Back to more traditional fare for week three of season four of "Inside Number 9". Still just as funny, but with a macabre twisting story, that unfolds by showing us the end first - then using a 10 minutes earlier rewind mechanism, to slowly reveal what's actually occurred.
Talkative (... over talkative) Spike (Nick Moran) arrives at a large rural house to begin to assist with moving. There he meets May (Monica Dolan), seemingly the current owner, who despite the packing being nearly completed, seems eager for Spike to leave. This may initially be explained by the appearance of her father, whose dementia has him believing he's Andrew Lloyd Webber. However, a sudden turn of events leads to the discovery of two murder victims . . and that's just the end of the story.
Despite the darkness and violence, "Once Removed" is another very funny addition to the series. There are running jokes about erectile dysfunction and musical theatre, there's high farce and slapstick too. The time hopping invention works really well, managing to both explain what we've just seen, whilst also setting up reveals for the next one.
It does, perhaps, stretch incredulity beyond breaking towards the end. A confirmation telephone call would require an unusual amount of skill to pull off as well as it's done and there's a question about why one of the characters would return to the house, knowing the full story . . . but they are minor quibbles.
Even if it can't quite measure up to the previous two episodes, this outing confirms "Inside Number 9" in the top echelon of current UK television.