Psychoville

The League of Gentlemen's Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton join forces once more as writers and stars of this weird, black comic drama...and at this point it would be handy to give a plot precis but, frankly, I have no idea what's going on. A handful of apparently unlinked, disparate people in different parts of the country are sent wax-sealed letters bearing the words "I know what you did". But what did they do? No idea, though the recipients include a barmy midwife obsessed by the doll from her childbirth classes (Dawn French), a telekinetic dwarf, and a wildly inappropriate children's entertainer, Mr Jelly (Shearsmith) - a cross between the evil clown from Stephen King's It and The League of Gentlemen's infamous creation, Papa Lazarou. There are some funny bits, the gothic atmosphere is very Royston Vasey-ish, and the cast is stellar, but I suspect Psychoville will take a wee while to get going properly.

There was only one hitch with The League of Gentlemen - it just wasn't weird enough. Which is why League members Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have invented another unusual town, which is home to a deranged midwife who looks just like Dawn French, a blind recluse who has an unusual hobby, a telekinetic dwarf, a hook-handed clown, a serial-killer obsessed man-child and, er, Christopher Biggins.

Steve Pemberton Interview

Steve Pemberton talks about Psychoville. "What we've done is something for like-minded people. Hopefully there's enough of them out of there. The viewer has to put a bit of work in, I'm afraid."

Shearsmith and Pemberton: Ungentlemanly conduct

Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, of The League of Gentlemen fame, just don't do 'nice comedy'. Their humour is often disturbing, so prepare for more shocks in their new TV offering.

Another oddity from the minds of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, the pair who blessed us with The League Of Gentlemen. This time we're spookily flitting between a group of characters that includes a deranged serial killer fanatic, a deranged midwife, a deranged millionaire and - are you spotting a theme? - a deranged clown whose lives seem to be linked by a blackmail letter. As you might expect, this series opener is dark, macabre and gross in places but it does have an intriguing narrative thread. Plus Dawn French is in it - always a good thing.

It's hard to know at what exact point in the opening episode of Psychoville, the new comedy/horror/thriller from the guys who made the similarly indescribable The League of Gentlemen, it becomes clear you're not watching My Family. But I'd guess the scene where a mother sits on a bed, legs intimately splayed around her challenged son, casually scratching the excess skin off his back while reading aloud a book about serial killers, is the one that would do it. The less said about their lingering kiss goodbye, and another moment I'd rather not describe, the better.

So it's clear, then, we're back in that The League of Gentleman high-wire act of very funny and very, very disturbing. Perhaps surprisingly, however, creators Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, had initially set out to write "a standard sitcom". It didn't work out that way.

"We'd heard people weren't in the market for dark comedy any more -it wasn't something they (the BBC) were looking for, but there's no point them saying to people who are unique and original: 'We like what you do, but we'd like it to be more like Gavin and Stacey.' Thankfully, the BBC understood."

For Psychoville, they ended up setting themselves a unique challenge. They wanted to "mash a comedy with a thriller or a mystery like those big American shows where you just have to watch every episode". Certainly, the first episode leaves you wanting more.

Did they feel anything - I'm thinking the ­back-scratching scene - might have been a little too disturbing? "Ha ha, actually," says Pemberton, "it could have been worse. It came from a story of someone we knew who walked in on a friend who was having their back scratched by their mother, and the mother had only one leg, and she was using her foot to scratch it. But I thought no one would believe that. The truth is we had to tone it down."

To be fair, the tone is rarely gross-out - the overall atmosphere is more chilling than disgusting, and the first ­episode ends with perhaps the most disturbing scene of SPOILER REMOVED.

"People are going to ­compare it with The League of Gentlemen and describe it as dark, and we'll have to live with that," says Pemberton. "But we just wanted to write a good story. And the rest is just what we're drawn to, I guess."

Half of The League Of Gentlemen bring us a new grotesque comedy show that's nothing like The League Of Gentlemen. Apart from, well, the scary clown. And the nurse who likes the fake baby, who could have been a direct lift... if she wasn't played by Dawn French. And the other characters. But otherwise it's totally different.

It's a series, you see - all the characters are loosely linked in that they receive missives from a mysterious letter writer (who has a good gag in the first minute). So that's different. Apart from all those characters in the last one being loosely linked by living in the same town. Ach, who are we kidding? It's The League Of Gentlemen. And that's a good thing.

Message from Reece Shearsmith

Reece Shearsmith talks about the first broadcast of Psychoville.

It's weird, and it's not going to be to everyone's taste, but it packs enough mystery and clever writing into this first half hour to make you curious to see more.

Video: Psychoville on BBC Breakfast

BBC Breakfast interviews Reece Shearsmith & Steve Pemberton about Psychoville.