| “ | I'm terribly sorry about all this, but there really could only ever be one candidate for this grant. Goodbye, Dr. Meyer. | „ |
| ~ Dr. Maxwell to Yves' corpse. |
Dr. Maxwell is one of the protagonists of the Inside No. 9 episode "La Couchette".
He was portrayed by Reece Shearsmith, who also played Ray, Tom, Hector, Mr. Warren, George, Dr. Jacob Tyler, Viktor and Neville Griffin in the same show, Mr. Jelly, Maureen Sowerbutts, Jeremy Goode and the Silent Singer in Psychoville, Edward Tattsyrup, Ross Gaines, Papa Lazarou, Geoff Tipps, Bernice Woodall, Judee Levinson, Oliver Plimsoles, Cathy Carter-Smith and Father Halfhearte in the League of Gentlemen, Gagan Rassmussen in Doctor Who, Malcolm Webster in The Widower and one of the Vogons in the 2005 film adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Biography[]
Maxwell is a pharmaceutical researcher looking to obtain a grant from the World Health Organization for his research into the degenerative effects of acute angina. The episode opens with him on a train from Paris to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, from where he will travel to Geneva for an interview at the WHO. He settles into bunk 9E in his shared compartment in the hope of getting some sleep before his interview, but is interrupted repeatedly by the arrival of his fellow passengers: drunk German tourist Jorg, who initially climbs into 9D but but later switches to 9F, married couple Kath and Les, who climb into 9A and 9D, and Australian backpacker Shona, who leaves the compartment after leaving her bag on bunk 9C.
Several hours later, Shona returns with fellow traveller Hugo and they prepare to have sex on 9C, only for a dead body to fall from 9B above them, waking everyone up. Maxwell takes charge of the situation and confirms that the man, Yves, has been dead since before any of them arrived. He then tries and fails to alert the guard, at which point Jorg suggests they use the emergency stop. However, before they can do so Hugo reveals he does not have a ticket and will be thrown off if they stop. Maxwell agrees with him, explaining that he doesn't want to miss his interview at the WHO in the morning, and Les also realizes that he will probably miss his daughter's wedding tomorrow if they have to stop. Over Kath and Shona's objections, they decide to simply put Yves back in his bunk and leave him for someone else to find after their stop, with Hugo climbing in the bunk with the corpse.
After dawn has broken, the train suddenly breaks, dumping Yves' corpse on the floor and waking everyone. Les notices that Kath is missing and Shona sees that there's something on the tracks, causing Maxwell and Les to believe that she jumped under the train. Maxwell callously insults her for making him miss his appointment, at which point Les attacks him until Shona realizes the body in front of the train is a dead deer and Kath re-enters.
Later, the train reaches the station and everyone leaves the compartment except Maxwell, who stays behind with Yves' corpse. He receives a call on his phone which is revealed to be from his driver, who is waiting for him and the other candidate, Dr. Meyer. Maxwell says he'll keep an eye out for Meyer before hanging up and, turning to the corpse, remarks that there can only be one candidate for the grant, revealing that he killed Yves to make sure he got the grant. However, Jorg, who has just returned to get his things, responds when he hears Maxwell mention Dr. Meyer, revealing that he, not Yves, is Meyer; Maxwell had seen that Meyer was sleeping in bunk 9B and had killed the man sleeping in it, but Yves had arrived before either of them and got into Meyer's bunk. The episode ends with Maxwell stunned into silence as he realizes he killed the wrong man.
[]
 Villains
| ||
|
League of Gentlemen Psychoville Inside No. 9 | ||