UK Edition 
Inside No 9: can you find the hidden hare in every episode?
Well, did you spot it? When Inside No 9 returned to BBC Two last night for its eagerly awaited fifth series, fans were on the edge of their sofa seats.
Not just because the comeback episode, The Referee’s A W***er, was a gripping nail-chewer of a story - which it was - but because they were also trying desperately to glimpse a silver statuette of a hare.
Why? Well, unbeknown to many viewers, this mysterious long-eared mammal has appeared in all 26 episodes of the cult comedy-horror anthology. Playing spot-the-hare has become an extra treat for devotees, who frequently take to social media in delight when they succeed.
It was even tougher than usual to see last night, camouflaged against a silver tea caddy, but at the 11-minute mark, there it was: sitting slyly on top of a microwave oven, visible at half-time during the plot’s crunch football fixture, when David Morrissey’s beleaguered ref character leant on the kitchenette worktop. Even VAR would’ve had to look twice.
When Inside No 9 arrived on BBC Two in 2014, creators Reese Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton decided to place a common prop in the background of every instalment as a secret in-joke for eagle-eyed fans.
Along with the “nine” motif (usually in the form of a door number), the ornament is the only element that connects every story in the inventive, endlessly surprising series. It took a while for viewers to cotton on to this delicious hidden detail but it has now become a cult game to spot the hare somewhere on-screen each week.
According to Pemberton: “Because each episode is so wildly different, there was nothing really linking them other than the fact they were all inside a Number Nine. We just thought it would be nice to have an object that you could hide and just have there on every set.”
There is, apparently, no special significance to the hare itself. “It’s just fun, there’s no real thing behind it,” adds Pemberton, who selected the statuette because it could feasibly pop up anywhere, in any period.
Some have speculated that it’s a knowing nod to infamous 1979 treasure-hunting puzzle book Masquerade by Kit Williams, which gave clues to the location of a jewelled golden hare.
However, Inside No 9 producer Adam Tandy insists that choosing the same animal was just coincidence: "We had a cardboard box of about a dozen props and Steve just picked up that.”
To play along, you'll need to pay close attention because the bob-tailed mascot is often fiendishly hard to find. Inside No 9 stories are usually worth watching twice and it might take two viewings - plus judicious use of the pause button - to spot the hare every time.
The ornament is usually placed on a bookshelf, sideboard or mantelpiece but in non-domestic locations - for example, a train sleeping compartment (series two’s “La Couchette”) or karaoke booth (series three’s “Empty Orchestra”) - it is concealed in a more devious manner.
"Sometimes, a character pulls out a photograph of themselves and it's behind them in the snap," Shearsmith says. "It's a nice little game we play.”
In 2017’s cryptic crossword-themed “Riddle Of The Sphinx”, there is actually a second hare of sorts. Shearsmith gave a tip-off on Twitter that hare-hunters should look closely at the crossword. The grid doesn’t get fully filled-in by the characters during the episode but when the puzzle is completed, one of its ninas (hidden messages) reads "ONE LEPUS” - Lepus being the generic Latin for hare. Now that’s what we call attention to detail.
The hare even got its own moment in the spotlight two years ago. In the fourth series finale, a typically twisty parable titled Tempting Fate, three council contractors were clearing out the flat of a dead hoarder when they discovered a deadly curse from beyond the grave.
The whole devilish tale revolved around, you’ve guessed it, the metallic effigy of a hare. This was the first time that this unsung TV hero had become a plot point.
The hare has even popped up in the show that made the duo’s names, The League Of Gentlemen. During the recent festive reunion specials, former Royston Vasey storekeepers pig-snouted Tubbs and Edward were squatting in flat number 9 - where the hare was visible on their makeshift shop counter.
The silver hare is rather like Inside No 9 itself: knowing, impudent and enigmatic. A playful puzzle for viewers to solve. The statue joins Hartley from Seventies children’s show Pipkins as TV’s foremost hares.
So it’s over to you, observant viewers. But whatever you do, don’t call it a rabbit. It might just put a curse on you.
Inside No 9 is available on iPlayer and Netflix