# Psychoville (2009)

> Five strangers receive anonymous blackmail notes that pull them into a dark, surreal descent through bizarre lives and unravelling secrets.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/16147

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 13
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy, mystery, horror
- Created by: Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith
- Network: BBC Two
- Cast: Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton, Adrian Scarborough, Imelda Staunton, Mark Bonnar, Daniel Ings, Katherine Parkinson, John Landis
- TMDB rating: 7.9/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1305562/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: darkly comic, surreal, unsettling, absurdist, menacing

## What critics say

Audiences rate the series positively, with the second season regarded as its strongest and most assured run.

## Synopsis

Psychoville (2009-2011) is a British dark comedy mystery series created by Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith for BBC Two. Its two stars play a dizzying range of grotesque characters, with Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton (who also play the Sowerbutts siblings) anchoring a cast that includes Adrian Scarborough as the eccentric Mr Jolly, Imelda Staunton as Grace Andrews, Mark Bonnar as Detective Finney and Daniel Ings as Kelvin. The engine of the show is simple and unsettling: five strangers receive anonymous blackmail notes, and each is dragged into a dark, surreal chain of secrets that threatens to unravel their lives. Across two short seasons of thirteen half-hour episodes, the storytelling mixes sitcom rhythms with psychological thriller tension and moments of genuine horror, with bizarre figures such as a man-child, a one-handed clown and a blind millionaire drifting through London's shabby corners. The tone is uneasy, absurdist and blackly funny, a mood of comic menace rather than simple laughs. Fans of The League of Gentlemen and Inside No. 9 will find resonance in its cult sensibility, and admirers of Twin Peaks will recognise its unsettling small-community webs of secrets.

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