Inside No. 9 spoilers follow.
Inside No. 9 returned for its seventh series of darkly comic, plot twisty, deeply referential anthology stories tonight (April 20).
The first episode, 'Merrily, Merrily', saw some old uni friends reunite for a boat (rather, pedalo) trip on a lake that took a turn for the worst. Mandy actress Diane Morgan and Sherlock's Mark Gatiss were this week's guest stars, making it a League of Gentlemen reunion.
Safe to say, viewers were pleased to see the three men together again:
One fan also noticed that Gatiss' Scottish accent was reminiscent of another incredibly dark BBC Two classic that he starred in: Julia Davis' Nighty Night.
Interestingly, the episode was directed by Al Campbell, who played 'Barry Shitpeas' alongside Morgan's 'Philomena Cunk' on Charlie Brooker's Wipe shows. So really, it was two reunions in one.
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As the episode went on, and our characters got trapped out on the lake as it got dark, Reece Shearsmith's character Lawrence opened up about how his wife had died a year earlier, before throwing himself into the freezing water and swimming off.
We next saw him talking to his late wife in front of a candlelit shrine, saying that although things hadn't gone exactly to plan, he still planned to give her a send-off.
While it seemed like he was planning to do something sinister, he just lit up some fireworks for the group to watch, before passing out from hypothermia.
After a cut to black, Lawrence awoke the next day being rowed away by a mysterious man who had been watching them from afar all episode. He explained to Lawrence that his friends were fine and "on the other side". When brought ashore, Lawrence coughed up a coin to pay the hooded figure... or rather, the ferryman.
Just as it looked like Lawrence was about to be reunited with his wife in death, the screen cut to the credits, leaving it ambiguous as to whether he actually died or, as the episode's titular nursery rhyme says, it was all "but a dream".
Inside No. 9 airs Wednesday nights at 10pm on BBC Two.
Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
