Reece Shearsmith

Having always been immune to those Halloween episodes so beloved of US sitcoms - they always turn out to be rubbish, even if it's Family Guy - I approached Psychoville's Halloween Special with a certain air of trepidation. But this turned out to be a psycho marriage made in heaven.

Upholding the proud horror tradition of the portmanteau spine-chiller - separate tales only loosely interlocked at the edges - this Psychoville special played as both a sophisticated trailer for the much-anticipated second series and as a pumpkin-packin' thriller in its own right, perfectly timed to give every childish tap on the door an extra edge of menace.

Featuring the juicily demented star characters from the first run of Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's macabre comedy, including the bonkers midwife and the mother and son who are way too close for comfort, the show oozed black humour like treacle with a set-up that delighted in ripping the mickey out of Most Haunted while putting the willies up you with the image of Dale Winton hosting such spooky shenanigans.

Electric shocks and dead babies abounded in a classy treat that had plenty of tricks up its sleeve, not least getting the balance between horror and comedy pretty much spot on. It confirmed Psychoville as a worthy successor to The League Of Gentlemen and you can't say fairer than that.

It's Halloween tonight. And that means you'll be hoping to go to bed spooked and on edge, creepily conscious of every door-creak and curtain-rustle. On that front it'll be hard to beat this special instalment of Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's sick comedy horror show. As always, it stirs up a witches' brew of gross characters and hilariously horrible plot details that make it unlike anything else on TV - except the darker urges of The League of Gentlemen given free rein. To give you the flavour of it, early on, a child exploring a dilapidated psychiatric hospital stumbles on an old tobacco tin and discovers, inside, a severed human tongue... Fans of the first series (a second is on the way) will be shivering with pleasure; newcomers can expect unusually vivid nightmares.

Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton return with a portmanteau offering. Framing the stories, we watch as a location manager on a Most Haunted-style show inspects the dilapidation of Ravenhill Psychiatric Hospital. This is spooky enough in itself, but not nearly so nasty as dark tales starring the likes of Mr Jelly, Joy and David. In context, the script has to work harder than usual to provide light relief. Which it does. Lomax offers a lady customer a fiver for some soft toys: "And that's only because I'm curious about your Bagpuss."

A Halloween message from Reece Shearsmith

Well - it's finally upon us. All Hallows Eve - the one night of the year when it's alright to inject apples with poison and hand them out to children...

A special edition of the macabre comedy thriller from The League of Gentlemen's Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. It centres on a television location manager, Shearsmith, who has taken his camera with him to the abandoned ruins of the fictional Ravenhill Psychiatric Hospital. He is investigating stories about the ghost of its evil former governess, Edwina Kenchington (Eileen Atkins), for a Most Haunted style programme. In true Psychoville style, the episode is both hilarious and unsettling. Four eccentric tales of terror unfold, each featuring one of the regular characters from the series - the bitter, one-handed children's entertainer Mr Jelly (Shearsmith), the deranged midwife Joy (Dawn French) and her baby, the blind millionaire Mr Lomax (Pemberton), and the serial-killer enthusiast David Sowerbutts (Pemberton again) and his mother. The Mr Jelly one - which sees him opening the door to two mysterious trick-or-treaters - is the strangest, and the funniest. Artfully written and well acted, like the previous award-winning series, this may at times be too odd and too disturbing for some viewers to stomach.

Trick or treat?

Steve Bennett meets Psychoville's Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith.

Psychoville live chat: Reece Shearsmith

Reece Shearsmith will be live online from 12.30 on Friday ahead of Sunday's Psychoville Halloween special. Leave your questions for him here.

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