Steve Pemberton

The second and, by all accounts, final series of Psychoville draws to a close tonight. While it has a wonderfully twisting (and twisted) plot, it's in the details that this has impressed the most. Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith throw in pick'n'mix influences from Hammer horror, 50s schlock sci-fi, Lindsay Anderson's Britannia Hospital and much more. The secret of the locket is finally revealed - but who, in a show that has seemingly been intent on killing everyone off this series, will still be around to see it?

Murderous Maureen is on her last legs, but slow-witted son David has misremembered the one thing she'd like to do before she dies. It's not wine tasting in France. Mr Jelly, the misanthropic clown, has a makeover to become Mr Jolly and makes a disturbing discovery in Jolly's vault. We also learn that obsessive librarian Jeremy has an unexpected link to Ravenhill Hospital. This is perhaps the blackest instalment yet, with corpses and dismembered body parts piling up. The laughs may be diminishing, but Psychoville remains stylishly crafted and exquisitely performed. Just as in The League of Gentlemen, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton manage to invest even their vilest characters with fl ashes of pathos. And who could resist another dose (in flashback) of Eileen Atkins as tyrannical Nurse Kenchington?

Tonight we learn that Psychoville is no place for ladies of a certain age, especially if they want to avoid being fed gruesome dishes or being attacked with scissors in this bloodthirsty tale from the dark side.

Desperate measures are called for when Jeremy Goode searches for the missing library book, while Mrs Wren is in peril from several parties. One man can save her but is he that bothered? With Steve Pemberton as David.

"Three ex-Ravenhill patients dead in the same month Coincidence? I don't think so," says Hoyti Toyti shopkeeper Peter (a swishingly camp turn from Jason Watkins, who played Herrick in Being Human). He's soon on the scent of the assassin and sharing with Tealeaf (Daniel Kaluuya) a dark secret in his shop basement. So the plot tightens in this dance of the macabre, where there's dubious pleasure in watching just how far Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton will go in testing their audience's bad taste threshold. A literal bloodbath involving Maureen Sowerbutts, a Haringey social worker, a breadknife and bin liners makes for queasy but irresistible viewing. A sequence with Mr Jelly and David running amok in a home for the bewildered achieves high farce. Hattie (Pemberton in pink lippy) turning all Kathy Bates in Misery and forcing a snog on gay hubby Shahrouz should make some punters squirm, but it was her crass remarks to a rape victim that ultimately crossed the line for me. Still, full marks for audacity.

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?

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.

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.

Just as with The League Of Gentlemen, Psychoville's best moments are always the lower level tragedies. No matter what they throw at you in terms of stabbings, explosions, horror film tropes, it's never the big moments that chill or disgust you, it's the small things - the moments when Imelda Staunton purses her lips - that send a shiver down your spine. What other show would have an angry librarian turn so horrific?

There's a strange pretension-free ambition that makes Psychoville so much fun to watch. There are really awful cheap gags mixed among moments that take weeks, if not years to set up. Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton mug it up, but they're allowed to get away with it because of the deadpan way the rest of the cast, such as the brilliant Tea Leaf, play around in their sick world. Really, really good.

Steve Pemberton interview: Psychoville

With macabre comedy Psychoville back on our screens for a second season, we chat to writer and performer Steve Pemberton about the series...

Psychoville: series 2, episode 1

Airing from June 18, 2009 for seven episodes, the first series of Psychoville was an interesting, darkly humourous experience. Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, better known for their work on League of Gentlemen, brought forth a colourful and varied cast of demented characters who brought the show to life, as well as a story arc that blended terror and fun brilliantly. There was also a 2010 Halloween special for the show that maintained its splendour, and now it has returned again for a second series. The first episode may not be as good as most of the preceding series, but still begins another story that should be worth following.