Psychoville - Halloween Special + Series 2 Review (2010-2011)

 

Written by Reece Shearsmith And Steve Pemberton 

Directed by Matt Lipsy

Maureen (re blackmail letter): "Not again. Who could've sent it to you? They're all dead."

David: "Not all of them."

With this review, I've completed my watch along of the Shearsmith/Pemberton trilogy, even if I didn't do this in the correct order. Anyways, I liked the first series of this show a lot and this second series was just as fun to watch.

Kicking off with a Halloween special over a year after the first series cliffhanger and we got a sidestep into that big cliffhanger. The special has some non canon stories involving the likes of Mr Jelly (Shearsmith), Joy (Dawn French), Oscar Lomax (Pemberton) and serial killer obsessed duo David (Pemberton) and Maureen (Shearsmith).

As stories, each one of them stuck the landing while in between those you had a film crew member (Shearsmith) talking to a traumatized Drew (Alex Waldmann) about his own encounter with Edwina Kenchington (Eileen Atkins). Not only that but we do go back to the cliffhanger and set up the antagonists for this second series.

The antagonists being Grace Andrews (Imelda Staunton), her right hand man, Kelvin (Daniel Ings) and murderous detective, Finney (Mark Bonner). The latter who had no problem murdering the likes of Joy, Robert (Jason Tompkins) and Oscar within the first half of the series.

This was a series that had a secret organisation that not only tied in the deceased Kenchington but also Nazi sympathiser shop owner Peter Bishop (Jason Watkins) who was paired with Michael (Daniel Kuluuya). His murder of the latter was particularly brutal as like many characters they had been looking for Kenchington's locket.

The series had a slew of new characters that tried to tie into the main story and mostly worked. Obsessive librarian Jeremy Goode and his counterpart, the Silent Singer (Shearsmith) mostly worked but the man obsessed Hattie (Pemberton) and her mistreatment of Sharouz (Elyses Gabriel) were less successful as they were removed from the main story. 

Along with Mr Jelly's pairing with Claudia Wren (Vilma Hollingbery) and the cancer plot with David and Maureen, those two elements for me worked the best this series. I also liked how the former pairing tied into the Andrews plot while the latter took a suitably macabre turn very reminiscent of Psycho. 

- Episode titles for this series were Psychoville Halloween Special, Survivors, Dinner Party, Hancock, Sunnyvale, The Hunt and Andrews Nanotech.

- Characters like David, Maureen, Mr Jelly, Robin (David Bamber) and Emily (Sarah Solemani) would later appear in the Inside No. 9 episode, Death Be Not Proud.

- In scenes that haven't aged well, that scene with Maureen dressed as Tina Turner miming Simply The Best just felt tone deaf, even for 2011.

- Mr Jelly doesn't care for Exorcist: The Heretic. He also has sixteen appliances for his missing hand.

- Joy had taken to treating the catatonic Jenny as the new Freddie before she was killed.

- Chronology: Months after the first series ended. 

Barring one or two bits, I'll admit this was a great second series for the show. The Halloween Special in particular was a delight while the surviving characters and most of the new ones worked well. I would've liked a third series but this was a good one to end with.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

Psychoville - Series 1 Review (2009)

 

Written by Reece Shearsmith And Steve Pemberton 

Directed by Matt Lipsey

David: "I did a bad murder."

How do you follow up the cult success of a show like The League Of Gentlemen and especially when you lose half of your team? For Shearsmith and Pemberton, it's with this odd ball series that in some ways isn't dissimilar to their previous success but nor would it be a rip off.

Formatting it as a central mystery involving a blackmailer terrorising a group of eccentric characters all connected to each other was the way to go. On top of that, there's a great effort to get to know these characters as well, so I'm going to delve into them from favourite to least.

Starting off, there's mother and son duo Maureen (Shearsmith) and David Sowerbutts (Pemberton). They're obsessed with serial killers and even take to killing themselves when a misunderstanding about David's murder mystery job bring out their murderous impulses. In spite of that, there's a genuine sense of affection between the two. 

Then there's Mr Jelly (Shearsmith) - a disfigured children's clown whom you wouldn't recommend to any party. When he's not beefing with everyone in sight, there's a nice team up with him and pensioner Claudia (Vilma Hollingbery) as well as a rivalry with more appealing clown Mr Jolly (Adrian Scarborough). To be fair, Jelly has good reason to resent Jolly.

Further down the line would be eccentric blind billionaire Oscar Lomax (Pemberton) and his assistant Tealeaf (Daniel Kuluuya). Oscar's mostly obsessed with getting a stuffed crocodile and there's an amusing rivalry between him and Siamese twins Kelly-Su (Alison Linott) and Chelsea (Debbie Chazen) in order to get it. When he's not being outsmarted by a seven year old.

As for dotty nurse Joy Aston (Dawn French). She's got a doll named Freddie that she treats like an actual baby, much to the exasperation of her husband George (Pemberton) and his mistress, Nicola (Elizabeth Berrington). There's an attempt on her life but Joy's too crazy to kill as Nicola learned the hard way.

The least favourite but still good storyline involved a panto production of Snow White And The Seven Dwarves. There was the much ridiculed Robert Greenspan (Jason Tompkins) was mocked by co-workers like Christopher Biggins and Brian McMillan (Shearsmith), fancied the vapid Debbie (Daisy Haggard) while also the object of fellow cast member's Kerry (Lisa Hammond) affections.

As for the main plot. It involved a locket, a sadistic head nurse named Edwina Kenchington (Eileen Atkins) and her eager too please son, Stuart (Scarborough). It led to our main characters back in the asylum they never really escaped from and an explosive ending. Fortunately this would be a cliffhanger that would be paid off.

- Episode titles were Black Mail, Lomax, Jelly, David And Maureen, Joy, Robert and Ravenhill.

- Mark Gatiss's appearance in the fourth episode was under his pseudonym Sam Kisgart. That episode also served as the basis for Inside No. 9.

- Robert was involved in dwarf porn, Joy and George lost a son, Stuart accidentally cut off Jelly's hand and Lomax hated a certain celebrity.

- A Halloween special followed up this series. I'll review it with the second series.

- There's a brilliant moment in the fifth episode where David is serenaded by infamous serial killers, including Jack the Ripper.

- Chronology: Several years passed between the characters time in Ravenhill and the current timeline. 

This first series of Psychoville certainly delivered. A great follow up series, doing it's own thing and with slightly less problematic writing and acting but without the show attempting to be too politically correct either. 

Rating: 8 out of 10 

Inside No. 9 - Series 5 Review (2020)

Without further ado, this specific series of Inside No. 9 by far was the best series of the show. As usual, all episodes are written by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton and directed by Matt Lipsey, Guillem Morales and Steve Pemberton himself.

Episode 1: The Referee's A W***er

Series 5 opened with an episode focusing on a sport that I have no interest in but did it so brilliantly nonetheless. Martin (David Morrissey) had one match between United and Rovers left and then he would be able to retire on a high note. Except everything came crashing down around, notably his clandestine relationship with footballer Calvin (Dipo Ola) being revealed while there was plenty of fighting amongst other characters in the changing rooms. Characters including the annoyingly pedantic Brendan (Shearsmith), the cheating Oggy (Pemberton), vain footballer Phil (Ralf Little) and mascot Mitch (Steve Spears). It's an episode that certainly heated up off the pitch than on the pitch with Martin's retirement in disgrace. 8/10

Episode 2: Death Be Not Proud

Did anyone want a new episode of Psychoville? Because that's exactly what this episode and if you loved everything involving David Sowerbutts (Pemberton) and his deceased mother, Maureen (Shearsmith), you'll love this episode. I certainly did. Young couple Beattie (Jenna Coleman) and Sam (Kadiff Kirwan) have bought the Sowerbutts home and after a few spooky incidents, Beattie wanted to leave. Instead she met David and listened to him tell everything that happened after the events of Psychoville instead, including a twisted love story him and Emily (Sarah Solemani). Of course, even in death, Maureen was still a menace and the way things ended for Beattie were unexpected on first viewing but made more sense since then. One of my favourite episodes from the series. 9/10

Episode 3: Love's Great Adventure

Another Christmas episode within the series itself and one that felt very much like a kitchen sink drama than anything else. That's not a criticism by the way. With this episode, you've got an ordinary couple named Trevor (Pemberton) and Julie (Debbie Rush) doing their best to get through another Christmas with daughter Mia (Gaby French) and grandchild Connor (Olly Hudson-Croker). Then there's their son, Patrick (Bobby Schofield) - an addict who's also Connor's dad and who has messed with the wrong crowd. Off screen there's an indication that Julie might have sorted Patrick's problem out. Reece Shearsmith has a small role as family friend, Alex who was both Mia's driving instructor and was mourning the loss of his wife, Sandra. It's a very grounded episode in the series. 8/10

Episode 4: Misdirection

Back to one of the most crafty of episodes, this one really does prove that karma can and will eventually catch up to someone. Neville Griffin (Shearsmith) desperately wanted to be a famous magician and had no problem killing fellow magician Willy Wando (Pemberton) and taking his secrets in order to achieve his goal. A decade passed and Neville met Gabriel (Fionn Whitehead) - a student journalist and wannabe magician himself. At first it seemed like Gabriel's attempts of pulling the wool over Neville were rookie mistakes before it transpired that he was the grandson of Willy Wando and trying to get revenge for his grandfather's death. While Neville ended up getting his just desserts, it was ultimately his unfortunate wife, Jennie (Jill Halfpenny) who really paid the heavy price. 9/10

Episode 5: Thinking Out Loud

If there was an episode of this series (and there's definitely a few) that could be an absolute masterclass in writing, it's got to be one. At first,it just seemed like we were getting a series of unrelated vignettes here. You had politically incorrect Bill (Phil Davis) trying his hand at video dating, housewife Nadia (Maxine Peake) revelling in the neighbours getting a divorce, serial killer Galen (Pemberton) talking about murdering his parents, influencer Angel (Ioanna Kimbook) setting her followers on a troll, blind singer Diana (Sandra Gayer), unseen therapist (Sara Kestleman) and the dying Aidan (Shearsmith). All separate characters until the reveal that most of them were split personalities of Nadia who then went on to murder her abusive father, which happened to be Bill. An exceptional episode with every single performance a standout. 9/10

Episode 6: The Stakeout

Keeping the tradition of every other finale so far, we're back to a supernatural tale but it's under the guise of both a police stakeout and an examination of the tropes surrounding police dramas. There's the grizzled PC Thompson (Pemberton) who recently lost his partner DS Dobson (Malik Ibheis) and landed a new one named SPC Varney (Shearsmith). Between games of fortunately/unfortunately, a potential drugs bust and both men learning about each other, there was one trope that Thompson should've brushed up on. It's a good testament to the show that they managed to wait five seasons before tackling a vampire story and it's very well done. A fantastic end to the best series so far. 9/10

All episodes of Inside No. 9 are available on BBC iPlayer and Amazon.

Upcoming Goodies

And here's a look at some upcoming TV treats in the next week and a half ...

Camelot - Season 1: If you live in Ireland, then this latest take on the legend can be seen Fridays from 9.30pm on RTE2 from May 13th, starting with a double bill. I've read some pretty mixed reviews for this series but given that Chris Chibnall seems to be a rather polarising writer, that really shouldn't surprise me all that much. Some of the casting looks great though - Eva Green, Joseph Fiennes and James Purefoy for instance and while this version is seemingly more grittier than BBC1 show Merlin, do we really need another show like it on the air? Channel 4 should be airing it soon as well.

Family Guy - Season 9: Trust BBC3 to be a season behind with this show (and FXUK to be about two seasons behind) and while the laughs aren't as big as they used to be, this first episode - 50 minutes long sees the Griffins taking part in a murder mystery as Stewie comes up with lyrics for the theme tune to Dynasty of all things. It's also dedicated to creator Seth Macfarlane's late mother and BBC3 are having an entire weekend to the series from May 7th, including a documentary on the show's humour and repeats of various episodes before the ninth season premiere airs on Sunday, May 8th at 9.45pm.

Psychoville - Season 2: I wasn't really keen on this series when it first started because as much as I liked The League Of Gentlemen, this one felt like it was trying too hard in places to be shocking and some of the jokes fell flat for me. However the second season is starting up on Thursday at 10pm on BBC1 and I might just give it another go to see if it takes this time around. I hope so, because I'd like to get into the show.