Every Inside No. 9 Twist Ranked
3. The 12 Days Of Christine - It's All Her Life Flashing Before Her Eyes
Plot: 12 years in the life of a woman named Christine (Sheridan Smith) are shown through key days and events. Throughout this, she is haunted by a mysterious stranger (Shearsmith).
At the end of this brilliant episode, it's revealed that Christine has just been in a car crash and she is dying. Key moments in her life, and parts of it that she wishes she could've changed, as flashing before her eyes as she dies.
As for the hauntings and the Stranger? Those are just images from the reality bleeding through into the memories and the Stranger is actually a man who accidentally caused the accident by stepping onto the road, but he managed to save her son (Joel and Dexter Little) from the wreck.
Since this episode does such a superb job of making Christine a fully developed character who everyone will be invested in, it's safe to say that the sudden reveal of her death will leave even the hardest viewers absolutely winded.
It's a devastating ending and a real tear-jerker in storytelling terms, but what makes it even more effective is that it's very unpredictable. Few will work out what's actually happening on a first viewing.
It's a smart and shattering dramatic wallop and it's partly thanks to this ending that The 12 Days of Christine has become perhaps the most acclaimed episode of the show's run.