Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, one half of The League of Gentlemen troupe, have had two shows commissioned by the BBC, following a mutual decision to end Psychoville after its second series. As part of their new two-series deal, first up next year will be Happy Endings (working title); an anthology of six "funny and terrifying" stories.
This is excellent news for fans of Shearsmith and Pemberton's work. I enjoyed certain elements of Psychoville, but didn't think series 2 was particularly well planned or even necessary. The best episode of the show was the joyful homage to Hitchcock's Rope (an episode filmed with only two camera cuts, rather like a one-act play), so if Happy Endings means we're in for more self-contained, experimental stories with fresh characters every week, I think that will play to their strengths.
And now, a clip from Psychoville featuring mother-and-son serial-killers the Sowerbutts:
