The League of Gentlemen (comedy)

The League of Gentlemen is a troupe of British comedy performers, and the name of their stage, radio, and latterly television series. The show, which is a cross between a sitcom and sketch show, details the bizarre goings-on in a fictional Northern-English village, which in the radio series was called Spent, and on television Royston Vasey.

Overview

The League of Gentlemen is a sketch show, but over the run of a series the sketches involving a certain set of characters form an overall story. In addition to this there is often overlap, with the events and characters of one story playing a part in another. There was also a Christmas Special after Series 2, which took a slightly different format of three self-contained stories, with three of the characters seeking the help of the vicar, Bernice, on Christmas Eve. Series 3 was different again focusing on a different character each week but with the overlaps creating a more complex layering of the plot, more akin to a one-off episode of a sitcom (albeit one where all the episodes join up at the end) than a traditional sketch show.

Related Topics:
Vicar - Christmas Eve - Sitcom - Sketch show

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The majority of the inhabitants of the village - male and female - are played by Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton, and Mark Gatiss, and the script was written by the three with Jeremy Dyson, though Dyson, who is not an actor like the others, does appear in cameo parts throughout the series. Because there are usually only three actors onscreen at any one time, the different characters mostly play out their own stories in several serialised sketches, rarely crossing into each other's storylines, and when they do, it will usually combine separate characters rather than have the same actor appear as two different ones. Exceptions include Papa Lazarou facing the Reverend Bernice in the Christmas Special (both Reece Shearsmith), Alvin Steele buying from Iris at a supermarket checkout in Series 2 (both Mark Gatiss), and Herr Lipp meeting his creator, Steve Pemberton in The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse (both, obviously, Steve Pemberton).

Related Topics:
Reece Shearsmith - Steve Pemberton - Mark Gatiss - Jeremy Dyson - The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse

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It was directed by Steve Bendelack. The theme tune was composed by The Divine Comedy's Joby Talbot. The series has also garnered considerable critical acclaim, acquiring a BAFTA award, a Royal Television Society award and the Golden Rose of Montreux. In 2003, its creators were listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In 2004 The Radio Times listed Papa Lazarou as the 8th funniest comedy sketch of all time (despite the fact that Papa Lazarou is a character rather than a sketch).

Related Topics:
Steve Bendelack - The Divine Comedy - Joby Talbot - BAFTA - Royal Television Society - Golden Rose of Montreux - 2003 - The Observer - 50 funniest - Radio Times - Papa Lazarou

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The show has a lot of dark humour, with much of the scenes inspired by horror films (e.g. The Wicker Man (1973)), documentaries and personal experience (e.g. Legz Akimbo came from all the writers' experiences in amateur theatre). Even the village sign is somewhat ominous, reading, in a similar style to many hundreds of such signs throughout the UK, "Welcome to Royston Vasey. You'll never leave." In real life, Royston Vasey is the given name of comedian Roy Chubby Brown; Brown makes several cameo appearances as the town's (characteristically) foulmouthed mayor.

Related Topics:
The Wicker Man - Roy Chubby Brown

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The programme has particularly high production values, with numerous detailed sets and complex character makeup, and particular attention is lavished on lighting and cinematography. The series is filmed on high-definition video tape, and post-processed to give it a high-quality film grain effect. A number of outdoor scenes (particularly the varied outdoor shots of the village shop and the intricate opening pan over the village) rival a major motion picture in terms of cinematography.

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