The Riddle of the Sphinx (Inside No. 9) was characterised by Pemberton as a thriller in the style of Anthony Shaffer's 1970 play "Sleuth", while Shearsmith identified the episode as particularly theatrical, in the style of "Sleuth" and Ira Levin's 1978 play "Deathtrap". BBC executives, according to Shearsmith, saw the episode as a cross between "Sleuth" and Willy Russell's 1980 play "Educating Rita" that read as if it had been authored by psychopaths. The executive producer Jon Plowman suggested that the first half of the episode plays out like a radio play. The word-play and tea-drinking in this part of the episode are, in the writers' opinion, very
Educating Rita (film) The Stag's Head. Filming also took place in Stonybatter with Aughrim St Church being used for the wedding scene. Stanhope St school was used as a production base. The American "Variety" magazine in December 1982 lauded Walters' interpretation of Rita as "[w]itty, down-to-earth, kind and loaded with common sense." "Rita," the review continues, "is the antithesis of the humorless, stuffy and stagnated academic world she so longs to infiltrate. Julie Walters injects her with just the right mix of comedy and pathos." Ian Nathan reviewing the film for Britain's "Empire" film magazine calls the film a "gem," and gives it