Inside No. 9 7.3 review: Nine Lives Kat

When an episode of Inside No. 9 goes wrong it tends to be for one of two reasons, either the story itself was uninteresting, with an obvious twist, or the writers tried to do too much with their limited running time. "Nine Lives Kat" is most definitely a case of the latter - it's a little too ambitious for it's own good but I'd still rather have an experimental failure than a plodding safe bet. Seven seasons in, Shearsmith and Pemberton are still playing around with the format and audience expectations, which in itself is reassuring.

Inside No. 9 Series 7 Episode 3 review: Nine Lives Kat

Sophie Okonedo guest stars in a cliché-riddled episode of Inside No. 9 filled with generic characters and terrible dialogue.

From start (By the Sleepy Lagoon drifts over Jan and Mick as they discuss toes) to finish (Con te partirò swells over a jubilant pool party), this episode is an unbridled joy. The second penned by Steve Pemberton, it subtly gets under the skin of the broad characters.

Madge turns cougar with her young "Muslamic" catch Mohammed, Gavin is trapped with Noreen, Sam gets off with the most unlikely bloke, and Trudy (too old) and Michael (too young) try to crash an 18-30 booze cruise.

Plus, Siobhan Redmond guest-stars as the coach of an Olympic swimming team. Think an ultra-brusque Miss Jean Brodie and you'll be halfway there.

There's no holding Stanley Baxter, now in his mid-eighties and apparently becoming as indestructible as Macbeth claimed to be in Shakespeare's play. A new series of The Stanley Baxter Playhouse starts with a comedy written by Scottish playwright Rona Munro which retells the saga from the viewpoint of the clownish Porter. Gordon Kennedy plays Macbeth and Siobhan Redmond as Lady Macbeth consolidates her CV of wicked females, while Baxter himself takes the Porter's role, assuring us that he had great plans for his master, before everything went pear-shaped.