Reece Shearsmith

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!"

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.

Psychoville - Dark side of the loons

Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, the creators of The League of Gentlemen, have conjured up another bizarre bunch of misfits for Psychoville. But, as they tell The Independent, their new horror comedy's inspirations go beyond Royston Vasey.

Psychoville: two Gentlemen in a different League

The League of Gentlemen's Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton will return to BBC2 with 'dark character comedy mystery'.

Preview clip from Psychoville

A new trailer for Psychoville featuring the show's writers - and League of Gentlemen stars - Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton.

First look at Psychoville

You may remember Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith most fondly as Herr Lipp and Papa Lazarou (Hello Daaaaave!), but soon the pair will have a whole host of new characters to imbed in our collective consciousness.

Reece Shearsmith blog entry

Filming was exhausting - we had very little time, for what was an incredibly ambitious project - but we are delighted with the results.

Stay tuned for the latest six-part series of Tom Collinson's slightly surreal sitcom that finds our hero, Dave (Reece Shearsmith) still living in the self-storage container of the title after the break-up of his marriage. Here he considers the great conundrum we call life in the company of, in particular, the borderline psychotic Geoff (Mark Heap) and the sensitive and cultivated security guard Ron (Tom Goodman-Hill). This much is as before. What's new for the first episode of this new series is that Dave's sister has moved into the same storage building as Dave after a series of rows with her husband. Which raises the question: given the current downturn in the economy, could storage containers be the new bijou semi?

Written by Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong (Peep Show, The Thick of It) and boasting a pedigree cast, which includes Reece Shearsmith, Darren Boyd and Rosie Cavaliero, the second in this commendable comic endeavour doesn't quite deliver the laughs you might expect. The tale of a houseshare in Victorian London, it is silly and clever and marvellously parodies the conventions, characters and cliches of Victorian fiction. With relatives on deathbeds, frustrated spinsters only occupied with embroidery and ebullient doctors, it provides some smirks but there are no laugh-out-loud moments.