Inside No 9 bowing out on its ninth season is, of course, very fitting for a programme that was all about tying everything up at the very end. From crushing together a crew of parlour game players with its opening salvo, ‘Sardines’, in 2014 through to this month’s grand finale (the BBC are keeping that one very hush hush indeed, so fan speculation will be rife), Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith have continually pushed themselves by coming up with unique ways to go ‘inside a number nine’. 

More often than not this would be the door number of a house or flat where sinister/silly events would play out over approximately 30 minutes and which would climax in a ‘didn’t see that coming’ twist (not for nothing was the show initially pitched as the new Tales Of The Unexpected). But occasionally they improvised such as with the episode which pivoted on a size-nine shoe, or took place on the ninth floor of a hotel, or had a footballer who wears the number nine shirt, or the quiz show episode called ‘3 x 3’. 

So how will it all wind up? This final sextet has already been heavy on the meta with one episode taking place in an escape room and another dwelling on things dying when a ‘ninth’ is completed (in that case, a classical symphony). Some fitting finales are denied them given that they’ve already used them: a live broadcast, one that centred on a crossword puzzle, one that ran backwards, a (near) silent half hour, an episode which featured their old League Of Gentlemen gang member Mark Gatiss (they imposed a rule upon themselves that no actor would ever appear twice). Maybe their hare will take a central role in the denouement? Maybe neither Pemberton nor Shearsmith will appear in it? 

But will whatever they come up scoop their finest episodes? The scary/sad ‘12 Days Of Christine’ seems to crop up on many people’s best-of lists, while for fans of pure horror, ‘The Harrowing’ is up there even if the twist element was negligible. Other contenders are ‘A Quiet Night In’ (ssshhhh), ‘The Devil Of Christmas’ (the sheer terror of its finale is disturbingly unforgettable), ‘The Riddle Of The Sphinx’ (the crossword one), and ‘Bernie Clifton’s Dressing Room’ (arguably the most poignant episode).

Of course, whether this really is the end-end of Inside No 9 is unclear. A live West End show entitled Stage/Fright starts its run in January, and the pair have made very veiled hints that they might return to it one day in screen form. After all, when it comes to Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, we’ve learned to expect the unexpected.
The final episode of Inside No 9 airs on BBC Two, Wednesday 12 June; all nine seasons will then be available on BBC iPlayer.