Reece Shearsmith

Psychoville: the new home of horror comedy

Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, half of The League of Gentlemen, have moved to Psychoville, the new home of horror comedy.

Anyone who has been pining these seven long years for the shock-horror tactics that made The League of Gentlemen such a unique comedy collaboration, fear not... or rather, be afraid. Half of the team - Steve Pemberton & Reece Shearsmith - have created this exquisitely crafted 'sick-com' and, after just 30 minutes, its smacks already of borderline genius.

Tease upon grisly tease are piled high in the opening scene-setter episode as the gallery of grotesques all receive a card in the post bearing the ominous legend 'I know what you did'.

The League of Gentlemen are back! Well some of them, at least. Former League members Reece Shearsmith & Steve Pemberton are the brains behind new comedy Psychoville, technically forming more of a duo than a league.

There will inevitably be comparisons with the aforementioned series, and quite rightly so, as this is Royston Vasey in all but name. But despite the familiar formula - an intoxicating blend of grotesque characterisation, dark humour, and occasional burst of outright horror - Psychoville still feels uncommonly innovative. No other show has even come close to successfully filling the gap left behind when the final League of Gentlemen series came to an end in 2002, and its a joy to have something so utterly warped back on our screens.

Once again Shearsmith & Pemberton have taken on dual roles as both writers & performers. While the ex-Gentlemen are playing the lion's share of the characters themselves, there are also several guest stars, notably Dawn French who appears as a midwife who obsessively treats her battered demonstration doll as a real live newborn. Other characters include Robert, a dwarf with psychic powers, Mr Jelly, a bitter & twisted children's entertainer with a detachable hand & David Sowerbutts, a serial-killer obsessive who has a very unhealthy relationship with his mother. If anything, this is even more disturbing than the team's previous work, and those of a nervous disposition should avoid it at all costs.

There is a plot thread connecting all of the disparate oddball characters in the form of a mysterious letter that's been sent to each of them, and those of us with the stomach for such grizzly fun should be in for a treat at this most bizarre mystery unfolds. When it comes to black comedy, Shearsmith & Pemberton really are in a league of their own. A triumphant return.

A telekinetic dwarf, a blind eBay fanatic, a delusional nurse who treats her toy doll like a real baby and a children's entertainer with a hook for a hand. Such hideous creations could only come from one place - the minds of League Of Gentlemen creators Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton.

In the twisted world of Psychoville, their new deathly black, surreal comedy, these disparate protagonists are united by a quill-written letter they've each received from a shadowy blackmailer containing the phrase, 'I know what you did'.

"It's more like a whodunwhat than a whodunit, as you don't quite know what's happened," explains co-writer and star Reece Shearsmith. "The blackmail letters arrive, and that's all you know. Each week, it gets more byzantine, with odd things thrown in to make the viewer think, 'What?'. It was a delicate thing to chart, to know how much information to give away at one point. There are only seven episodes, so we had to think about how soon was too soon."

If the series seems cryptic, it's no surprise. While writing the scripts in their north London office, the duo weren't entirely sure themselves where Psychoville was heading. "It wasn't until episode three we knew what was going to happen at the end, so until then we had to put lines in like, 'It's them' without actually knowing who 'them' were ourselves," Reece explains. "We just said, 'We'll sort that out later'. At least no-one will be able to second-guess it."

Some of the characters from Psychoville could slot nicely into The League Of Gentlemen and vice-versa, although it's not something that bothers Hull-born Reece. "We did try to avoid any similarities, but because it's our sense of humour, that'll be there. We couldn't willfully not write it like that," he says.

"All our strange obsessions always come out - dolls, clowns and things, all of which could have been in The League. Monty Python had their weird stamp on everything they did afterwards, it's just a particular take on the world."

"We spent two years writing Psychoville, so we have huge back-stories for each character, details we could never use in a seven-parter, but they're the sort of things that really tickle us. We thought this was a great opportunity to put it all up somewhere, so the characters have all got their own websites, blogs, forums and all sorts," Reece says. "It's all so geeky, I don't know how many people will do it, but I know Steve and I would. That's what we're like."

A sinister clown with a fake hand, a blind toy-collecting recluse, a midwife besotted with a baby doll - no surprise to learn the creators of this new comedy thriller are The League of Gentlemen's Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton.

"The BBC wanted a family show, but things didn't pan out" admits Reece, 39. "In fact, its more horrible than The League! TV executives kept telling us, 'Dark comedy is out - we want big and funny' but thankfully, BBC bosses liked it."

As with the inhabitants of their previous creation, Royston Vasey, Psychoville is crammed with strange, sinister characters. They have nothing in common, except five of them receive an anonymous black-edged card that reads 'I know what you did...'. However, unlike The League, Reece and Steve play only a few roles, and instead have a starry line-up of regulars and guests, including Dawn French, Janet McTeer and Eileen Atkins.

Reece, who lives in North London with his wife Jane, says his kids - Holly, six and Danny, four - will have to wait a long time before they're allowed to watch his gruesome shows. "They'll have to be at least 35" he laughs, "They call it 'Daddy's silly work'. But I'm draconian about what they see, which is hypocritical because I saw lots of gore as a kid - but then look how I turned out!"

Welcome to Psychoville

If Royston Vasey scared you silly, wait until you see the citizens of TV comedy Psychoville. Creator Reece Shearsmith explains his taste for the dark stuff. It's all the Fly Lady's fault, apparently

From two of the creators of The League of Gentlemen - Reece Shearsmith & Steve Pemberton - here's a new comedy-thriller that, true to form, delights in horrid grotesquery. The set-up is an old standby - a quintet of apparently unrelated misfits each receives a black-edged letter - but the strength of this opener lies in the gloriously exaggerated characters; a blind recluse, an angry clown, a potty midwife, a serial killer-fixated mummy's boy and a lovelorn dwarf. Ace.

Though made by only two members of The League of Gentlemen, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, Psychoville is clearly twinned with Royston Vasey. It has the same grotesque characters, the same creepy, dependent relationships. But unlike the League, they're living, more or less, in the real world - the joke, repeatedly, is the clash between the gothic nightmare and the ordinary.

There is a clown whose idea of a "princess party" for a girl is more like a torture party; there are feuding panto dwarves, one of whom has a crush on Snow White; there is an uncomfortable mother and son duo with a worrying knowledge of serial killers. But the scariest of all is played by Dawn French, as a nurse with an obsessive love for her 'baby'. She is what you imagine the truth to be behind those documentaries about people who keep monkeys as children or believe they are married to the Eiffel Tower.

On paper, Psychoville should seem like a retread, but the ongoing mystery - many of the characters are receiving anonymous letters - and some disturbing but genuine laughs keep it compelling.

Shearsmith reveals a depth in the dark side

Reece Shearsmith is adamant that he is not some nutcase living out his deranged fantasies on screen. He just writes what he thinks is funny - and so what if that includes murder and necrophilia?

Beware! These people are in a league of their own

With its wicked and twisted characters and plots, The League of Gentlemen heralded a new era of dark British comedy when it hit TV screens 10 years ago. Now, two League members, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, are back with Psychoville, a creepy comedy featuring a cast of macabre misfits who've each received an anonymous note saying: "I know what you did." Psychoville begins on BBC2 next week. Imogen Carter introduces four of its strangest inhabitants.