The best criminal defence barrister in England, Webster (Derek Jacobi), is slowly dying. His only friend is the kindly nurse Urban Bedford (Reece Shearsmith), but as they spend a long, dark night together, both learn there is more to the other than meets the eye.
Tropes include:
- The Atoner: Urban got into nursing because of his ongoing guilt over killing a classmate he had bullied.
- Background Body Part: The lift attendant is positioned amongst Webster's balloons in a way that looks like horns.
- Be All My Sins Remembered: Urban is extremely insistent that he doesn't deserve Webster's praise because of his past cruelty. It actually saves his soul.
- Blood Oath: Webster signed the amendment to his contract with the Devil in blood, and does so again to amend the terms.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The elevator operator, innocuously introduced in the opening scene, turns out to be the Devil.
- Chromosome Casting: All the characters are men. (Although Steve Pemberton plays the Devil, who seems fairly exempt from gender, but appears here as a man.)
- Compartment Shot: Urban fetching the hatbox is shown from inside the cupboard.
- Convenient Photograph: Feigned. Webster managed to find a photograph of one of his clients at a party at the same time he was supposed to be murdering his wife. It turned out that he murdered his wife, and that photograph came from The Devil.
- Daydream Surprise: Urban's Past Experience Nightmare is only revealed to be a dream when we see him wake up from it. Apparently, he's been Plagued by Nightmares since the incident.
- Deal with the Devil: The plot is based around Webster having made a literal deal with the Devil years ago in exchange for success in his career.
- Didn't See That Coming: Webster's plan to exchange Urban's soul for his own relies on Urban being the good and pure person Webster has always interacted with. Webster certainly wasn't expecting him to actually be a murderer, albeit a regretful one. You wouldn't normally even expect for a Camp Gay to have been the school bully.
- Died on Their Birthday: Justified. Webster's Deal with the Devil stipulates that his soul gets collected on his birthday.
- Dirty Coward: Webster is willing to condemn a good (as far as he knew) man to eternal damnation to save his own skin. When that doesn't work, he is begging/pleading the whole way down.
- Enfant Terrible: Urban, who killed a classmate aged 13, was this. He's one who eventually became The Atoner, however.
- Exact Words: Webster was apparently saying that Urban was the only one who could help him. He meant this literally - he planned to sacrifice his soul.
- Faux Affably Evil: Webster initially seems like a crotchety Jerk with a Heart of Gold but is revealed to be utterly ruthless and self-centred, and quite happy to send his "friend's" soul to hell in place of his own.
- The Devil is almost unfailingly calm and polite, but it barely conceals what a cruel, hungry predator he really is.
- Frivolous Lawsuit: Webster seems to have had a history of these. When Urban asks how Webster would hypothetically get him acquitted for kidnapping and shooting his ex-wife at their daughter's birthday party, Webster says he would spin it as an accident and sue the company that sold the party balloons.
- Gay Best Friend: Urban meets a lot of the specifications: he's Webster's Only Friend, although he's technically paid to spend time with him, he is extremely Camp Gay, we learn everything about Webster's background and hardly anything about his, and he puts a lot of work into lightening the mood. But there is a lot more to him.
- Hairpin Lockpick: Urban opens the drawer with a hairpin. Lampshaded by him:"Just like in the films."
- Hellevator: The Devil has been Webster's lift attendant for decades, and at the end, he takes him down in it.
- Homage: The orange hitting the door in front of the troubled Urban is a reference to the red ball in The Changeling.
- Ignored Confession: Urban outright tells Webster that his niceness is just a front to balance out his bad deeds. The old man doesn't pick up on the clue.
- Karmic Twist Ending: Webster is entirely confident that he can damn Urban to hell in his place and almost succeeds...until it's revealed that Urban murdered someone when he was younger, rendering Webster's new contract void and meaning he can no longer escape his fate.
- Kick the Dog: As if attempting to damn him to hell wasn't bad enough, Webster goes out of his way to mock and belittle Urban as the devil takes him away; just to underscore how nasty he is.
- Kill the Lights: The devil creates a city-wide power outage shortly before midnight which makes the situation scarier. Even Urban's candle dies when the evil one enters the apartment.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Urban's instant reaction to stuffing an orange down a classmate's throat.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: Webster pleads Urban to stay with him when the lights go out shortly before midnight. It's only after the reveal that his true motive for this request becomes apparent.
- Power Outage Plot: The fuse is tripped in Webster's apartment and the whole climax takes place in darkness.
- Punny Name: Urban thinks that Webster is talking about "a weight" when he refers to Andrew Waite - but it is the first case that he won and why he sold his soul to the Devil.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: When the lift attendant's eyes turn red, Urban realises just who he is.
- Reformed Bully: Urban used to be a school bully but mended his ways after the trauma of accidentally killing a classmate who confronted him.
- Scare Chord: Plays during the Nightmare Sequence when the schoolboy reaches out for Urban.
- See You in Hell: When Urban says he'll "be seeing" Webster, the Devil replies "you certainly will", indicating Urban is still going to hell despite his efforts to atone for his actions.
- Shout-Out:
- Kurt says the locus was gone before Pointless started.
- Webster's initial is shown to be D., a reference to The Devil and Daniel Webster.
- Urban tells Webster to "make like Elsa and let it go."
- Urban calls the Devil "Mr Mistoffelees...oh, sorry, that's Cats."
- Urban's name seems to reference Urbain Grandier, a 17th-century French priest accused of witchcraft. He's the focus of the film The Devils.
- Tear Up the Contract: The devil tears the contract into pieces at the end when it's revealed that Urban doesn't work as a substitute for Webster.
- This Isn't Heaven: A variant. In response to Webster yelling "Oh God!" in shock, the Devil calmly replies, "I'm afraid not."
- The Three Faces of Adam:
- The lift attendant is the Hunter, although he doesn't fear the future. He's constantly on the lookout for new souls to devour.
- Webster is the prophet, who is looking back on his life and doing anything to stave off going to Hell.
- Urban is the lord, who is trying to atone for the terrible crime he committed in the past by being a saintly person.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Urban tries to rescue Webster from Hell. In return, Webster tries to substitute Urban for him in Hell.
- Wham Line: "I'm... really not." In response to Webster smugly telling Urban that "You're a better man than me."
- When the Clock Strikes Twelve: That's when the Devil will come to collect Webster.
- Whole-Plot Reference: To Dr Faustus.
