Psychoville

A special edition of the macabre comedy thriller from The League of Gentlemen's Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. It centres on a television location manager, Shearsmith, who has taken his camera with him to the abandoned ruins of the fictional Ravenhill Psychiatric Hospital. He is investigating stories about the ghost of its evil former governess, Edwina Kenchington (Eileen Atkins), for a Most Haunted style programme. In true Psychoville style, the episode is both hilarious and unsettling. Four eccentric tales of terror unfold, each featuring one of the regular characters from the series - the bitter, one-handed children's entertainer Mr Jelly (Shearsmith), the deranged midwife Joy (Dawn French) and her baby, the blind millionaire Mr Lomax (Pemberton), and the serial-killer enthusiast David Sowerbutts (Pemberton again) and his mother. The Mr Jelly one - which sees him opening the door to two mysterious trick-or-treaters - is the strangest, and the funniest. Artfully written and well acted, like the previous award-winning series, this may at times be too odd and too disturbing for some viewers to stomach.

Trick or treat?

Steve Bennett meets Psychoville's Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith.

Psychoville live chat: Reece Shearsmith

Reece Shearsmith will be live online from 12.30 on Friday ahead of Sunday's Psychoville Halloween special. Leave your questions for him here.

Psychoville Halloween special: in pictures

What could be more terrifying than spending Halloween in the company of Psychoville - Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton's BBC2 comedy horror show? And what fresh frights are in store?

Psychoville Halloween: Pemberton & Shearsmith interview

In the run-up to the Psychoville Halloween special, we caught up with writers Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton to talk horror, comedy and Most Haunted...

Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith interview

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

Special Radio Times cover awarded to Psychoville

Psychoville and its sinister cast of grotesques returns on Sunday 31 October for a Halloween special (BBC2, HD).

Recently we became aware of a fantastic fan campaign on YouTube to get Psychoville on the cover of Radio Times for the week of transmission.

While animated duo Wallace & Gromit ultimately won that battle, in recognition of the campaign and the dedication of the fans, we decided to create a special honorary Radio Times cover just for Psychoville...

Steve Pemberton & Reece Shearsmith interview

Psychoville is back on BBC2 with a terrifying Halloween special starring Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith...

Beware the Psychoville Halloween Special

My fingers are trembling as I type this. It might be the excitement. It might be the fear. It might be due to that outrageously stewed cup of tea I just drank. Most likely, it's a combination of all three.

Because I have seen the Psychoville Halloween Special and it's coming very soon - Halloween night, in fact.

The things people will do to get on a Radio Times cover

Fans of Psychoville believe that the forthcoming Halloween special merits the Radio Times Halloween cover and have launched a campaign on YouTube to achieve this.