Steve Pemberton makes self-pity funny without making the men who indulge it any less unpleasant. We value his work with Reece Shearsmith most when the frightened people matter more than the surprise waiting at the end.
Fi1m perspective
In Happy Valley (2014), Steve Pemberton's Kevin Weatherill wants money and is refused it by his boss. Pemberton plays his grievance as though nobody has ever suffered such unfair treatment. We squirmed at Kevin's self-pity, because Pemberton makes a man responsible for his own mess sound convinced that he deserves our sympathy. Sally Wainwright's crime drama puts his skill with aggrieved men to frightening use.
The League of Gentlemen (1999) has Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith and Mark Gatiss playing almost everyone in Royston Vasey, with Jeremy Dyson co-writing. Its frightening shopkeepers and other grotesques are funny, though the first two series return to familiar beats too often. The third series, in 2002, follows individual characters through the same week, and we prefer its colder, quieter storytelling. Psychoville (2009), co-created with Shearsmith, sits between those plotted half-hours and the anthology that followed.
Inside No. 9 (2014) is their strongest work because the short, confined stories give them reasons to be precise about people. They act in almost every episode, often as men too pleased with themselves or too afraid to speak plainly. In the opener, Timothy West sitting in a wardrobe gives their writing enough human weight to make the cramped gathering work as drama. We value the unexpected sadness as much as the cruelty and the jokes. The weaker episodes spend so much effort preparing the final shot that the people become secondary.
In Michael Gracey's Better Man (2024), Pemberton's Peter loves his son but loves having an audience more. Joel Chang's narrow terraced family house, with its television in the corner, gives that frustrated appetite a useful setting. Pemberton makes both the affection and the selfishness convincing. The family scenes are among the film's strengths, even when the surrounding pop-biopic story becomes familiar and overlong.
Worzel Gummidge (2019) shows what happens when the part gives him too little to do. Mackenzie Crook gives Pemberton and Rosie Cavaliero, as the Braithwaites, kindness, chores and reaction shots, but scarcely a scene to themselves. We like the programme's gentleness; we also wish it had made more use of them. Start with Inside No. 9, but do not expect every surprise to be worth the wait.
Biography
Steve Pemberton is a British actor, comedian, writer and director. Born on 1 September 1967 in Blackburn, Lancashire, he studied Theatre Arts at Bretton Hall College of Education, graduating in 1989.
He is best known as a co-creator, writer and performer in the sketch comedy series The League of Gentlemen (1999–2002 and later revivals), alongside Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith and Jeremy Dyson. The group won the Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1997. Pemberton and Shearsmith later co-wrote and starred in the black comedy series Psychoville (2009–2011) and the anthology series Inside No. 9 (2014–2024).
His film credits include The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007) and Better Man (2024), in which he played Peter Williams. He has also appeared in television series such as Doctor Who (2005) and received a BAFTA for Best Male Comedy Performance in 2019 for Inside No. 9.
