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Mr. Jelly is the main protagonist of the BBC psychological horror, mystery sitcom show Psychoville and a cameo character in the 2020 Inside No. 9 episode "Death Be Not Proud".
He is an embittered and alcoholic amputee clown left depressed and misanthropic after his own doctor turned archenemy Mr. Jolly cut off his hand, stole his act, picked a similar name and became more popular than him. Unbeknownst too him Jolly actually held a great deal of resentment and anger towards Mr. Jelly, ultimately resulting in him getting thrown into the circle of the show's core cast.
He was portrayed by Reece Shearsmith who also played Maureen Sowerbutts, Jeremy Goode and the Silent Singer in the same series as well as Edward Tattsyrup, Ross Gaines, Papa Lazarou, Bernice Woodall, Judee Levinson, Cathy Carter-Smith and Father Halfhearte in The League of Gentlemen, Ray, Tom, Hector, Dr. Maxwell, Mr. Warren, George, Dr. Jacob Tyler, Greg, David, Henry, Viktor, Neville Griffin and SPC Varney in Inside No. 9, Gagan Rassmussen in Doctor Who, Malcolm Webster in The Widower and one third of the Vogons in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film adaptation.
Biography[]
Backstory[]
Mr. Jelly was once a very successful and well respected clown in the community who would always perform for children to great reception. At some point during his career however he contracted a repetitive strain injury that had to be operated on, unfortunately during the operation his doctor received a call telling him that his mother had been killed in an accident, prompting the grieving and vengeful doctor to remove Jelly's entire hand, blaming him for his mother's death. Jelly struggled to recover from losing his hand however did his best to keep up the act, adapting his prosthetic hands into his routine however overtime his doctor asked him more and more details about how becoming a clown works before eventually becoming one himself and stealing Mr. Jelly's entire routine while taking on the name "Mr. Jolly" beginning a bitter rivalry between the two.
Psychoville Season One[]
Mr. Jelly is first seen in his ran down and tatty flat waking up and moaning, presumably due to being hungover, he then prepares his prosthetic hands and heads out to perform at a party. A letter is put through his door which reads "I KNOW WHAT YOU DID".
He arrives at the house he's due to perform at and although annoyed that the parents booked him out of confusion between him and Mr. Jolly he goes to do his act regardless, almost immediately however he is met with a tough crowd of children who look either confused or terrified alongside the parents of Lorna (the girl who's party it was) who look at him completely mortified as he works on his material before calling Lorna up to do his next trick with his prosthetics of giving her a "princess makeover" which involved crudely combing her hair and putting lipstick on her before her parents finally stopped the act and demanded that Jelly leave, Jelly then retorts back at how they're abusing the disabled and rants about Mr. Jolly his rival clown who they mistook him for in the first place, before tearing off his prosthetic and loudly proclaiming that it was Mr. Jolly's fault he was stuck with a "raw red stump". The parents kick Jelly out of the house and he angrily asks about his payment before the mother of the house disgustedly hands him his standard prosthetic with the cash stashed inside of the palm.
In Jelly's next major appearance he heads over to a school where he finds that the teachers had double booked him and Mr. Jolly much to his chagrin. He goes on a lengthy rant towards the kids about how Jolly ruined his life and stole his act before proceeding to try and beat him up through his puppet display before ultimately being escorted out by the police and finding someone has written on his car through dust "I KNOW WHAT YOU DID", a confused Jelly is annoyed but brushes it off and returns home. Soon afterwards he hears the bell ringing and finds a VHS tape with a note requesting to play it on his doorstep causing him to shout frustrated that he can't play it since he only has DVD.
He later goes to do another gig at a children's play centre only to come face to face with his enemy Mr. Jolly, now at his boiling point over the constant confusion between them Jelly chases Jolly down through the centre and attacks him, before eventually stopping when Jolly realises that whoever was sending Jelly the letters actually meant them for him. The two clowns then discuss the man trying to blackmail Jolly and what for after Jolly's car breaks down and they can't leave, with Jelly more interested in getting away from the constant confusion between them but still having something of intrigue towards his rival's predicament nonetheless.
During a performance at an old folk's home Jelly receives a phone call from Jolly where he expresses terror for their lives all the while Jelly continues to dismiss him in an annoyed fashion over being roped into the mess thanks to the two's mistaken identity but heeds his words and heads home, unfortunately for him however he's forced to take audience member Mrs. Wren with him after she accidentally handcuffed their wrists together. When Jelly arrives he finds the a mysterious masked man with what appears to be Jolly's corpse on the floor, he's left mortified when he realises that the man is trying to frame him for killing Jolly and Mr. Jelly makes a run for it with Mrs. Wren to find the blackmailer.
Eventually they are led to Ravenhill Hospital where they also find Mr. Lomax, Michael Fry, Joy Aston and Jennifer, all of whom are confronted by the masked man who reveals himself to be Mr. Jolly, he loudly proclaims that he's led the group here to avenge his mother Nurse Edwina Kenchington's death, resulting in a confused and outraged Jelly to demand what his involvement is with the affair since unlike Lomax and Aston he wasn't even a patient at Ravenhill nor did he know Kenchington, only for Jolly to reveal that she was killed during Jelly's hand surgery meaning that Jolly couldn't make it back on time to save her, of which he blamed Jelly for resulting in him intentionally cutting off his hand and stealing his act. Right as he plans to kill the group however a facially burned Kenchington returns to the scene and holds everyone at gunpoint demanding to know where her locket was, all the while a flabbergasted Jolly is amazed at his mother's arrival. In that moment however he reveals he rigged a bomb to his chest to blow up the hospital and all of those he deemed responsible for her "death", Jelly and the others panic naturally while Kenchington cringes and calls her son an idiot before a massive explosion engulfs the building.
Psychoville Halloween Special[]
???
Psychoville Season Two[]
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Death Be Not Proud[]
Mr. Jelly makes a brief cameo in "Death Be Not Proud" were he performs a show for David's new son and spouse. David's wife asks him to make a balloon animal of a giraffe for their son accidentally mistaking him for Mr. Jolly in the process leaving an irritated Jelly to correct her before accidentally popping the balloon.
Personality[]
Mr. Jelly is a short tempered, embittered, foul mouthed and moody clown who's completely lost all joy in his life and his profession, having turned to drinking as a way of coping. He still tries to be invested in his work however but is usually disheartened and annoyed when nearly every time he tries to perform or get booked anywhere he's mistaken for Jolly. He's also perhaps the most well adjusted aside from Michael of the main cast. Prior to losing his hand and Mr. Jolly stealing his act Jelly was a much happier and nicer man who had a genuine love for his career and was very good with children, some elements of his sweeter nature still remained after his accident as well due to how he still is quite friendly and approachable most notably with Michael, Lomax, Mrs. Wren and even Mr. Jolly briefly (before finding out about his villainy) and by the time of "Death Be Not Proud" he was closer to his usual self than before however it remains likely that he won't ever fully return to his former glory.
Appearance[]
Mr. Jelly is almost never seen without his clown makeup however what is obvious is that he's a young Caucasian male probably somewhere in his thirties who has blue eyes. His clown makeup consists of white grease paint, red smudged lipstick which was originally supposed to form a smile but now looks more like a squiggle along his lips, red face paint over his nose, black eyeliner both under his eyes and on his bald cap to resemble surprised eyebrows and a balding black wig forming a cul de sac shape around his head with a few loose strands.
His clothes consist of a patchwork, multi-coloured tailcoat with stars and polka dots darted around it, a tan tartan waistcoat with large multi-coloured buttons, a white neck ruffle with red piping, a pair of trousers split in half with one half being rainbow pinstripes and the other stars and moons and a pair of large yellow & black clown shoes.
He also has a variety of prosthetic hands to cover up his stump the most common of which being his regular everyday hand and his hook.
Trivia[]
- Mr. Jelly is a subversion of the "evil clown" trope, a reverse of another character of Reece Shearsmith's Papa Lazarou who (while technically not exactly a clown but a ringmaster) embraces it completely. He is also probably the least eccentric and malicious of the main cast aside from Michael, with his aggressive and criminal behaviour coming from a place of tragedy and rage as opposed to downright cruelty or insanity.
- The "birthday princess" in Mr. Jelly's introductory scene was played by Reece Shearsmith's daughter Holly.
- Alongside Michael, Jelly is one of the few main characters in the show to not be insane.
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 Villains
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League of Gentlemen Psychoville Inside No. 9 | ||