Game of cat and mouse, anyone? When a hirsute homeless man returns a lost wallet to primary school-teacher Tom, the mysterious tramp ends up moving in with him – much to the annoyance of Tom’s girlfriend Gerri (Gemma Arterton). This Pinter-esque domestic thriller plays with audience expectations, layering twist upon twist and building up a sense of creeping dread until its affecting, downbeat ending.
8. Cold Comfort (series 2)
Innovatively shot and full of dread, this one plays out entirely from the perspective of CCTV cameras in a Samaritans-style support hotline, where a difficult phone call from a suicidal teenage girl has traumatic consequences for the volunteers. Shot with four fixed cameras, with all the feeds on-screen throughout, it’s visually static but cleverly choreographed. Guest stars Jane Horrocks and Nikki Amuka-Bird add sterling support, and it ends with a bang.
7. Sardines (series 1)
The first episode of all set the bar intimidatingly high. During an engagement party at a stately home, the guests play a game of sardines. One by one, they squeeze into a wardrobe and scandalous secrets emerge. A cracking cast includes Katherine Parkinson, Timothy West, Anna Chancellor, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Anne Reid and Tim Key, while the script skilfully develops the set-up from fun-and-games towards murderous suspense. It’s Beckett-meets-Hitchcock: claustrophobically tense, blackly comedic brilliance.
6. The Stakeout (series 5)
Shearsmith and Pemberton took centre-stage themselves and only narrowly failed to crack the all-time top five. The pair played two lowly police officers keeping watch over a graveyard plagued by drug-taking and vandalism. As they bickered and bantered in patrol car number nine, we learned that the senior officer had suffered a horrific recent trauma and the other was quietly counselling him – until an astonishing late twist propelled the action into an entirely new genre. As the story showed its devilish hand, we realised the imaginative duo had been leaving clues for us all along.
5. How Do You Plead? (series 6)
A damned delicious slice of fantasy horror, beautifully performed. A celebrated barrister, played by the great Sir Derek Jacobi, lays dying in bed. He has a guilty conscience, however, so summons his saintly carer (Shearsmith) to get a few things off his chest. Alan Bennett meets Angel Heart, anyone? The double twist ending was unexpected and chillingly dark, even by Inside No 9’s standards, while Jacobi was perhaps the show’s best guest star yet. Nerds take note, though: this was strictly his second episode, after providing a voiceover for series three’s “The Devil At Christmas”.
