When one half of comedy horror series The League Of Gentlemen’s acting and writing quartet, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, were commissioned by the BBC to write the first series of this superficially similar oddball production, the assumption was that it may be a lesser variant on the Royston Vasey mould.
This couldn’t have been further from the truth, though, as Psychoville’s first run proved to be a refreshing departure and perhaps even better than the classic earlier show. Granted, there were still a cast of sledgehammer-subtle grotesque characters with a predilection for murder, albeit now spread across the UK with interlinking stories rather than one tiny northern village, but Psychoville’s real strong point was it’s thoroughly unexpected depth.
Over the course of the series, as the crippling neuroses that haunted each of the six leads were revealed, you really started to care about the fate of the misfit monsters as belly laughs rang out. Series 1’s climax, then, with an explosion involving Dawn French’s delusional matron Joy, mother and son killing combo Maureen and David Sowerbutts, disturbing clown Mr Jelly, reclusive blind soft toy collector Oscar Lomax (all played by Shearmith and Pemberton) and psychokinetic pantomime dwarf Robert Greenspan (Jason Tompkins), was fitting, leaving a great cliffhanger ending for series two.
Kicking off soon after the devastating explosion, we find out which of our anti-heroes and their enemies have survived as a new nemesis is revealed in the form of secret organization boss Grace Andrews (played brilliantly by the great Imelda Staunton, aping Dame Judi Dench hilariously), who is after the locket left behind by Nurse Ketchington before the explosion, last seen with troubled dwarf Robert. As is often the case with these organisations, they have a sleek assassin readily available in the form of Detective Finney (Mark Bonnar), who is employed to try and ‘rub out’ any trace of the group’s involvement with Nurse Ketchington, with predictably bloodthirsty results.
Series 2 introduces a few new characters, played with gusto, as always, by Shearsmith and Pemberton. None-more-camp bunny-boiling singleton Hattie (Pemberton) is a hoot in the vein of The League Of Gentlemen’s Pauline, as is demented librarian Jeremy Goode (Shearsmith) and his genuinely terrifying imaginary tormentor, the ‘Silent Singer’, just an inch away from the TV demon-woman of The Ring films.
Their stories are seamlessly interwoven with the ongoing narrative as events build to ridiculously over-the-top set-pieces that it’d be a massive spoiler to mention here. Rest assured, though, that the talented and ambitious writing team doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘restraint’, delving into genres other than horror skillfully, imaginatively and cinematically.
Ultimately, this second series more than maintains the quality, keeping the winning mixture of clever, funny writing, Hitchcock references (Series 1 had Rope, this time we have Strangers On A Train), gruesome black comedy and, most importantly, more heart than you’d think. A hugely entertaining and curiously emotional dark jaunt, let’s hope for a third slice of this delicious (if somewhat poisoned) cake.
Extras: 2010 Halloween Special, audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes and Psychoville Shorts.
Released on DVD on Monday 13th June 2011 by 2entertain.
Watch the Series 2 trailer…