidentally slashing the throat of Anya the waitress and the £200,000 clean-up is only payable in cash. The only person with cash is Craig, so he’ll have to pay.
When Anya screams as Craig stands on her ‘dead’ hand, it is revealed that the whole scenario was a cleverly worked out scheme which failed in its final seconds. During the credits, we see the crew attempting a new hustle in the same setting, but this time Craig has taken over the role of waiter.
The 12 Days Of Christine
When you see that something is starring Sheridan Smith, you already know it’ll be good. Her performance as the titular Christine was astonishingly convincing and allowed the show to depart from its usual black comedy style into straight-up drama. The plot dots about a confusing timeline with various dramas and a mysterious stranger cropping up around every corner.
It’s pretty much unclear what’s happening. That is, until Christine is about to eat Christmas dinner and feels like her life is flashing before her eyes. Christine had been in a car crash and her life really was flashing before her eyes, just before she succumbed to her injuries.
Tom & Gerri
The premise of this episode was initially conceived as a 2-hour long play, and now I think about it, I’d absolutely love to see it. Anyway, in the episode, we see the titular Tom allow a homeless man called Migg to move in with him. Over the course of the episode, we see Tom and Migg effectively swap lives.
Tom’s girlfriend Gerri explains that Migg isn’t real, and Tom invented him as a coping mechanism. A big twist, sure, but we’ve seen it before. Tom’s friend Stevie then reveals that Gerri died in a car accident and it was the imaginary version of her that Tom was using as a coping mechanism. Migg was actually real, and his corpse is in the bathroom.
The Riddle Of The Sphinx
Played out as a complex series of riddles, crosswords and clues, ‘The Riddle Of The Sphinx’ is hard to follow and exceptionally clever. Honestly, it’s almost too confusing for me to explain. After a series of exchanges using the crossword at the center of the show, it turns out Charlotte (who was calling herself Nina) came to exact revenge upon Squires, who had beaten her brother Tyler in a crossword competition which led to his suicide.
Except Squires was prepared and was able to poison Charlotte. Various crossword-related things happen over the next few minutes, each dramatic enough to be the final twist. That is, until it is revealed that Charlotte and Tyler were both Squires’ children. Charlotte dies (after being partially eaten...) and Squires kills himself. Complete and utter total madness. Yet pure genius.