10 Incredibly Dark British TV Comedy Series You NEED To Watch

5. Psychoville

Psychoville clown
BBC

Between reinventing the sketch-show wheel with The League of Gentlemen, and dazzling the world with the wonderful Inside No.9, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton blessed us with Psychoville - a criminally underappreciated series that saw them firing on all cylinders.

Taking great inspiration from American television of the times, Psychoville stood apart from the creator's previous ventures by having a tightly wound mystery plot that added new twists and turns each week.

A random assortment of oddballs suddenly find themselves within the grasp of a blackmailer who claims to 'Know What They Did', and therein lies the real fun of Psychoville. Not only were each of its characters compelling and hilarious on their own, but each had an integral part to play in the slowly unraveling mystery.

It's more than just a cut and dry comedy, it's a compelling mystery show that just so happened to be about hook-handed children's entertainers and unstable nurses who fill dolls with human blood.

Sadly the show is proving somewhat elusive on streaming platforms these days, but it's well worth checking out if you're a fan of Shearsmith and Pemberton's other efforts.

Contributor
Contributor

UK based screenwriter, actor and one-half of the always-irreverent Kino Inferno podcast. Purveyor of cult cinema, survival horror games and low-rent slasher films.