Psychoville: A Review

Being gloriously behind with general TV watching, I missed Psychoville when it first aired last year, despite being a massive fan of some of the other work of the writers/stars. Finally got around to watching it this week. And I was impressed. Conditionally, of course.

At first it looked like just another collection of grotesques, very much in the vain of The League of Gentlemen. They even had a serial killing couple, albeit a mother and a son this time rather than a husband and wife*. Yet, once the scene-setting of the first episode was over, it became clear that there were not just a collection of random freaks and there was actually a wider narrative behind the series. It felt like the story was going somewhere. Of course, where the series was going was towards Episode Seven - where more questions were raised than actually answered, and a series of deeply unlikely surprises created a feeling that this was meant to lead to the sequel series, rather than wrap up the current story. But at least it was an attempt at an overall story arc - and a story that became more and more intriguing as it went along.

Furthermore, at least some of the main characters had interesting back stories that also came across as genuinely moving. Perhaps the best example of this was Joy - utterly, utterly mental, but when you learn why, you can't help but feel a little sorry for her. And Mr Jelly is a wonderful creation - if only because, despite being one of the most misanthropic characters I have ever seen, is someone who has been utterly shat on by life. He goes through all sorts of indignities, and - genuinely - it is not his fault.

And it is both funny and scary in places. It has a wonderful self-awareness, occasionally pointing out its own silliness and inconsistencies. Also, being a bit of a bastard, I enjoyed laughing at the really inappropriate jokes. Especially the moments that mocked the blind, conjoined twins, and dwarfs. It also truly manages to be nightmarish in places. When Freddie attacks, and the scenes involving the blood transfusion, really stand out in my mind as very dark moments for a BBC TV series. Yet...

Yet, Psychoville is far from perfect. It was too long. And too obsessed by its own sources. In the series, you could see One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, The Omen, 10 Rillington Place and Carrie to name but a few. I mean, does any TV series really need a whole episode devoted to recreating Rope? And the grotesque characters jarred when they were immersed in the real world. Royston Vasey worked because it was its own world within Britain. This series would have worked better had it just taken place in the (insane) confines of Ravenhill. It would also have worked better had it got the balance between horror and comedy right.

Which is probably the biggest problem with the series. The transition between the nightmare moments and the quips were, more often than not, utterly jarring. To the extent where the comedy moments undermined the moments of horror, and vice versa. It is neither a comedy or a drama; it is somewhere inbetween, and consequently very awkward. And I can't help but think that the next series of Psychoville should aspire to be more horror than comedy. Any moments of humour should be few and far between. The series itself should be unsettling and the stuff nightmares are made of.

And I think they can do it. Because, as pretty much everything The League of Gentlemen have ever done shows, what these guys want to do is write a great horror story. But they are too self-aware, too knowing, too self-conscious to do so. Yet if they did...

Well, it would be pretty fucking spectacular.

*And brother and sister, as it is implied in the programme.