Psychoville is a British comedy thriller starring Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton, Dawn French and Jason Tompkins,[1] which debuted on BBC Two on 18 June 2009.[2] Written by Shearsmith and Pemberton, two members of the team behind the comedy The League of Gentlemen,[3] it is described by the BBC's press office as "a dark character comedy mystery featuring the weird and the wonderful".[4]
The series revolves around five different characters from different parts of Britain: David Sowerbutts (played by Pemberton), a serial killer obsessed man-child who still lives with his mother Maureen (Shearsmith); Mr. Jelly (Shearsmith), an embittered one-handed children's entertainer; Oscar Lomax (Pemberton), a blind millionare who collects stuffed toy animals; Joy Aston (French), a midwife who treats a practice doll as if it is her real child; and Robert Greenspan (Tompkins), a panto dwarf in love with his Snow White who believes he is telekinetic. All five are connected by a mysterious blackmailer who has sent them a letter each, all of which contains the same message: "I know what you did". The series is named after the title given to The League of Gentlemen when the series was sold to Japan and Korea.[5]
