Psychoville episode two: 'You killed her'

Spoiler warning: Don't read on if you haven't seen the second episode of Psychoville. If you missed it, watch it on iPlayer.

The BBC cunningly put this episode on the red button last week, so apologies if we're a little lagging. Last week's first episode seemed to elicit a mainly positive response, with a few people feeling underwhelmed when comparing it to League of Gentlemen. But if you're back here, can I assume you enjoyed it?

Now, to last night. The mysterious notes from last week informed us that they "know what you did". This week, via the form of a crossword puzzle, text message and dirty window, the "what" turns out to be: "You killed her".

We also found out, via Robert and Maureen, that the "she" in question was a woman at an institution that Robert and David attended. We can conclude that Lomax, Jelly and Joy did too. We still don't know much else, but there was some lovely development of the oddball characters.

Lomax is, we found out, one away from collecting his beanie toy collection. He only needs Snappy the Crocodile (100 made, 99 destroyed) to complete it. His bidding war on eBay introduced two now characters, the gruesome Witches of eBay, who are conjoined by the head and, we learnt, were responsible for Lomax losing his eyes in his first scrap for Snappy. This time though, they both lost, as the Brummy couple who own the "Toy Aligater" pulled the auction. To be continued ... (I should just add how much fun it is watching Michael's entirely nonplussed reactions to Lomax's craziness.)

Mr Jelly thinks it's his rival Mr Jolly sending him the notes. He hijacks Jolly's Punch and Judy show with his own puppet (a Punch that looks like it was carved by Hieronymous Bosch) before beating Jolly in his booth with his "red raw stump" and being ejected by the police. That's twice he's been thrown out in two episodes. Poor clown.

Maureen thinks that David's hiccup at the murder mystery night was a real murder, and is now helping her son fulfil his serial-killer fantasies by taking out the witnesses one by one. Their first victim, Graham, escaped a drowning at their hands only to get run over as he tried to escape from the murder-by-Matey.

Robert, aside from revealing some details about his other past life (the one not spent in dwarf porn), finally got his date with Debbie. Unfortunately for him, it was a setup, designed to cause maximum humiliation as he emerged in the theatre, naked but for his Bashful hat. The consequences, as they will be when you mess with the telekinetic, were felt by the spotlight operator who was sent flying as the camera burst with sparks.

And finally Joy, who wasn't that involved last night, but for a terrifying scene in which she replaced a cartridge of blood at the hospital with Vimto, in order for Freddy to have some real blood.

So we're still not entirely sure what connects the characters, beyond the notes. But I don't think it matters. They're all funny, or in funny situations (Robert's director and star is Christopher Biggins for goodness' sake) and there are more than enough gags to draw the plot out.

It's hard to guess at this point what they all did to get put in the institution, but it might be worth noting that they're all missing something: a hand, eyes, a baby, height and a few brain cells. That could be relevant, or just a quirk of having a cast of oddballs. Let us know what you think.

Psycho-bites

Lomax's rules for being near his beany toys: "No girls, no smoking and no meat pies."

Joy's paper's headline is "To Hell in a Handcart"; we had her pegged for a Mail reader.

David has a Hannibal Lector lamp that's he's made himself.

"As an audience we're on your side already, because we've seen you humiliated." Biggins does empathy with his Seven Dwarfs.

Robert's Midget Gems filmography:

Rumpleforeskin
Goldiepubes
Wood in the Babes
Whore White and the Seven Dicks
Horny Dumpty

Mr Jelly uses real sausages for his Punch and Judy show.

Debbie charms Robert: "Aww, and I bet people patronise you, don't they?"

David's favourite murderer is Andrei Chikatilo, the Rostov Ripper.

I did spot the hidden website this week. But I'll leave it with you for now. Last week's was www.murderandchips.co.uk, but at the time of writing, the site still says "coming soon". Hmm ...