Firstly an apology. I got into a tiny puddle of hot water after giving away a little too much of last week's Inside No. 9 plot in my write-up so I'm going to tread very delicately here and steer clear of as many spoilers as possible for the fourth episode in this consistently astonishing series, entitled To Have And To Hold.
Reece Shearsmith's series co-creator Steve Pemberton takes centre stage in this one as mild-mannered middle-aged wedding photographer Adrian. He is married to Harriet (Nicola Walker) but from the very start all is clearly not well. He seems to prefer doing elaborate jigsaws to spending time with his wife. She is clearly upset about his lack of romantic spark and wants to do something about it.
If you simply read the description above you might wonder where the horror and the twist in this tale of domestic unrest comes from. Trust me, it is well and truly there.
The one thing I will say instead of going into detail is that Reece Shearsmith also appears as a newly wed Max who, with his wife Hannah (Miranda Hennessy) wants to see Adrian's work. And at one point Nicola Walker sports a nurse's outfit if you like that sort of thing – Pemberton's character has mixed feelings about it. It might be my imagination working overtime but there seems to be a number of gags in this series about sexual dysfunction.
Zealous fans of this series will find plenty to appreciate here. This is a more 'traditional' domestic horror episode in an ambitious, confident series that has taken on more of a feel of self-contained playlets than previous runs.
Laughter is there but mainly this is pretty powerful nightmare-inducing stuff as we watch the plot developing before our very eyes.
Tuesday, January 23, 10pm, BBC2. Or afterwards catch up here.
Inside No. 9: Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room.
Inside No. 9: The All-Time Top Six Episodes.
Picture: BBC/Sophie Mutevelian
