I Came By spoilers follow.
Of all the things you expect to see in a new Netflix movie, The Great British Bake Off and Rick and Morty aren't among them
And yet I Came By features both shows being watched at critical times in the movie. (It's actually Bake Off's second Netflix appearance this year as it also popped up in Red Notice, where Gal Gadot's character was watching it.)
What you might not realise is that both appearances have a deeper meaning than you might think. To explain just how though, we need to go into some mild spoilers for the movie, so look away now if you're avoiding everything.
We see Lizzie (Kelly Macdonald) settling down to watch Bake Off – the episode with Lizzie's amazing 'celebration of being different' Showstopper – shortly after she's had a major row with her son Toby (George MacKay).
What she doesn't know at the time is that Toby has broken into the home of Sir Hector Blake (Hugh Bonneville) that evening, and it has devastating consequences for him. The positioning of the Bake Off scene shortly after Toby's break-in is a conscious one.
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"It's funny because I used to watch Bake Off with my ex. I had this idea that you watch Bake Off and you switch off from the realities of what's going on outside, all the evils around you," director and co-writer Babak Anvari told Digital Spy.
"So I thought for that scene, it was really important. It was even in the script that Bake Off is being watched."
Earlier in I Came By, we also see Hector watching TV and for the retired judge, Rick and Morty might not seem the obvious choice of viewing. Again, though, the choice of episode was important for Anvari.
The episode being watched is 'The Ricklantis Mishap' from the third season which featured various tales set in the Citadel and numerous versions of Rick and Morty.
"Rick and Morty, that specific episode, I'm so obsessed with that episode. Because of the themes in that episode because it overlaps with the themes that we explore in this film, so I was so happy that we managed to get that," Anvari noted.
"Thank you, the creators of Rick and Morty for allowing us to use that clip."
Not that the experience has led Hugh Bonneville to delve into a binge watch of the entire series. "I'm a little tamer than that. I'm sort of more Family Guy, that's more my level," he told Digital Spy.
I Came By is available to watch now on Netflix.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
