Psychoville

A pattern is emerging in this second series as it ruthlessly bumps off one key character per episode, but whose number is up tonight? A trip to a vintage toy emporium, Hoyti Toyti, takes warty Mr Lomax's obsession with Tony Hancock to another level. Homicidal David Sowerbutts makes a deadly pact à la Strangers on a Train, and misanthropic clown Mr Jelly walks into a gruesome Dirty Pretty Things scenario. Yes, the deft movie pastiches continue unabated. The newer characters see disturbing action, too. Librarian Jeremy (Reece Shearsmith) is still hung up on an overdue reference book and bedevilled by the freakish Silent Singer, while extreme fag hag Hattie gets her claws into gay Iranian Shahrouz. Is it just me or is Steve Pemberton channelling Corrie's Deirdre Barlow here?

Psychoville review

With a few of the peripheral characters out of the way, there is room for more rogues in this gallery. The best of them so far is stuffy librarian Jeremy Goode.

Review: 'Psychovile' 2.2

I've rated it the same as last week's premiere, but I enjoyed episode 2 slightly more -- although I still have concerns about Psychoville's general direction and how it's using its characters.

An interview with Reece Shearsmith

Reece Shearsmith is probably (definitely) best known for his work as one of The League of Gentlemen, a paradoxically popular cult show which has been on stage, radio, and television.

It's the big day for Hattie as her sham wedding to her BF's boyfriend Shahrouz gets under way. But has she really understood the "sham" part? Elsewhere, the Sowerbutts have their first dinner party in years, Mr Jelly tries his hand at a pub gig, and the sinister Grace Andrews (Imelda Staunton) keeps plotting. Good to have them back: where else will you find jokes about Capricorn One, serial killers and Martine McCutcheon together?

Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's macabre comedy is little more than a series of recurring sketches loosely tied together. But with its wonderfully grotesque gang of misfits and hammy horror, it remains highly entertaining. As the mystery surrounding the missing locket continues, the investigation turns to Christopher Biggins for answers. Meanwhile Robert (Jason Tompkins) manages to escape from Kerry's cottage just as she's cooking up a love spell to ensnare him.

This is manna for lovers of the macabre - a shudder one minute, a cackle the next. Steve Pemberton's new character Hattie (surely a blood relation of The League of Gentlemen's Pauline) seizes her opportunity at a sham wedding, while Pemberton's Benidorm chum Sheila Reid shows up as another witchy gran, with designs on poor Tommy. The Sowerbutts plan a dinner party from hell, willing anaphylaxis upon shifty, peanut-sensitive Robin (David Bamber); Maureen (Reece Shearsmith) also subjects her guests to a party piece, which is, well, "simply the best!" Shearsmith is great too, without all the hideous make-up, as beyond-anal librarian Jeremy who sees David Lynch-ian phantoms between the bookcases - and stay alert for a cameo from another cult movie director, John Landis.

Psychoville series 2 episode 2 review

It's episode 2 of Psychoville series 2, and it's once again full of macabre humour and unexpected twists. Here's Ryan's review...

Psychoville: series 2, episode 2

The disturbing comedy gets better and funnier.

The award winning comedy thriller by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton has finally returned with a full series, following on from its debut in 2009 and the Halloween special last year.

The second series carries on from where the last left off, which ended with a bomb blowing up in an abandoned hospital and the search of a missing locket. I shall not reveal all the details of the bombing for those who have yet to watch it, but out of all the people in the room where the bomb was at the time, two were killed, one had a broken arm, one ended up with perforated eardrums making them slightly deaf, one was so traumatised they cannot speak or move, one is now wearing a neck brace, one was unharmed and the other is currently unknown about.

We also meet up with some new characters, including a librarian who is horrified that a book may be returned later and who is haunted by the sight of a terrifying silent singer that only he can see; and a make-up artist marrying a gay Iranian man to help him stay in the country.

This series is brilliant, with all its cunning twists and turns, but also with its devilish humour. For example, one of the characters talks about a "yawning donkey", describing it as a euphemism similar to "wizard's sleeve".

I think the best way to describe the series is simply watch it. There is no way a reviewer would be able to talk about it too much without giving the plot away - which is somewhat annoying for me, I can tell you.