Psychoville

9:00pm – Thursday, February 16 on ABC2

The secret of the missing locket is finally exposed and the enormity of what is at stake revealed. But are there enough characters left alive to care.

Mr Jelly (Reece Shearsmith), his assistant Claudia (Vilma Hollingberry) and Peter Bishop (Jason Watkins) visit the mysterious London organisation that has loomed large throughout series two.

They discover Grace Andrews’ (Imelda Staunton) agenda while David Sowerbutt (Steve Pemberton) mourns his mother while being followed by the mysterious Detective Finney (Mark Bonnar).

9:00pm – Thursday, February 2 on ABC2

Desperate measures are called for as Jeremy Goode (Reece Shearsmith) searches for the missing library book.

He dognaps ‘Lucy’ while the silent singer keeps making menacing cameos.

Mrs Claudia Wren (Vilma Hollingberry) is in peril from several parties and only one man can save her. But can he be jollied.

A rash move by Mrs Sowerbutts (Reece Shearsmith) leads to an unexpected casualty and another roll of bin liners.

Debbie (Daisy Haggard) wears the locket on national TV but has makeup artist Hattie (Steve Pemberton) ruined its secret?

9:00pm – Thursday, February 2 on ABC2

Desperate measures are called for as Jeremy Goode (Reece Shearsmith) searches for the missing library book.

He dognaps ‘Lucy’ while the silent singer keeps making menacing cameos.

Mrs Claudia Wren (Vilma Hollingberry) is in peril from several parties and only one man can save her. But can he be jollied.

A rash move by Mrs Sowerbutts (Reece Shearsmith) leads to an unexpected casualty and another roll of bin liners.

Debbie (Daisy Haggard) wears the locket on national TV but has makeup artist Hattie (Steve Pemberton) ruined its secret?

9:00pm – Thursday, January 26 on ABC2

Oscar Lomax (Steve Pemberton) reveals more about his past. He visits Peter Bishop (Jason Watkins – Being Human) who runs an antique shop called Hoyti Toytis with a very mysterious basement. Lomax’s hatred for Tony Hancock becomes clear.

Meanwhile Mr Jelly (Reece Shearsmith) arrives at a private booking meant to be for Mr Jolly and hopes that no one will notice the difference … but surgery isn’t his strong suit.

New character Hattie (Steve Pemberton) and her petrified husband, Sharouz (Elyes Gabel) are getting closer…

9:00pm – Thursday, January 19 on ABC2

The search for the missing locket continues with the investigation turning to panto director Christopher Biggins (as himself) for answers.

Meanwhile, we return to the mysterious cottage in the woods to find Kerry (Lisa Hammond – Bleak House) creating a Wiccan love spell for dwarf actor Robert Greenspan (Tompkins), who is shackled in a cage.

9:00pm – Thursday, January 12 on ABC2

This bizarre, award-winning comedy written by and starring The League of Gentlemen members Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, returns for a second – and final – series.

Series one ended with a huge explosion at the Ravenhill mental hospital run by Edwina Kenchington (Dame Eileen Atkins – Ballet Shoes). Who survived? What happened to the locket.

The survivors reunite to bury one of their own who was killed in the big bang. A typo involving a misplaced ‘e’ on the headstone epitaph finds Mr Jelly (Reece Shearsmith) justifying his existence at Mr Jolly’s funeral – a running gag that will appeal to fans of series one.

Who is Grace Andrews (Imelda Staunton – Harry Potter)? Why is she tracking all of the main characters and a decent flat screen monitor like Judi Dench had as M.

Meanwhile Joy (Dawn French) has swapped a doll for something far stranger. Will the murderous deeds of David and Maureen Sowerbutts (Shearsmith and Pemberton) be uncovered.

A number of new characters emerge in episode one to deepen the mystery. There’s the menacing Finney (Mark Bonnar – Paradox), a detective who seems to answer to something much larger than the local constabulary. We meet Jeremy Goode (Shearsmith), a librarian with a horrifying demon and an overpowering desire to find the lost copy of 50 Great Coastal Walks of the British Isles Vol 2. Hattie (Pemberton), the make-up artist who created Bonnie Tyler’s look for Total Eclipse of the Heart joins the freak show.

10:15pm – Monday, October 31 on ABC2

It’s Halloween and the spirits are gathering at Ravenhill Psychiatric Hospital where TV researcher Phil from ‘Dales Overnight Ghost Hunts’ is about to have a night he will never forget… assuming he lives that long.

He is accompanied by Drew, an amateur ghost hunter who has long been under the spell of Nurse Edwina Kenchington, the governess of this very hospital, whose ghost he is now sure roams the building. As a little boy she corrupted his head with scary stories.

The pair takes it in turns to tell scary stories as they follow the dark corridors… but the line between fact and fiction is very blurred…

Mr Jelly the grouchy hook-handed clown has the perfect Halloween lined up: beans on toast, two of the Exorcist films on DVD and a visit from local prostitute Busty Janet. But when he refuses to give Halloween treats to two sinister children, it turns nasty.

Meanwhile, David the serial killer-obsessed manchild and his bloodthirsty mother Maureen are stranded in a forest with a serial killer under a full moon.

As the pair finishes their tour of Ravenhill, a spectral figure flickers past. Is it a ghost? Or is it Kenchington lurking in the shadows?

9:30pm – Wednesday, May 12 on ABC1

Welcome to Psychoville, a spine-tingling, jaw-dropping, thrilling mystery comedy populated with grotesque Gothic characters whose bizarre lives are thrown into disarray by the receipt of an anonymous missive bearing the chilling message: ‘I know what you did…’ Like the best whodunnits, each episode draws viewers deeper and deeper into the kind of world that only the creators of The League Of Gentlemen, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, could dream up.

An embittered hook-handed clown, Mr Jelly, who makes balloon animals; a desperately misguided midwife, Joy, with a very odd child; Robert, a love-struck telekinetic dwarf in love with Snow White, his pantomime co-star; a blind avaricious collector, Mr Lomax; and a murder-obsessed man-child, David – all are affected in different ways by the message and their already strange lives are hilariously turned on their heads.

Tonight, Mr Lomax enlists the help of his care-worker Michael in the quest to complete his unusual collection of ‘commodities’ and they soon enter into an eBay bidding war.

Things go from bad to worse when a misunderstanding leads David, and his mum Maureen, to try and cover up events that took place at the Murder Mystery evening and Robert is surprised when Debbie asks him out on a dinner date. Meanwhile, a mysterious black-gloved figure is contacting Joy, Jelly and the rest with another chilling message about the past.

Everyone familiar with The League of Gentlemen will know what to expect from Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith’s latest offering.

Although billed as a comedy-thriller, the comedy is as bitter as chocolate made from 100 per cent cocoa solids. But in the absence of laughter, there is a twisted narrative like a coherent nightmare.

Once again they have created a fully imagined world unlike anything else around. It’s weird, and it’s not to everyone’s taste, but it packs enough mystery and clever writing into each half hour to make viewers curious to see more.

Psychoville will be repeated on ABC2 – Thursday, May 13 at 9:00pm

9:30pm – Wednesday, May 5 on ABC1

From the creators of cult comedy classic, The League of Gentlemen, comes Psychoville – a dark, idiosyncratic comedy about a group of strange characters with a dark secret.

This bizarre, gothic comedy sees a chain of events triggered when five seemingly disparate characters receive an anonymous, black-edged card with the chilling message: ‘I know what you did’.

An embittered hook-handed clown, Mr Jelly, who makes balloon animals; a desperately misguided midwife, Joy, with a very odd child; Robert, a love-struck telekinetic dwarf in love with Snow White, his pantomime co-star; a blind avaricious collector, Mr Lomax; and a murder-obsessed man-child, David – all are affected in different ways by the message and their already strange lives are hilariously turned on their heads.

As the series progresses, the characters are forced to confront what happened to them in the past and the secret that binds them together.

All are affected in different ways by the letters and as more chilling messages are received their behaviour becomes even more peculiar.

And who is the mysterious black-gloved stranger.

From the team behind cult classic, The League of Gentlemen, this cliff-hanging comedy thriller weaves a tale of intrigue, mystery and suspense.

The League of Gentlemen garnered considerable critical acclaim, as well as a BAFTA for Best Comedy (2000), A Royal Television Society Award for Best Entertainment (2000) and the Golden Rose of Montreux (1999).

Psychoville will be repeated on ABC2 – Thursday, May 06 at 9:00pm