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Dawn French spoon-feeding a paralysed Chinese girl, referring to her as her “little Freddie fruitcake”; a librarian who has visions of a Silent Singer when his library-related frustrations get all too much; Imelda Staunton, complete with severe bob-cut, desperate to find a mysterious locket while distancing herself from village post offices… This could only mean one thing. Psychoville, the BBC’s dark comedy jewel, is back.
Writers and creators Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton struck gold with the first series of this (literally) wickedly funny show, balancing sick humour, intrigue and chills magnificently, and the brilliant cliffhanger ending showed, once again, how comfortable they are to break away from convention. Now, almost two years on, the second series has finally arrived, but can it live up to the standard of its predecessor and the excellent Halloween special?
The opening episode picked up pretty much where the first series ended, with loose ends being tied up within the first five minutes. What was more impressive, however, was that this was done while also ensuring that a high laugh count, with some killer, throwaway one-liners.
We were also reintroduced to the central characters, and boy it was good to see them. Mr Jelly, Mr Lomax, Joy… all the old favourites were still there, but the writers wisely built the audience up to the return of David and Maureen Sowerbutts, two of the finest comedy creations of recent years (if you need evidence of this, see the 4th episode of series 1 – amazing, just amazing), and they were on fine form. They are the most finely tuned of all the characters, with the writers knowing exactly what levels to take them to, and the hints at the incestuous relationship are ever more hilariously disgusting, with Maureen getting a beauty of a line: “Oh you’ve pushed the beds together David, how thoughtful.”
But, of course, as is obligatory for returning series, we have a few new characters added to the mix, with Pemberton playing a middle-aged woman called Hattie, and Shearsmith playing the aforementioned librarian, Jeremy Good. At present, Hattie feels a bit underwritten, and, unlike the other characters, she doesn’t leave a lasting impression; Jeremy, on the other hand, is a wonderful creation, with the scene involving the widening gap on the library shelf being my personal favourite of the whole episode. But perhaps that’s just because I don’t like to see gaps on bookshelves either… oh, not now Silent Singer!
Without doubt the biggest selling point of this second series, though, is the addition of Imelda Staunton to the cast and, as expected, she’s brilliant, clearly getting into the spirit of things. The role also makes her CV yet more diverse: from Vera Drake to Cranford to Harry Potter… is there no role this woman can’t play?
So, I ask again, can this second series live up to the standard that has gone before? While it’s a little early to judge due to the sheer number of sub-plots, which show no signs of colliding just yet, the levels of sick comedy seem to have been maintained to the expected high standard. And as for that ending… we may know what they did, but we remain blissfully unaware of what they’re going to do next, and I, for one, can’t wait to find out what that is.
The second series of Pyschoville continues this Thursday at 10pm on BBC2.
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