Staunton, on her casting:
"There's nothing I enjoy more than hanging out with weirdoes, freaks and undesirables, so of course I jumped at the chance to work on Psychoville with Steve [Pemberton] and Reece [Shearsmith]."Shearsmith & Pemberton:
"Imelda completely 'got' the show and we felt really lucky to 'get' her. She was fantastically funny as a slightly frustrated megalomaniac. She looks like a cross between Mary Quant and Louise Brooks in the role. She plays a powerful woman who is a little bit Jane Tennison from Prime Suspect but longs to be James Bonds' M."Further details have emerged about the new series. The hour-long Halloween special will involve a TV researcher called Phil working on "Dale Winton's Overnight Ghost Hunt" who is scouting locations and visits Ravenhill Hospital for the Completely Insane. The special will take the form of an anthology.
It's also been confirmed that all of the actors from series 1 will appear: Dawn French as Joy, Eileen Atkins as Nurse Kenchington, Daisy Haggard as Debbie, Jason Tompkins as Robert, Lisa Hammond as Kerry, and Christopher Biggins. It's not yet known if they'll all have sizeable roles, or just make brief appearances.
Joining the cast when Psychoville returns are: Jason Watkins (Being Human), Mark Bonnar (Casualty), David Cann (Brass Eye), Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd) and Sarah Solemani (Him & Her).
Filming has now finished on the spooky special (which will air around Halloween time) and series 2 (which is scheduled to start in 2011).
What do you think about all this? As much as the ending of Psychoville annoyed me, I'm glad it's back because Shearsmith and Pemberton's brand of creepy comedy is simply delicious. But I still hope the characters from series 1 won't be back permanently, mainly because I can't see where they can go with the likes of crazed baby-obsessive Joy and telekinetic dwarf Robert. Still, I can already see Imelda Staunton being a fantastic addition to this show.
