Mobile Phone News:

Right, hands up, anyone who liked The League Of Gentlemen. Obviously I can’t see you putting your hands up, but I know you’re out there. And how many of you were as eager to see Psychoville as me?

I’m guessing quite a lot.

Created by two of the team behind The League, Psychoville is… well, it’s gloriously twisted. Anyone who was a fan of The League will be right at home, here, as it’s packed to the brim with some of the most grotesque characters ever to grace our screens. Oh, and yes, I spotted a mobile phone in it last night, so I’m free to blog about it with impunity, something I’ve been gagging to do since I saw the first episode, last week.

I’ll get the phones out the way first, before I delve deeper into the wonder that is Psychoville. And the phone I saw last night was a Motorola V8. So, hardly worth talking about, then (although the preview for next week’s shows Janet McTeer using a touchscreeny type phone that I’m having no joy in identifying. So check it on iPlayer, and leave us a comment with what you think it is).

Right, that’s the phones out the way, on to the glory of Psychoville itself…

Oh dear god, how can I describe it? Well, basically, the plot centres around a bunch of disparate and equally disturbing characters spread out all over the country (as opposed to the insular community of Royston Vasey, which is for locals only, as we all know), who all have something in common. They’ve all been sent a note by a hooded, anonymous blackmailer, that simply says “I know what you did”. There’s Mr Jelly, a scary, one-handed clown. There’s Oscar Lomax, a blind man obsessed with his “commodities” (which, in a stroke of genius, are Beanie Babies). There’s the serial killer-obsessed mother-and-son double act of David and Maureen Sowerbutts. There’s Robert, the dwarf with psychokinetic powers. And finally, there’s what may be the most beautifully twisted comic creation I’ve ever seen: Joy the midwife (played with beautiful malice and insanity by Dawn French, who’s back in her Murder Most Horrid mode), who clearly believes her Freddy Fruitcake doll is a real, living baby, and who feeds him blood from the blood bank in his bottle.

I never thought I’d see a group of characters to rival Edward and Tubbs, Herr Lipp and the terrifying charisma of Papa Lazarou, but by god, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have done good. Really good. Seriously, this is most likely the one chance I’ll get, so if Pemberton or Shearsmith are reading this blog (I can dream), then I want to thank you both personally for making one of the best comedy thrillers I’ve ever seen.

And thank you for not using a laughter track. I really like the fact that with some of the bits, one is not sure whether they should be laughing or not, because it’s just so wrong, and yet, one laughs anyway.

If you haven’t yet seen Psychoville, I have but one piece of advice: get the first two episodes watched on iPlayer, and then do not miss any subsequent episodes. Trust me. And as a final treat… part of the viral marketing/alternate reality game around Psychoville, direct from Youtube, with possibly the best cameraphone-based joke I’ve ever seen…

Are you a Psychoville fan? Have you tried out the online Psychoville experience? Leave us a comment and have your say!