Every Inside No. 9 Twist Ranked
23. Simon Says - Simon's Murder And Seduction Was Just An Audition
Plot: After the disappointing finale to a popular fantasy series (no points for guessing what that's inspired by!), two disgruntled fans (Shearsmith and Nick Mohammed) try to blackmail the showrunner, Spencer Maguire (Pemberton), into rewriting the final season.
Towards the end of the episode, there's a scene where Simon (Shearsmith) kills Gavin (Mohammed) during an argument and then tries to seduce Maguire, all while threatening to frame him for Gavin's murder.
In a panic, Spencer smothers Simon to death... but then leaves the bedroom to find Gavin alive and well. All along, Simon was staging an elaborate audition for a character who is known for murdering and seducing.
This is a great scene and a shocking twist, but the following scenes are a let-down. Spencer murders Gavin and then does several more series of the fantasy series, having stolen Gavin and Simon's ideas. Startling as this ending is, it doesn't fit in with what we saw of Spencer's character throughout the rest of the episode.