Psychoville

Psychoville 1.5 Review

After the excellent, experimental homage to Hitchcock last week, we're back to the crux of the matter this week. Sadly, I'm struggling to feel that enthused about Psychoville's overarching mystery (which grows increasingly predictable and cliched as every layer is peeled away), although I'm hopeful there will be an imaginative twist in the tail...

Reece Shearsmith's and Steve Pemberton's killer comedy thriller cranks up the psychotic laughter to deafening as the plot knots unravel in this week's penultimate episode. Maureen is dismissive about her final victim ("its hardly going to be Jeffrey Dahmer") until she finds out the truth about son David's bad murder & Joy Aston takes extreme measures to return 'baby' Freddie's head to his body. Can Kerry prevent Robert from carrying out his twisted plan to marry Debbie? And what secrets lurk within the walls of Ravenhill Hospital, the evil pulse beat of Psychoville? Could sinister Nurse Kenchington and a mystery blackmailer share a connection. Murder has seldom seemed this satisfying.

Psychoville episode five: 'The Key'

The Boston Strangler, Jack the Ripper and other starry serial-killer names get together for a stunning song-and-dance routine in the latest episode.

The characters' connections start coming together in the penultimate episode of the scary, sick but very funny comedy from half of The League of Gentlemen. Mr Lomax has a new home help after he was betrayed by young Michael. Mr Jelly is 'entertaining' old folks at a home when he gets a call from Mr Jolly, and Maureen learns the truth about David.

Psychoville episode 5 review

How do you up the ante on last week's ambitious episode? Simple. You throw in a musical number. When the waxwork serial killers began to dance to a song that could have come straight out of Sweeney Todd, I literally had to shut my gaping mouth to stop it from dribbling.

It hardly seems possible, but Psychoville gets more grotesque by the week. Tonight, that principally means some alarming developments involving Little Freddy Fruitcake, who suddenly comes over, as we always knew he would, all Chucky. Meanwhile, David and Maureen arrange to meet their next victim in a waxwork museum, clowns Jolly and Jelly move towards an uneasy alliance, and we learn more about the secret that binds the main characters together.

TV Review: Psychoville 5

It is, in my opinion, the best thing on TV at the moment by a country mile.

Lets make no bones about it: given their League of Gentlemen track record, this series has been an average outing for Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith. With the exception of last week's dark, twisty hilarity (something to do with the return of Royston Vasey cohort Mark Gatiss?) Psychoville has continued to display the League's knack of elevating even the most banal, infantile subject matter to the status of high drama, but fared poorly on the laugh count.

There's still a few chuckles to be had: tonight, largely residing in the continued bidding war for Mr Snappy, and his owner's odd obsession with Crabtree's bodily functions. Mr Jelly also appears to be embarking on a satisying journey to redemption through a reconciliation with Mr Jolly, so fingers crossed for this narrative. But be warned: the eagle-eyed will have noticed that the actress who wound up swinging upside down in David's 'bad murder' was Natalie Cassidy. Which suggests plenty of footage of Sonia from Eastenders next week. Unlikely to be a good thing.

Who knew Dawn French could be quite so frightening? Even more frightening than the conjoined twins with matching eye patches or the hook-handed alcoholic clown, in fact. But if you thought she was scary, just wait till you see Freddie, her fake baby, starts talking to her over the intercom... We're beginning to realise that comedy is very much The League of Gentlemen's second love after horror.