Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton: Ungentlemanly conduct

REECE Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, of League of Gentlemen fame, just don't do 'nice comedy'. Their humour is often disturbing, so prepare for more shocks in their new TV offering. By James Rampton

IN 1997, I spent a long hot summer being boiled alive at various airless Edinburgh Fringe venues as a judge for the Perrier Awards, as the Oscars of stand-up then were. The consolation was that it was a golden year for comedy – contenders for the most prestigious award in comedy included Graham Norton, Al Murray and Johnny Vegas, who have, of course, all gone on to enjoy huge mainstream success.

However, one memory stands out. I was crammed into a tiny, sweaty, deeply uncomfortable attic at the Pleasance one broiling evening, having been sent to watch a new sketch troupe called The League of Gentlemen. Flagging in a venue hot enough to deep-fry a Mars bar, I suddenly sat bolt upright – electrified – as a pair of what I can only describe as monsters stumbled on stage.

Their noses Sellotaped upwards in a truly freakish manner, Edward (Reece Shearsmith) and Tubbs (Steve Pemberton) were husband and wife (as well as brother and sister). Edward, in bottle-bottom specs and cravat, and Tubbs, in bottle-bottom specs and headscarf, were the shopkeepers from hell.

Terrified of outsiders – their catchphrase was "this is a local shop for local people, there's nothing for you here" – the outlandish couple dealt with the threat of incomers by simply bumping them off and burying them. It was a compellingly weird act and, that sultry August night at the Pleasance, it absolutely brought the house down.

Within the week, Pemberton and Shearsmith – alongside their fellow Gentlemen, Mark Gatiss and Jeremy Dyson – had beaten off the high-class competition to win the Perrier Award. Fans began turning up to their gigs dressed as Edward and Tubbs, carrying placards bearing the slogan "Are you local?" A pair of utterly bizarre stars were born.

Twelve years on, Pemberton and Shearsmith are still practising a genre of humour that's blacker than a raven's wing. In Psychoville, their darkly riveting new series which starts on BBC2 tonight, they cover subjects more suited to serious drama than sitcom – murder, mayhem and madness. The show pushes the boundary of humour so far it's barely visible any more.

Psychoville, which Pemberton and Shearsmith write as well as star in, focuses on five oddballs who each harbour a guilty secret. All are worried when they receive a mysterious note from an anonymous source. Handwritten and sealed with black wax, the note reads: "I know what you did."

In person, Pemberton and Shearsmith are the polar opposite of their unhinged screen personas, whose alter egos could scarcely be more normal. Ensconced in the genteel sitting-room of an upmarket central London hotel, they are a model of politeness. The duo enjoy quiet lives, as husbands and fathers, well away from the showbiz spotlight. They may even get a kick out of how far removed they are from their outrageous television incarnations. Pemberton, who also collaborated with Shearsmith on the 2005 movie The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, is content to acknowledge that, "we're not personalities. You won't see us in the gossip columns. Who'd be interested? We get drunk at parties, but no-one notices – unless we're standing next to David Walliams. Then the caption simply says: David Walliams and friend," smiles Shearsmith.

The pair, who have been close friends since meeting as drama students at Bretton Hall College, in Yorkshire, nearly two decades ago, produce "Marmite comedy". Subversive and sinister, their brand of humour divides audiences. To some critics, the pair appear to dwell in the land that decorum forgot. While in others, they inspire immense devotion – check out some of the internet sites dedicated to them.

In the first episode of Psychoville, we are shown round Pemberton and Shearsmith's gallery of grotesques. In the grand tradition of the dressing-up box, the pair take four different roles each. We meet Mr Jelly (Shearsmith), a one-handed children's entertainer who wears a scary hook and so frightens the kiddies at a "princess party" that the parents chuck him out. Shearsmith explains that Mr Jelly "has lots of different fiendish attachments for his hand, like Freddy Krueger. He advertises himself as 'Mr Jelly and his Hundred Hands', but is forced to admit that he only has 16."

We also encounter a disturbed midwife – the felicitously named Joy (played by Dawn French). Pemberton, 41, who plays her defeated husband, outlines her character: "She is a very jolly midwife who doesn't hold with all these newfangled childbirth methods involving scented candles and breathing techniques. Joy has developed a rather unhealthy attachment to the demonstration doll she uses at her ante-natal classes. She calls him Freddy, takes him home and treats him as a real child. Her husband plays along with the pretence – years of this have made him lose the will to live."

In addition, we are introduced to an overbearing mother, Maureen Sowerbutts (Shearsmith), who enjoys an unnaturally close relationship with her dysfunctional, pudding-basin-coiffed son, David (Pemberton). She spends hours every day testing him on his obsession with notorious serial killers. At the same time, she scratches his psoriasis-afflicted back. "I want to do John George Haigh, the Acid Bath Murderer," David pleads. "Oh no," his mother replies, "I've got indigestion." Then he's off to his job as an actor at murder mystery weekends, where he takes the "murder" part of the equation a bit too seriously… A reaction against the prevailing trend of "nice-coms", Psychoville is a place way beyond the pale.

Brilliantly performed by a first-rate cast that also includes Dame Eileen Atkins, Janet McTeer, David Bamber, Nicholas Le Prevost, Adrian Scarborough and, er, Christopher Biggins, Psychoville is highly original fare. How many other comedy shows feature deranged serial killers, sadistic children's entertainers, delusional midwives who feed and bathe dolls, and dwarves with telekinetic powers and a shady history in the kind of films Jacqui Smith's husband enjoys?

Shearsmith, 39, who was brought up in Hull, is happy that their shows provoke a reaction. "Our work does have a very strong flavour – some people like it and some don't. We make our audience work harder. We enjoy things that take them completely by surprise. You can't just sit back and switch off watching our stuff – it's not like a soap. You have to sit up and pay attention during Psychoville. But you're rewarded if you've been puzzled – it's much more satisfying. Yes, occasionally it's baffling, but that's not surprising, as sometimes even we don't know what's happening!"

Like a seasoned music-hall double act, they have a habit of finishing each other's thoughts. Pemberton, who has also starred in Benidorm, Doctor Who, Shameless, and Poirot, chips in: "We'd rather have a smaller group of ardent fans, who are totally passionate about our work, than a larger number who have half a mind on doing the easy Sudoku when they're watching us. We think we're doing something that no-one else is doing."

"Nice comedy has been done a great deal already," adds Shearsmith. "Making Psychoville, we heard the phrase 'big and funny' a lot, but what's that? It's A Knockout? We tried to make My Family, but we couldn't do it. Our characters led us to altogether odder places. We even go into the weird world of panto with Christopher Biggins, because no show is complete without Biggins."

Shearsmith, who has also had roles in Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere, Shaun of the Dead and Miss Marple, adds that – almost unwittingly – he and Pemberton are attracted to extremes. "We want to enter worlds that are rich and textured. We don't sit down and say, 'Right, what would shock the audience?' That would be putting the cart before the horse. But it just so happens that the characters we are drawn to are rather chilling. I think the characters in Psychoville are very arresting – although I hope we don't actually get arrested for them."

The pair, currently taking a sabbatical from The League of Gentlemen, did not have to look far for inspiration for many of their new characters. Like David, Shearsmith used to be an actor at murder weekends. "That's how I paid the bills," recalls the performer, who starred in the London West End production of The Producers. "Punters would go to a hotel in Watford and for £39.95 they'd get three courses and three murders. I reckon that's good value.

Seven years after the third series was broadcast on BBC2, The League of Gentlemen is still revered as an iconic, groundbreaking show. But are Pemberton and Shearsmith concerned that people will inevitably compare Psychoville with it?

Shearsmith asserts: "I'm not worried about comparisons with The League of Gentlemen – we're very proud of that programme. Psychoville is simply from the same stable."

Quick as a flash, Pemberton concludes: "It's just a stable that doesn't get mucked out very often!"

• Psychoville starts on BBC2 at 10pm tonight.

GALLERY OF GROTESQUES

Pemberton and Shearsmith's most memorable comedy characters from The League of Gentlemen:

Pauline Campbell-Jones

A psychotic and sadistic Restart officer, tasked with tutoring the "dole scum" she so despises and fears for re-entry into the job market. A closet lesbian, she is obsessed with pens and has been known to employ violence whenever one of her more intelligent pupils threatens to get the better of her.

Catchphrase: "Okey dokey, pig in a pokey!"

Papa Lazarou

Sinister travelling-circus owner and collector of wives, who inexplicably addresses everyone as "Dave". Thoroughly macabre, he stops at nothing in his aggressive acquisition of other men's spouses.

Catchphrase: "You're my wife now, Dave."

Hilary Briss

Royston Vasey's village butcher peddles an unidentified substance referred to as "special stuff", offered only to select clients. Is it human flesh, cocaine, organs recovered from the hospital mortuary… or something worse? Briss on one occasion hints that it "rhymes with drawstring". Make of that what you will.

Catchphrase: "Somebody has to stay in control."

Edward and Tubbs Tattsyrup

Serial killers and shop owners, siblings and spouses – they're Royston Vasey's oddest characters, but only just. Aged 84 and 33 respectively, the couple show an unhealthy interest in visitors to the village, many of whom end up buried under the ground surrounding their dingy retail emporium.

Catchphrase: "Are you local?"