Bev (Inside No. 9)

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Bev is an antagonist in the Inside No. 9 episode "Hurry Up and Wait".

She was portrayed by Donna Preston.

Biography[]

Bev is the son of Oona and Stan, two benefits cheats who live in a stationary caravan in East Park, North Yorkshire. She is emotionally stunted as a result of unspecified mental health issues, which is exacerbated by the fact that her parents don't let her go outside often because she doesn't mix well with others, and spends her time watching animated Disney films and playing with her collection of dolls and stuffed toys.

Actor James is sent to wait in Oona and Stan's caravan, which is being used as a designated green room for the filming of an ITV true crime drama about the disappearence of a baby named Ryan in the nearby area around twenty years ago. He is immediately unnerved by Bev, who sits staring at him while cradling one of her dolls and tells him she's "celebrating a birthday". Things only get more awkward with the arrival of Oona, who keeps hassling him and yelling at Bev, and Stan, who is hostile to the film crew and attempts to intimidate him.

Over the course of the episode, James becomes increasingly suspicious of the family: Oona and Stan are unable to keep their story straight about whether they lived in the area or in Filey at the time of Ryan's disappearence, and talk about how they shouldn't be "dredging it all up again". His suspicions are deepened when a production assistant mentions that it would've been Ryan's birthday if he was still alive, as Bev had told him she was celebrating a birthday only for Oona to accuse her of lying to get attention. He also finds a box of hair removal cream in the toilet and begins to suspect that Bev is actually Ryan, having been kidnapped and raised as a girl by Oona and Stan.

After failing to impart his suspicions to the production crew, James goes to Bev's room and finds her having a birthday celebration with the doll she had earlier. He agrees to join in with her tea party as a ploy to get a look at her photo album to see if there are any pictures as her as a baby, only to find seemingly damning evidence on her bed: a dinosaur shawl with the name "Ryan" sewn onto it like the one Ryan had when he went missing. Stan them comes and orders him out, at which point James confronts him and Oona with his suspicions, accusing them of kidnapping Ryan because they couldn't have children, raising him as a girl to avoid suspicion and temporarily moving to Filey to avoid prying eyes. They deny this and are able to explain away everything (they moved and lied about it because they were being investigated for benefits fraud, Bev is ten years older than Ryan would have been but looks young for her age and was celebrating the doll's birthday) until he produces the baby shawl, which turns out to be a prop for the drama. Still convinced he's right, James pulls open Bev's shawl only to find that she really is female before being punched out by Stan.

In the final scene, Oona, Stan and Bev are watching the drama on TV, with Bev still holding her doll. Oona and Stan complain that it's boring and Bev points out that they have to stick to what happened. When Oona comments that no-one knows what happened, Bev smirks and the camera pans down to reveal a skeletal hand sticking out of her doll. She had killed Ryan when she was ten and turned him into a doll.

Trivia[]

While Bev is only confirmed to have killed Ryan, a large collection of similarly-sized dolls can be seen when James enters her room, implying he may not have been her only victim.

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