Psychoville

Revelling in her fake wedded bliss, Hattie chains Sharouz to the radiator with a plate of pork sausages for company. Meanwhile, Jeremy is still being haunted by the Silent Singer, a Lynch-esque apparition of weirdness that forces him to kidnap a dog in his desperate search for the unreturned library book. Joining all the dots, and then collectively tossing said dots out of the window, are the Sowerbutts's: David pops out "to Madagascar", leaving mum Maureen home alone and unhinged. Grisly.

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.

Yeah, it's really good. It's excellent. Some people have an issue, however, with Reece Shearsmith's voice. We have had three separate people send us correspondence on this very topic. And then the cookdandbombd comedy podcast went on about it too. Seems odd. We like Reece Shearsmith, particularly his librarian here.

Psychoville series 2 episode 4 review

Expect spoilers and descriptions of gore as we explore the fourth episode of the marvellous Psychoville...

Psychoville: Series 2, Episode 4

The fourth instalment is Psychoville at its best, with wicked humour and an intriguing mystery.

Psychoville series 2 episode 3 review

Spoilers ahoy, as we delve deep into the third disturbingly funny episode of Psychoville, which proves to be the most unexpectedly tragic yet...

'Psychoville' 2.3

We've reached the halfway mark and I'm worried Psychoville's proven me right and should have ended after one series.

Psychoville review: Magical marmite

I'd recommend Psychoville, but if you're a newcomer to these murky waters, do yourself a favour and watch it from the beginning of series one. The plot is too good not to.

Psychoville: series 2, episode 3

The third episode continues the story, and while it may not be as funny as the last episode, it still has some good moments.