Inside No 9 S7 E2 Mr King 

As a Welshman I can honestly say that the depiction of education in my country is BANG on. I've seen plenty of bountiful harvests thanks to many a maths teacher . . .

The fact that Reece and Steve are fans of the wicker man makes a lot of sense lol

Genuinely loved this episode. Had never seen The Wicker Man so was appalled in the best way by the twist. Creepy kids always work in horror; the child actors in this episode did a great job. Thanks for the review as always, you're awesome!

This is one of those few episodes I watched again as soon as it finished. I love rewatching and getting a sick giggle from Mr King’s postcard from “down under”

Loved this episode, it's one of those that are much better the 2nd time round when you know 'the twist' and you spot all the clues along the way that you can't believe you missed first time around. Diddle Diddle Dumpling being the perfect example.

Absolutely adored the episode, very real to what I remember of being at a rural school haha, beautifully funny and horrific too. Acting was on point all around too, classic 9.

I think Mr Wan King is perhaps just the name of Mr Edwards' photo collection

I was waiting for your review, the episode was sooo good. Just when I was starting to get over midsomar. Inside no. 9 hits me with this.. Also, this is one of those episodes that you enjoy even more on watching the second time. All the subtle clues with posters, the vegetables etc.

Really enjoyed this one. It's hard to add anything new to the Wickerman formula but tapping into the environmental message was really clever. I enjoyed this a hell of a lot more than Midsommar. Great review BTW!

I love this episode re-watching it for a second time with my dad it’s very easy to pick up on where it’s actually going to go. From the teacher going down under to human beans to recycling it all seems very Wicker Man like, but the first time I thought the The principal would end up being Mr. King.

As a welshie I got a real kick out of this episode haha! A little bit miffed our secret to our amazing bountiful crops was released though /j THIS WAS A FUN EPISODE AND when it ended I was so excited knowing the video from you about it was imminent… plus Steve did a great job playing the jolly but unnerving welsh headteacher. They did a fantastic job capturing the spirit of the Wicker Man honestly, and when you look at genuine Welsh customs it’s easy to see how that connection can be made. Welsh traditions can be… uncanny at times (Mari Lwyd being a very interesting example) and the further up north you go the more rural wales gets. Also, Steve’s welsh was great!

Definitely the go to channel for a deeper dive with a fair and honest review into each episode from a fellow fan, which is why I can understand why you were noticed by the cast they possibly water heater for the same reason. I really tried to leave the series until all episodes were out to watch but impossible I'm not really sure how I lasted that long lol.

I don't get creeped out easily. But creepy kids are really weird and unsettling. I had a feeling pretty early on that the kids killed the previous teacher. So I was sort of right. But still another fantastic episode. This series has a great start for me! I'm now going to watch episodes 3 and 4 tonight.

I had no idea what the twist (or reveal) of this episode was going to be. I remember thinking it was going to go down the child sex abuse route (which would be dark, even for Inside Number 9) after that scene with Alan talking to the headmaster about a female pupil making allegations about him. I thought (with the fact that Alan was on medication and had gone 'doolally') that it was either gonna be revealed that he was a 'pedalo', but had no recollection of his abusive behaviour (maybe he has multiple personalities and/or forgets/re-imagines certain moments of the episode in his head), or even more disturbing, the headmaster was going to be revealed to be the 'pedalo' who was able to manipulate and frame Alan for his own sick behaviour. I'm not sure how I would have felt about the episode, had it gone down that path, but the actual twist/reveal was a wonderful homage to The Wicker Man (one of my favourite films). You made some good points about Alan agreeing to the pictures and not calling the police, too. Great review.

4:24 I have no clue why; but hearing you say that in a low gravelly voice always makes me chuckle a little bit.

Thanks, great video. I was so glad they explained how they did the filming with (and sometimes without, at critical moments) the children in the podcast. I was most relieved, seriously disturbed entertainment like this is just for us screwed up semi-adults. Excellent acting from the kids too.

I love how they played on the idea of adults inculcating these radical beliefs in children and then the adults who taught them are the first to suffer at their hands. To see the pure ideological possession in the children's faces was amazing. Gwen looked practically demonic.

This happened to be the first episode of No.9 my partner watched… what a way to introduce him to the show! 😳 I loved this episode, it felt like a true return to form with the dark undertones and THAT twist. I wonder where you would put this ep in a reworked ‘most disturbing episodes’ ranking because personally, it’s definitely up there 👀

Just this minute got back from a long weekend trip to rural Wales myself (this video has the honour of being the first thing I watched as I came through the door and settled down for the rest of the afternoon! Unpacking can wait until later lol) suffice to say this episode was definitely on my mind whilst I was out there- was a little nervous that someone was gonna take a polaroid of my hairy meat whistle & honour me with the “triple death” but the holiday rep & various bar staff I spoke to assured me that this would be a very unlikely event at their particular campsite. Couldn't help but feel a little let down in a way.

It's a local school for local people. Also, can't wait for the public information film Nine.

as someone who speaks fluent welsh and went to a welsh language primary school, steve’s welsh wasn’t too bad! the accent needs a bit of work, but i could realistically see him as a welshman

I really enjoyed this and was a nice return to the weirdness of League Of Gentlemen type of horror. I will say the whole “investigation” thing felt weird in the sense of “this isn’t really that necessary”. But the folk horror/ Wicker Man style stuff was really up my street. I’ve always wanted to see a Number 9 set in a school, and the child actors did a fantastic job. One thing I also really liked was the scene between Reece and Kerry as she discusses how upset she was about the climate change research she had done. In the moment, I was thinking how powerful it was since kids year on year get exposed to horrible real world things via social media and what not, but they’re getting younger and younger. Overall I’d give it an 8/10, I did prefer Merrily Merrily though. Also Steve’s Welsh was accurate, I give him a gold star. I would be interested in a Q&A

One of my favorite episodes of all seven series. The Wickerman (there is NO remake) is one of my favorite movies ever. When I realized just where this was going, I gasped with joy.

I am scared when those children sang happily and killing the teacher.

I'll go with what has been said here already : great child actors and a twist that I loved. Especially as I love "folk horror" like the Wicker Man and Midsommar (worth a watch if you haven't seen it yet dear reader). Some more : of course the "Mr King" reference that's so much on the nose but only becomes clear in the end with its double meaning, the un-comforting references to 'willies' during the episode along with the innuendo, the back story of the new teacher... Loved it!

i just woke up and the opening to this video threw me like nothing else!

one of the better Episodes

I can't stop bingeing on you & 9#

Wow, i have just seen Nine Live Kat, this certainly is one of the best episodes, its certainly best so far of series 7

I just saw an announcement that there is going to be a US adaptation of “Inside No. 9”. Personally, I’m not thrilled at the idea, but the article did say that Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton will be “heavily involved”, which is encouraging I suppose. I just wonder what “heavily involved” will actually turn out to be. Will they write it? Will they appear in it? Or will they just be given Executive Producer credits and have nothing else to do with the show at all?

I taught early years & primary for 20 years...so this episode is probably the one of all the series so far to make me the most uncomfortable. As a mandatory reporter throughout that time, it was especially challenging watching this story play out & more than once I wondered how they managed to edit the scenes so well as to not traumatise the children! And then, as the very last scene gets going I shout "WICKER MAN!" & was really chuffed that they got to make the homage they've often alluded to. I think "Mr.King" qualifies as my second hardest episode to re-watch, the hardest being "Dead Line" - there were so many aspects of that episode that have been fears of mine since childhood.

Loved it! Did you notice that the lines spoken when handing over the 'sacrifice' were exactly the same as when handing over Edward Woodward's character in the Wickers man. Sadly I guessed pretty early on where this was all going, but that didn't ruin my enjoyment.

Glad to see your review , the ending of this episode gave me chills......

thus us by farrr my best episode other than sardines. it really stuck with me

This Steve killing Reece thing is starting to become a bit of a habit.

Right of the bat, this episode gave me a Wicker Man vibe and given that’s one of my favourite movies, this might be my favourite episode in the season and we’re only two episodes in! I also used to work with kids, so I like how well it portrayed how frustrating (and in some cases dangerous) that can be.

A Q&A or some other activity would be a great way to fill the little gap between new episodes, so yes please 😃

4:15 "lines you really can't say in front of children" - are we really still this prudish as a society? surely not? kids have heard everything

I loved this episode a lot. The humour and darkness of this episode was very League. And The Wicker Man is one of my favourite films, so I also enjoyed that.

Maybe u could do another list of disturbing insider number nine episodes from the seasons released after the first list.

Nice singing at the end

So glad to see this here! Been perusing your channel since Thursday to see if I'd missed your upload.

SPOILERS!! For me, this is by far one of the most unsettling No 9's ever. I've never seen Wicker Man before, so the ending was definitely something to be hold. There were so many laughs and so many awkward moments earlier in the episode, but it was so tense and so unsettling by the end that I still haven't quite got over it now. Just... God this was unsettling to say the least. Everyone did an absolutely fantastic job with this one, and the music playing in the credits takes the same place as Lord of The Dance with The Harrowing for me, just such a happy song juxtaposing the pure nightmare fuel you're seeing on screen. This one was absolutely incredible.

At first it was just Mr Edwards bizarre beard/bumfluff that freaked me out but as I settled in I just could not work where this one was going. I didn't have to wait too long before it became clear this was the Wicker Man - the early years 🤨 My son, who I don't live with, goes to a very small school in the Welsh Valleys and though I've never been there I could imagine it being very much like this. Great episode.

I wonder if you’ve noticed the reference to the upcoming animated episode? There’s a poster on a door while mr Curtis is on the phone making accusations. Very curious as to what the episode will be

I want to see the version of this where Reece turns out to have been circumcised all along. Would have played out quite differently. :)

At the start of the ep, I was thinking of ‘Unman, Wittering and Zigo’, this book I read at school.

I was so confused when I first saw this video as the episode I saw that was labelled 'Mr.King.' was a completely different episode about 'A Wise Owl.'. I can only assume that episode will be one later this season so no spoilers from me. It has since been rectified and I have seen this episode. I really enjoyed it. I genuinely thought I was going mad at first, haha.

I got pagan vibes from the start, with the classroom wall art work. Does anyone else enjoy seeing the various guises they play for each episode ie the costume, and makeup and their mannerisms. Great start from these two episodes.

Thank you for your review of this episode. You did it beautifully. Very strong start for Series 7 so far. I also managed to predict the ending right , making it the first I’ve predicted correctly (with the exception of The Stakeout, where I did predict the part that Reece’s character was the one who killed Steve’s character’s former police partner.)

Loved it! Gave me nightmares. It’s really nice to be reminded of how genuinely disturbing they’re capable of being. I’m awarding myself a gold star for managing to work out fairly early on that Mr King was some variety of not-a-real-person. Just something about the way his name kept coming up but he never saw him or learned any real identifying details was a tipoff. I had no idea where it was going besides that, but it all tied together beautifully. Oddly enough I watched this with a Welsh friend, who had some mixed feelings about the whole setting/fake accent (and also had to put up with my theorising the whole way through) Any additional No. 9 analysis is always welcome, far as I’m concerned!

Very late comment but I thought you would appreciate some Welsh translations that added to the humour, when the Kids are passing the carrot and giggling, it's because the Welsh for carrot is 'moron' I also can't be sure as it's a bit muffled but I think Mr Edwards calls Mr Curtis a 'selsig' at the start of the episode which means sausage!

Amazing episode, classic 9.

Been looking forward to this, cheers Lin

Felt a bit preachy for me probably on the lower end of my of my list for number 9

Where has your background music gone?! I really enjoy it. What is it by the way?

Possibly one of my favourite episodes ever

I definitely was thinking that a twist would be that this is the same character Reece played in Tom and Gerri, once again loved the episode. Very ironically I’d just watched The Wickerman for the first time that Wednesday morning and yet I didn’t spot a thing, if anything I’m relieved the twist was of a ritualistic killing instead of an abuse plot line

i managed to get my english lit teacher to watch this episode... She does not want to teach us anymore lol

I was speechless after this one, absolutely speechless. Having finally gathered my thoughts and talked about it with my friends, I think it was a seriously impactful story and a real highlight among the always brilliant scripting of this show.

As soon as the kids started talking about recycling, I was expecting the prop of Reece‘s severed head from Dead Line to make a second appearance. As it turns out, I was right about his head being composted, although possibly not the one that I was thinking of.

Despite the uh last parts, was actually a very relatable welsh primary school experience, particularly the drawn-out boreeeee daaaaaa mr/miss ____

This episode took me for a ride! The abuse storyline put a pit in my stomach that made me physically nauseous, and I wasn’t sure where the episode was going…and then the reveal came! Like you said, the child actors were fantastic and helped hide the twist along the way. Upon rewatch, however, they have some moments of Shining-level creepiness that make it clear *something* is happening. An episode like no other so far.

This episode freaked my partner out, but the way the class was set up reminds me of my primary school, once it was starting to look like I was going to take the "unfriendly" kid and teacher route, we both got extremely uncomfortable, probably because we live in a rural area across from from a primary school next to the woods. amazing video as always!

I really wanted to like this one more than I did. From very start my first thought was "this is Reece and Steve, they're both fans of the horror genre, this all feels very Wicker Man" Due to this, I was constantly expecting it to go in a different direction, which it never did. It progressed exactly as expected, and the ending really dragged a little. I think if I'd gone into this cold, it would have been far more enjoyable for me.

I watched without subtitles, and one thing I didn't understand was why did he take the polaroids?

Really enjoying your No.9 videos :) If you like, it'd be cool to see a video that either focuses specifically on a particular No.9 episode or a ranking of a season or a countdown list. Love your vids. :)

I was too distracted with trying to translate the Welsh bits at the start (I’m new to learning the language and am finding it really interesting!) to really try and notice anything peculiar within the episode at first. It’s funny because I’m not usually that good at guessing what the ‘twist’ is going to be, but with the implications of the kids flawed knowledge of the outside world, I began to think that things felt a bit Wicker Man-ish. The gaps and surreal feeling of the children’s understanding of their village and the tadpole fiasco definitely started to confirm my suspicions (the tadpoles reminded me of the whole ‘swallowing a frog’ scene of the Wicker Man). When it turned out that ‘Mr King’ didn’t actually exist, everything seemed to come together. I felt quite chuffed with myself after the credits rolled up haha 😂 Also I’m glad I didn’t watch this episode with my parents! I enjoyed the more shocking and horror elements of the episode but the nudity did put me off a bit (but as a league fan I suppose I should’ve known what to expect!) Overall, I don’t think I would be quick to rewatch it but I enjoyed the nod to the Wicker Man and the cast (especially Kerry and the other children) were amazing.

Imagine the scene I’m sitting down for lunch up pops weelin’s latest review of number 9 perfect timing.. fast forward 5 minutes and im cleaning up bits of sandwich that I’ve just spayed all over the kitchen table after you saying “big floppy penis” with such a wonderful delivery 😂😂. (this was a great review one of your best yet, loved how much you managed to Cover in 10 mins, you really should be delighted with this well crafted video 👏)

Loved it

SPOILERY STUFF AHEAD, OKAY? Well, this one was right up my street as The Wicker Man has long been my all time favourite film and one I’ve watched countless times throughout the years. Maybe because of that I had a ‘vibe’ around the halfway mark that maybe Class 9 shared similar traits to Lord Summerisle but it’s testament to the true nature of sacrifice and Robert Hardy’s 1973 masterpiece that the end still game me chills and the whole episode retained a fantastic layer of unease and hidden truths. Yes, it was a bit questionable that given his forthcoming sacrifice Mr Curtis didn’t decide to try and rip his arms free as simply supergluing them to a chair surely wouldn’t completely incapacitate him but, questionable plot hole notwithstanding, I loved the episode and how young Kerry acted as the Rowan Morrison of the narrative by leading the totally oblivious Alan to his planned final destination. It also put a secondary spin on Mr King’s postcard with the reference to down under foreshadowing either his grave deep underground or his Polaroid pleasing undercarriage depending on the viewers views and, perhaps more so, their maturity! It also left me wondering quite whose knobs the photos belonged to and whether they were stock Google images or various tackle belonging to cast and crew! I was also left pondering quite how successful Class 9 had been with the ongoing recruitment of oblivious individuals who were suitably ‘sheathed’ Unless someone involved had an uncanny knack for identifying non circumcised members of the general public (hmmm, pun possibly intended!) then there must have been instances where their annual sacrifice was ultimately cut short (hmm, pun definitely intended) due to the peculiar predicament of a polarisingly prominent and proudly protruding penis. What would they have done had said John Thomas shed his flaccid fleshy prison and emerged as nature hadn’t intended? A quick phone call to another supply teacher or a hasty hop onto Twitter to arrange a Zoom audition for a suitable man sausage? But I digress and am rapidly running out of alliteration, bad puns and amusing names for willies so I’ll once again applaud Steve and Reece for crafting another fantastic 30 minutes of TV before, no doubt, rewatching The Wicker Man just in time for May Day. Sumer Is Incumen In … … which is nice :)

Not gonna lie, while I was watching this I thought the twist would have been that this was Royston Vasey. They said it was a small time, that was excluded from the rest of the world and the principal and teacher was similar to Benjamin and his aunt and uncle.

Haven't seen the episode yet, but I like to see your videos first. Despite being a horror fan, I'm really squeamish so I like going in knowing if it was dark or disturbing, I learnt that lesson the hard way with Riddle of the Sphinx. Also a Q&A would be cool.

I know it's almost a cliché at this point, but I *really* didn't see that twist coming. I wasn't sure where it was going, but the dick pic scenario really threw me for a loop. I was completely ready for the episode to be about the headmaster abusing and blackmailing teachers - which I guess would've been a similar direction to Cold Comfort, so maybe I should've guessed they wouldn't do that again. Also my god, Ann Badland has range. I never thought I'd be this scared by her.

Bee mail :)

Honesty right the episode scared me more than the devil of christmas and also reminded me of elden ring for some reason

Any idea why theres no new episode until 11th May?

I've been making my own series of No 9 called Story 10 and seeing as you're a big fan of the show, would you be interested in coming up with an episode of the 2023 season? We have 3 templates left to help you brew up a story if you are. Thx and have a good day!

OOOh don't you just hate clicking on a new WeeLin video, Iris ? Interesting facts, precise comprehension, Chanel bag... I loved this episode, I noticed with such joyous wild abandon the wickerman reference quite early, so well done me. More Inside No7's based on folklore would be very welcome, and no that doesn't mean you get a free chocolate biscuit !

I would love another Q&A next week

Excellent review! Lin - have you ever watched 'gothic arthouse' ? It's right up your strassa, they do a lot of short ( and some of them are very short) horror videos. Public Information films have given me the creeps since I was a child and they have a short series called ' The Optica Network' which gives me those same vibes, PLEASE try and give it a watch ( I know your to watch list is long!) But likesay they are only minutes long, Would love your opinion on it. Thank you 🤗✌

What original format would you like to see? We’ve had a live episode, a story told backwards, one told as an Iambic pentameter, and one told as seen through a woman’s mind. What else could they do?

I was so proud of myself this episode, one of the first time I’ve found the hare first go😂

I have a slight feeling that if there was any series where there'd be a return from any League of Gentlemen characters it'd be this one - with Gatiss in the first episode and the general feeling of this one and all. Anyway, that aside, while I'm rather mixed on this one overall it had admittedly excellent twists, I could not see where things were going in the slightest. The things you brought up as potential plot holey things actually didn't bother me much, though one thing that does get me is why Reece is so helpless in the chair without his legs being tied up or anything but oh well lol - it's a strange one, still not entirely sure what to think about it but I am glad to have watched it.

This episode made be recall a good friend telling me a joke about the Wicker man … You know the trouble with West Coasters, they think the Wicker man is a documentary… This episode to me was like a long lost sketch from the league of gentlemen and I can’t think of any higher praise than that.

My friend works in primary education and the school assembly and work they do is very cult like to be honest haha. Glad your inside no.9 videos are back :)

John Barleycorn the song has always weirded the absolute fuck out of me. This has done nothing to help the issue.

The ending of that episode made me feel that it was The Harrowing all over again. I was like “What the fuck did I just watch?” when the episode was over.

Great review 👍🏻 I would have loved bringing Tom back but like you say would have been difficult! I thought the kids were brilliant in this episode and that’s what made it more uncomfortable, never saw the wicker man connection was too distracted with the whole abuse angle

Good fun as always but the story was SO obvious!

I genuinely think this is the scariest ever inside no 9 episode for me

wicker man and midsommar vibes on this one. love how they took some jabs at leftists with the GW hysteria and false allegations.

I absolutely loved this episode! The shades of the wickerman are clear in this one, god I love a good cult! Not really related but have you ever seen Chris Morris’ Jam? I think you’d like it and I’d love to hear your opinion on it!

still a little suspicious about the gap between this one and the next episode, so hard to trust them after dead line !

I felt really uncomfertable at the end of this episode idk if id say it is the most uncomfertable a episode has made me feel but it deffetnly is up there. Its always more horific when we dont actuly see the horror happen on screen where it ends just before something happns to leave us to imagen what happened next its kinda why i like 7 more than the saw films. I did kinda predict that it was something to do with the children quite early on but that hole ending did catch me offguard with just how uneasy it made me feel. it kinda made it worse that i got that song stuck in my head at the end. all in all a great no 9 episode and proves why i love this show soo much

I've been thinking is the carrot meant to be another double meaning as the Welsh word for carrot is moron so seems like it adds up with the line about climate change and London people

Admittedly I found it to be one of the weaker episodes. It started off well and the child acting was actually good but the story went too off the rails at the end and too weird for my liking. I understood what happened but I’ve never liked rituals and stuff like that so wasn’t really going to like the ending. It probably would’ve worked better for me as a League of Gentlemen sketch. Still, it was well made but just not for me 7/10

A couple of things really put me off this episode. Why the need to set it in Wales? Is it because we have our own language or the fact that we do have some rural schools? Unfortunately, like many other areas, our smallest primary schools have been shut down. And whenever there are Welsh accents they're always the cliched South Wales accents. You have more chance of finding a very rural school in the North. Secondly the super glue. Where can I get some that's as powerful as that? Whenever I've used it it won't stick anything together. Generally I found the episode a little silly and not suprising at all, it seemed fairly obvious where it was headed. Perhaps it's me, but that type of horror has never really intrested me, I prefer the realism of other episodes, and I don't think I've ever watched an episode to be scared. I find most of Inside Number 9 trully fabulous TV, groundbreaking, amusing, clever etc... but both of these episodes from the new series rather average. Ithought Mark Gatiss and Diane Morgan salvaged the first episode. Steve is a great actor but I've always had a problem with Reece. And for those wondering Steve's Welsh at the begining of the episode was OK, but obvious he wasn't a native speaker. Unfortunately I can't give him a 9, but a five is fair, rather like the episode.

got a little idea popping around my head that the teacher that replaces Adam will also hear of a 'Mr King', it could be a title passed from one victim to the next like how Mr Harding was called 'Mr King', as if they lose their identities and are only known by the children as the Harvest King/'Mr King' and 'Mr King' by anyone else, could also be why the episode is called 'Mr King'

So exactly how tired are you of hearing Americans say they love your accent? Because I do love your accent. (And your commentary! I lost it completely at the Tubbs and Edward reference...)