Steve Pemberton

Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith interview

The chameleon creators of Psychoville talk about the weird and woeful things get their creative juices flowing.

The Top 5 Sitcoms of the 1990s

The 1990s produced some very important comedy, seeing some of today's comedy veterans - like Steve Coogan, Steve Pemberton, Rik Mayall, Ardal O'Hanlon - experiencing their juiciest tastes of success. Here's the five best '90s sitcoms, in reverse order.

Sky may not have the resources to churn out top home-grown drama on a routine basis, but when it does decide to throw its weight behind a production, as it's done for this latest Terry Pratchett Discworld adventure, then it certainly does it in style.

Shot in HD, and with a fabulous British cast that includes David Suchet, Richard Coyle, Charles Dance, Claire Foy, Andrew Sachs, Steve Pemberton and Tamsin Greig, this Bank Holiday two-parter (concluding at the same time tomorrow) is a typically outlandish Pratchett tale about a lifelong con man who's given one last chance to avert the death sentence. The deal? He must take on the seemingly cursed task of trying to rescue Discworld's Post Office, under threat from their equivalent of the internet.

Psychoville: sitcom review

Psychoville is yet another wonderful, dark comedy from deep inside the minds of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton.

Going Postal: Steve Pemberton On Drumknott

Steve Pemberton tells us about his character Drumknott, loyal servant to Lord Vetinari.

Derren Litten's comedy showcases a certain kind of lobster-coloured all-Englishness that can only be found abroad nowadays. It's broad rather than acute, and occasionally hidebound (an Indian trainee doctor from Varanesi who speaks no English? No way), but a familiar cast, including Johnny Vegas and Steve Pemberton, help make for viewing as comfy as a carton of chips. This week, Madge runs into her marginally less horrible, estranged daughter Valda, while Robin Askwith, he of the Confessions of . . . series, crops up as a typically conniving cockney chancer.

It's brash, bold and, despite its poor innuendos and obvious crudeness, at times quite brilliant in its sending-up of the working-class stereotype of the popular Spanish tourist destination. In tonight's second episode of the third series, Mick (Steve Pemberton) and Janice (Siobhan Finneran) are having relationship troubles and Brandy (Sheridan Smith) plays a practical joke on the bumbling Martin (Nicholas Burns).

This popular, tasteless and occasionally funny drama following British people in a holiday resort returns. Tonight, Mel (Geoffrey Hutchings) enlists the help of Mick (Steve Pemberton) to open his new mobility shop, with disastrous results. Meanwhile Martin (Nicholas Burns) has a new girlfriend, Brandy (Sheridan Smith). The comedy is hit and miss, but the performances are good, and so Benidorm wins points for trying.

This gothic BBC comedy-thriller written by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton is as brutal, gory and funny as The League of Gentlemen. But also present is a sense of whimsy, even at times an unexpected tenderness. The story begins with five people receiving a letter that reads, 'I know what you did', and leads to an explosive and tense finale. It's shot through with savage comedy, from one man's preoccupation with the bowels of conjoined twins to the slapstick of a blind man trying to make phonecalls on a Club biscuit. The story is brilliantly told and expertly performed, never more so than in the central, fourth episode which is the most rewarding half-hour of the series, shot to suggest one long take. The on-screen chemistry between the League regulars is a joy to watch and moments like Maureen fluttering her cardy to make like Superman are hard to forget.

In the interviews included in the extras on the DVD, producer Jon Plowman reveals Psychoville was written in six parts but when it became apparent the ending was too expensive, Plowman asked the Beeb to make it as a seven-part show, then asked the writers to request an extra, cheap episode. This is the extraordinary fourth ep and is proof that too little money can be an advantage. On the disc, there's even a fascinating split-screen option showing how it was shot.