Steve Pemberton

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.

Impressively, considering the first series ended with what appeared to be the fiery deaths of all of the main characters, Psychoville returns for a second run. Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have fun with the characters that made it, who are mourning those who did not; there are other survivors, however, who don't even make it to the end of this episode. As usual, it's a sharp mix of gruesome horror, black comedy and serial killer fandom.

It would take more than a waistcoat full of explosives to kill off Psychoville's cast of grotesques.

Series two opens with a funeral for a clown, but as we say RIP to Mr Jolly - the children's entertainer-turned-suicide bomber - a new mystery arises concerning a missing locket belonging to the Ravenhill Mental Hospital's sadistic Nurse Kenchington.

Fans of Psychoville will know better than to expect this plotline to be solved in any conventional sense.

Instead, just gorge on the details as Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith carry on twisting the horror genre into unexpected shapes like so many balloon animals.

So we welcome back serial killer David Sowerbutts, angry clown Mr Jelly, Dawn French's bonkers midwife and toy collector Mr Lomax.

Imelda Staunton's secret agent returns too, chanelling the spirit of Judi Dench in the Bond movies and there's a new character to populate your nightmares: The Silent Singer.

Series two of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton's comedy horror begins in typically dark fashion. The survivors of the explosion at Ravenhill Psychiatric Hospital reunite at the burial of one of their number, which ends up kicking off a cavalcade of new mysteries. Even better news is that, after appearing in the Halloween special, Imelda Staunton returns as shadowy investigator Grace Andrews - as Staunton proved as vindictive teacher Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter, there are few who do terrifying quite so splendidly.

"No loose ends, remember, Kelvin," warns the sleek Imelda Staunton character in the opener to the horror-com's second series. It's a cheeky line from a show whose plotting has more loose ends than a fringed lampshade, and rather than trying to follow it, it's simpler to thrill to the loathsome sight gags and haunting characters lovingly assembled by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. There's Mr Jelly the embittered clown; Joy, the deluded midwife with a doll for a child; blind toy collector Mr Lomax; and serial killer David Sowerbutts - with his charming mum. They all somehow survived the explosion at the end of series one, though not Mr Jelly's arch-rival Mr Jolly, whose funeral (attended by a parade of glum clowns) kicks off the episode. Psychoville's unsettling tone is unlike anything else on TV and as well as big laughs there are big, nasty shocks.

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.

More comic horror of the exceedingly surreal variety from The League of Gentlemen veterans Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. Following on from the dastardly denouement of series one, we open tonight with the survivors of the explosion at Ravenhill Psychiatric Hospital reuniting, graveside, to bury one of their number who was killed in the blast. But now it seems they face a new threat in the guise of the mysterious Grace Andrews (Imelda Staunton) and her grovelling henchman, Kelvin (Daniel Ings).

The barmy brainchild of League of Gentlemen alumni Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, comedy thriller Psychoville returns for a mildly disappointing second series, in which their army of grotesques is plunged into a new set of mysteries.

Despite feeling short-changed by its ending (an anti-climax knowingly mocked within this opening instalment), I thoroughly enjoyed series one. But having watched the first four episodes of this sequel, it appears to be treading water. It just doesn't feel as fresh or compelling as before, which is to say, it's still more inventive and amusing than most current comedies, but rather patchy by its creator's usual high standards.

Nevertheless, there are moments of inspired lunacy - such as recurring intrusions from a hilariously unnerving apparition known as The Silent Singer, and a ludicrous storyline detailing Mr Lomax's relationship with a certain dead comedian - that redeem the weaker material. Plus, I'll always have time for the twisted pathos and coal-black comedy of Pemberton and Shearsmith, who remain two of the best comic actors in the business: the latter's deranged Tina Turner impression in episode two has to be seen to be believed.

And any comedy in which the epithet "tea-leaf" makes me giggle, no matter how often it's uttered, has to be doing something right.