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Being someone who is obsessed with knowing what time it is, I look at the clock pretty regularly and, when watching many TV programmes, I can’t believe that so little time has passed. With Psychoville, I daren’t look at the clock because I know that time will have passed far quicker than I wanted it to. The reason for this is that Psychoville’s tiny little 30 minute episodes have all been absolutely packed to the rafters with intricate plotting, throwaway quips and an awful lot of deaths, and Monday’s series finale was a joy from start to very disturbing finish.
But it would be a lie for me to claim that I always knew the series finale would deliver. After all, there were so many questions that needed to be answered: ‘Who exactly is Grace Andrews? What does the locket actually do? How is David going to kill evil detective Finney?’ There was a lot to squeeze into 30 minutes, and most would have cracked under the pressure, but I forgot that Psychoville is written by the sick geniuses that are Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton.
To say that I was satisfied by the conclusion to the best thing that’s been on TV this year (well, maybe joint best with Being Human) would be like saying that China is quite big. I loved every second of this glorious televisual delight. The comedy levels were consistently high, the red herrings and twists were genuinely surprising, and I also loved how the audience was encouraged to roar with laughter as a man was cremated alive. (For readers who have not watched the episode, first of all: ‘Why?’ and second: I am not some weird sadist that laughs at brutal deaths - he was an evil man who killed off Dawn French, which, frankly, is like watching The Only Way is Essex – you shouldn’t do it.)
Little did I realise that French’s death at the start of the series was only the beginning of a long sequence of bereavements: we lost Robert, Mr Lomax, an old woman called Pat, Tealeaf and (sob) Psychoville’s matriarch, Maureen Sowerbutts. However, such boldness is what has continued to make this second series stand out. The formula that most writers follow when developing a follow-on series is to tread exactly the same ground as before (if only somebody would steal a bit of said formula and hide it on a locket chain where no one could find it…); but Shearsmith and Pemberton being, well, Shearsmith and Pemberton were far braver than this. They expanded on what made the first series so good, developing Mr Jelly’s role and giving more screen time to the hilarious Claudia Wren, code name Mrs Ladybird-Face, while also adding new elements that worked equally well, such as Imelda Staunton’s wonderful Grace Andrews.
Psychoville has, therefore, succeeded in perfecting the ‘difficult’ second series. However, due to tumbling ratings, the concern now is that it won’t get a third… I wanted to end this article with a really killer line, but an urgent announcement prevents me from doing so: If anyone has found a copy of '50 Great Coastal Walks of the British Isles: Volume 2,' please return it to the Brook Street Library, thank you.
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