shoe is presented as "lonesome aberration", and, on at least one occasion, is actively anthropomorphised by David. The comedy critic Bruce Dessau identified "stories of men who marry their VW Golfs or women who fancy the Eiffel Tower" as something he initially thought an inspiration, and noted The Good Life as a potential influence for David and Louise's lifestyle. However, the episode diverged strongly from what he had expected, as David's obsession did not involve romantic love, and the episode as a whole was low on humour. "Diddle Diddle Dumpling" is a relatively simple episode, described by one critic as "really just a quiet character study of a man losing his grip". The episode uses Vivaldi's The Four Seasons to mark the passage of time, which is also portrayed by changing colour palettes. The score and setting convey David's emotional and mental fragility, with a contrast drawn between the chaotic music and controlled cinematography. The seasons, too, convey David's mental state: first the decline, then the "autumnal calm", then the collapse. The episode's closing scene is, according to several critics, ambiguous, as it is unclear whether David has visited violence on Ted or on Sally. Similarly, the nature of Louise's relationships with both Ted and Chris is open to interpretation: one critic noted the "little moment" of Louise's interaction with Chris, and questioned whether David might believe Louise to be having an affair with Ted. The family's home has a "sterile" feeling, and features a large number of objects in symmetrical pairs. This mise-en-scène reflects "David's psychosis, and what he and Louise [have] lost in the death of Sally's twin brother". Relatedly, shots of unoccupied rooms create a sense of emptiness, while the final shot of Ted shows him as a "half person". Critics identified the direction as Hitchcockian, while Tandy characterised it as Bergmanesque. The "number 9" of "Diddle Diddle Dumpling" was not the family home, but the shoe, which was size 9. Despite taking place in a small number of rooms or just outside, the episode does not have the feeling of claustrophobia that is present in some other episodes. "Diddle Diddle Dumpling" represented a sharp change of tone from the previous episode of Inside No. 9, "Empty Orchestra". For Mark Butler of i, the episode's melancholic mood, uneasy domestic setting, and allusions to mental illness link it to "Tom & Gerri", an episode from Inside No. 9