List of characters in The League of Gentlemen
Encyclopedia
This article contains a list of the numerous characters featured in various media by the British
comedy troupe known as The League of Gentlemen
. All of the characters were created by the troupe, who are Jeremy Dyson
, Mark Gatiss
, Steve Pemberton
and Reece Shearsmith
.
and Steve Pemberton
respectively, are a married couple (as well as brother and sister) who are the proprietors of Royston Vasey's local shop
(which they inherited from their mother
and has apparently been in the Tattsyrup family for generations), located on the top of a hill some distance away from the town. Both have distinctly piggy noses (in live shows, the actors simply hold their noses up with tape). Despite being complete outsiders to most of the other action in the show, they have become, arguably, the most popular and identifiable characters.
Edward, who claims to have served in the armed forces
and had been in "a war" at some point, has a distrust of outsiders
and is likely to emerge from the back of the shop saying "Hello, hello? What's going on? What's all this shouting? We'll have no trouble here!" (regardless of whether or not any shouting is actually going on) and challenge people with the question, "Are you local?", dismissing those who reply "no" with, "This is a local shop, for local people; there's nothing for you here" — one of the show's best-known catch phrase
s.
Tubbs (real name Tulip
), though also scared of newcomers, dreams of visiting the "bright lights" of towns and cities (usually London, said as "Landan"; also places such as Swansea and Chorley), whose existence Edward has tried to keep from her. She tends to ask "Are you local?" with both hope and fear mixed in her voice, but is afraid that visitors may take her "precious things" from the shelves of the shop (in particular, the snow globe
s on the counter). In general Tubbs has a childlike innocence which only tends to be guided towards malevolent ends by Edward's influence.
Edward and Tubbs have a son, David, who was a mild-mannered civil engineer responsible for building a new road threatening to link Royston Vasey to the outside world; after they reunite at the end of Series 1, his parents keep him locked up in the attic, where he develops a bestial
nature. During Series 2 they attempt to kidnap a wife for him; in the end the unwitting victim is Barbara (see below).
The couple are serial killers, responsible for a large number of murders in the area. Some of these occurred when trying to kidnap friends and a wife for David ("be careful, Tubbs...we don't want her to suffocate like the other three"); and with the intention of stopping the building of "New Road"; others seem to be simply for their gratification (for example, they kill a backpacker and subsequently the investigating police officer after Tubbs gives the game away- she yells out "We didn't burn him!").
At the start of Season 3, they are seen to have survived the fire set by the inhabitants of Royston Vasey at the end of Series 2. (They are wrongly suspected of starting the nosebleed epidemic, which is ironic given the countless murders they actually are responsible for.) They decide to follow "New Road" and contemplate beginning a new life with a new shop in London. Unfortunately, Edward's glasses were smashed by the incident and he's unable to see, so Tubbs, using one of the snow globes as a map, has been leading them along a railway line, and they are both promptly killed by a speeding train
.
In the final shot of Season 3 we see a brief glimpse of their grandchildren in Barbara's arms; they have the same pig noses as Edward and Tubbs.
The pair go on to appear in the live show as their ghosts, although this is set in a continuity outside of the main series, much like the film, where they appear briefly and accidentally kill Jeremy Dyson.
The couple's piggy noses may have something to do with the family's bestiality towards pig
s meaning that the reason for their strange noses are gene
tic. This is implied in the second episode of the first series where Tubbs is shown breast-feeding a piglet. The noses, and Edward's appearance in particular, may also be indicative of congenital syphilis
. Another thing to note is their ages. While the Series 1 DVD biographies state that Edward is 84 years old and Tubbs is 33 (also throwing doubt on their mother's age based on the decades between their conceptions) the audio commentaries for the series note a time in the 16th century when Tubbs betrayed Edward and that the couple got married in the 14th century making them both over 700 years old.
firm, Bab's Cabs, and likes to regale passengers with graphic descriptions of her upcoming operation. She has a deep voice and a necklace with her name on it nestling in among her chest hair. Her face is briefly seen in season 1 episode 6. At the end of Season 1 the operation is botched by substitute surgeon Mr. Chinnery (see below), with the result that in Season 2 Barbara can't tell what sex she is any more. To further confuse matters, Barbara is seen heavily pregnant in Season 3 (and gives birth to twins who strongly resemble Tubbs and Edward). Barbara was briefly married to Tubbs and Edward's son, David. Their marriage was short-lived as angry townsfolk set fire to the Local Shop on their wedding night, killing David in the blaze. Despite the fact that she was kidnapped for the marriage, she genuinely fell in love with David and was grief-stricken when he died.
In the radio series, Barbara joins a dating agency, and gets romantically linked with Mr. Ingleby, who funds the last part of her operation.
. They have identical twin daughters, Chloe and Radclyffe. With their long white dresses and their habits of turning up unexpectedly and speaking in unison, they are obvious references to the two girls in The Shining
. Harvey's dream in life is to have a self-lowering toilet seat. Val's wish is to have a son.
Into this formula, their completely normal nephew Benjamin (Shearsmith) is interjected. Harvey and Val tell him to make himself at home which is obviously impossible. Harvey is obsessed with male masturbation
, forever accusing Benjamin of masturbating, using an array of amusing euphemism
s.
Harvey is deeply fascinated by toad
s and has had the basement converted into a special chamber for keeping his huge collection. He is not so fond of frogs, refusing to allow the use of "The "F" word" in his home.
He also owns the toad known to the Mapapa tribe of the shakiti hills as the devil's toad. "If one were to squeeze its little yellow belly, one's heart's desire would be granted." With him and his wife, Val, that turned out to be true. He wished for a self-lowering toilet seat, while Val asked for her nephew, Benjamin, to return. Both wishes came true. Benjamin also made the mistake of killing two of Harvey's favourite toads, Sonny and Cher (named after the musical duo
), by frying one on an electric heater and stepping on the other.
The Dentons also have a "nude day," which they claim is the first Monday of every month. They cast aside all clothing and go about their daily duties—including going to the supermarket, the newsagent's, and the post office, totally naked. When Benjamin walks in on them naked, they force him to strip off as well and answer the door naked. Benjamin surprises the caller and brings him back to the living room, where Harvey and Val are dressed and Benjamin is humiliated.
As Season 1 progresses, it becomes clear that the pair, especially Val (whose greatest wish is to have a son), don't want Benjamin to leave. In the first season, they merely used diversionary tactics, such as telling him that all guests must babysit their daughters. However, in Season 2 their plans become more sinister: they lock Benjamin in his room; type up a letter made to look as if it was from Benjamin, declaring that he wishes to stay with the Dentons; and construct a large chamber in the basement where they intend to keep him as a pet. Harvey even publishes a pamphlet entitled "My Plan to Keep Benjamin Locked Up as Some Kind of Pet, by Harvey Denton"; even Val is repulsed. Benjamin discovers this plan and turns the table on Harvey and Val, trapping them in the chamber and forcing them to confess before Chloe and Radclyffe chase him off with a shotgun. However, rather than free their parents, they lock them in.
Though they are never expressly killed off, this is the last we see of Harvey and Val. They were not featured in Season 3 or the film, although one of their previous routines does appear in the live show and in the Christmas Special, Val is seen as head of "Solutions Inc.", though this may not be real, given that it took place in Charlie's dream. A relative identical to Harvey is briefly seen on the streets of Royston Vasey in the Victorian era, shaking a collection tin in a suggestive manner. Their absence is unusual for such important and frequently used characters.
More importantly, at the end of Season 1, he attempts to escape from Royston Vasey, and is last seen entering Tubbs and Edward's shop. After some time missing, he returns at the start of Season 2, dressed in a grass skirt and coconut bra, covered in mud, and collapsing, uttering the word "local" as the camera zooms in on the snow globe he was carrying.
Though he cannot remember where he has been, he has a snow globe taken from the Local Shop. It is implied that Tubbs and Edward had attempted to keep Benjamin as a friend (or, based on how he's dressed, a wife) for David. Taking advantage of Benjamin's lacklustre state, the Dentons plan to keep him as a pet, although this is foiled when he recovers to a reasonable extent. After escaping the Denton's home, Benjamin is surprised to find that Royston Vasey has descended into anarchy as a result of the nosebleed epidemic. At this point, he finds the snow globe in his pocket and remembers his experiences in the Local Shop and leads an angry mob there. However, the rioters wrongly interpret this to mean that Tubbs and Edward are responsible for the epidemic, and only when they begin to burn down the local shop in the final scenes of Season 2 does Benjamin realise his mistake. He does not appear in Season 3, presumably having finally escaped Royston Vasey at the end of Season 2.
and proprietor of Hilary Briss and Son, Royston Vasey local butchers. His wares include a secret "special stuff", a highly addictive and mysterious substance, which, it is implied, is not only illegal but hideously immoral. Many authority figures are "in" on Briss' activities, including Police Inspector Cox, Magistrate Maurice Evans (Pemberton) and Councillor Samuel Chignell (Shearsmith), all of whom become hopelessly addicted.
Though Briss only sells his "special stuff" to a select group of gentlemen (often in cosy fireside gatherings at Briss' home), in Season 2 addiction to the "special stuff" led to a hemorrhagic epidemic—that is, chronic nose bleeding. This resulted in the death of many local residents, including the Mayor. The "special stuff" had reached a wider market through Evans' wife Eunice, who served it at her sandwich stall. She had gained access to the "special stuff" presumably through Maurice. The pure dose of "special stuff" which Briss served was one thing, but Eunice cut the substance and mixed it with her own paste, making it poisonous.
Before he could be caught, Briss escaped to a tropical island (where he continued selling his "special stuff") leaving behind his wife, who it turns out is a brown cow. Eunice was arrested along with Inspector Cox, while Sam and Maurice are last seen with nosebleeds, burning evidence of the "special stuff". Maurice appears to survive as he is talked about by Eunice in Season 3, but we don't know if Sam also survived. In Season 3 Briss's store is seen to be boarded up with graffiti reading 'Murderer' painted across the front. Briss did not appear in Season 3; all we know of him is a newspaper showing a story of a nosebleed epidemic in the Caribbean, suggesting his antics continued there in much the same way as before. However, in the film The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse
(not considered canon to the series ), he returns clad in handcuffs and being chased by the police across the moors. Whereas in the first two seasons, Briss is a fairly one-dimensional villain, in the film, he is fleshed out into the anti-hero of the piece before being killed by Dr Pea, the film's parody of occultist John Dee
.
Though it is never revealed what "special stuff" consists of, many have assumed that it is human meat. However, the writers have denied that this is the case, stating that they can think of "nothing more mundane than cannibalism
", and indicating that it is something much worse. However, the Season 1 DVD includes a fragment of brainstorming materials in its bonus section, on which the idea of the butcher selling human appendices obtained from the local hospital is listed. Others suspect it is a highly addictive substance like cocaine, given various clues throughout Seasons 1 and 2. Even the writers were apparently not sure what the special stuff was at the beginning of the series. When Briss takes Maurice along with him to receive a "special delivery" from deep in a dark forest, we see whom he gets the special stuff from: a tall ominous figure accompanied by a hunchbacked figure. It is shown that even Briss seems absolutely terrified of them. The only clue from the original live shows as to what the substance is that it rhymes with "drawstring", which has led some fans to believe that the "special stuff" is circumcised foreskins. 'Bris' is also the Yiddish name for the Brit milah
, the Jewish circumcision ceremony.
According to the character biography in Series 1, Briss says that his age "spans great oceans of time". What exactly he means by this is under debate.
whom he mistakenly euthanised
while the owner was out of the room fetching the actual patient, and a tortoise
he blasted out of its shell while attempting to give it oxygen. He was also responsible for botching Barbara's operation. As a result of his many accidents, he gets more and more upset.
In the Christmas Special, Mr Chinnery, who fears that he's on the verge of losing his sanity, told Bernice the story of how his great-grandfather Edmund Chinnery, the foremost vet of his time, was cursed to have any animal he touched "meet a dreadful end" and that his descendants would carry the curse after him. Bernice reassured him that there was no such thing as curses and that he, the doctor who first had the curse and his ancestor had had accidents similar to the curse primarily because they were scared of the curse and thought that they had it. She then told him to go and do his next job without any fear of the curse. He does not appear at all in Season 3 (most likely because he was "cured" in the Christmas special), but does make an appearance in the film, The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse
, treating a giraffe and having a role in the film's climax. In the live show, he stands in for a magician and gives a new twist to the trick of pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
Many of Chinnery's disasters are parodies of scenes from the BBC's All Creatures Great and Small. Mark Gatiss's performance is reminiscent of Peter Davison
, who played Tristan Farnon on that program. (Gatiss is also a famous fan of Doctor Who
, in which Davison played the title character for three years. The name Chinnery almost certainly comes from actor Dennis Chinnery
who played three separate characters in Doctor Who. Coincidentally, Christopher Eccleston
, the ninth Doctor, appeared in the League of Gentlemen as the owner of a cat theatre, set up in direct competition to Kenny Harris's Dog Cinema — Kenny Harris also played by Mark Gatiss.) Mark Gatiss was also in an episode of Doctor Who called "The Lazarus Experiment". The wig that he wore playing Professor Richard Lazarus in this episode was the same wig which was used for Mr. Chinnery in The League of Gentlemen.
scum" who attend her course at Royston Vasey's Jobcentre
, and her eventual humiliation at joining their sorry ranks is too much for her to bear. Pauline has an unusual obsession with pens (she has a tendency to bring one out whenever someone needs one) and has a startling similarity to Deirdre Rachid from Coronation Street (a fact commented on by Ross). Her catchphrase is "hokey-cokey, pig in a pokey!" which she says when she enters the classroom where her Restart courses take place. Pauline was accused by Cathy Carter-Smith of being a "psychotic 50-year-old lesbian
", to which she responds "How Dare You! I'm 48!" Her starsign is Virgo. She has a framed photograph of herself and another woman naked, who was named on the commentary of the Season 2 DVD as a former lover of Pauline's named Terri Makepeace. In the commentary of the Season 1 DVD when asked whether she is in a relationship, Pauline says, rather sadly, "There was someone once", and the commentary also names that person as Terri Makepeace. When asked about her family, she claims that they are all dead.
Mickey and Ross are two of the people taking the Restart course. Mickey M. Michaels (Gatiss), a well-meaning simpleton who wants to be a fireman
, grows increasingly close to Pauline throughout the series - Pauline has developed the nickname "Mickey Luv" for him. Ross Gaines (Shearsmith) is considerably more intelligent than Pauline and always tries to embarrass her when asked to perform tasks to the rest of the class. However, Pauline usually resorts to violence to secure the upper hand. Ross seems very officious and doesn't appear to have any close friends or family — when Pauline once flicked through his address book it was empty apart from "Work" and "Mother". The course is also attended by a man named Colin.
At the end of Season 1, Ross reveals that he's an undercover agent
who has been inspecting Pauline. Naturally, he fires her, forcing her to sit the Restart course which, in Season 2, is now being led by Cathy Carter-Smith (Shearsmith), who's just as bad as, if not worse than, Pauline. After Mickey stands up for her, she leaves the class and briefly works with him at the Burger Me fast-food restaurant, but is fired when she spoils Ross's veggie burger in revenge. In an act of desperation Pauline, with the help of Mickey, takes Ross hostage in the Jobcentre and demands her job back. However, they aren't noticed, partly due to the epidemic and partly due to the fact that no one realises Ross is missing. Ross eventually tricks Mickey and escapes, returning later to have Pauline arrested. As an interesting side note, moments before she is arrested, Pauline is about to take a bite from a sandwich
which she had just bought from Eunice Evans' stall. When she sees Ross with a police officer, she drops the sandwich in surprise. Presumably, had she eaten the sandwich she would have been poisoned.
In Season 3, Pauline is serving time at HM Clitclink Prison alongside Eunice Evans, nicknamed "The Royston Poisoner," whom she bullies and extorts pens from for temporary possession of 'The Exocet' an item featured later in Lance's joke shop. She is given early release when she strikes a deal with Ross to discover how Mickey's family has been cheating the employment system. However, she feels guilty for her involvement and she and Mickey sleep together and become engaged, cementing their love for each other. Mickey was dressed as a woman at the time and he asks Pauline if that was the reason she had sex with him, but she tells him it wasn't. Pauline then has sex with Ross to make sure he doesn't tell Mickey about their deal (although it is also implied she has actually been attracted to him all this time—these two liaisons suggest Pauline may actually be bisexual), but he decides to tell him anyway. He claims that he's doing this because "you made me hate my job!" Pauline runs to get to Mickey before Ross exposes her, and is nearly hit by the speeding Legz Akimbo van (driven by Geoff) before being saved by Lance, who sacrifices his life to save hers. She and Mickey get married, and even Ross applauds the happy couple.
In the live show, there is a "Who Shot Pauline?" saga, featuring Ross, Mickey, and Cathy Carter-Smith as suspects.
. The reason Mike and Brian remain friends with Geoff despite his outbursts remains a mystery until Mike's wedding, when it's revealed that Mike once slept with Geoff's ex-wife, whilst Brian is now married to her.
In Season 3 Geoff travels to London to become a stand-up comedian (unsuccessfully) after being sacked by Mike, only to be accused of terrorism and having to return to Royston Vasey as police are searching for him in London. On the way back he swerves his stolen van into a garden wall and is horribly disfigured. He is finally seen a great deal happier (albeit with his face heavily bandaged) in hospital surrounded by his friends, including Mike and his wife Cheryl. The fact that his face has been disfigured concludes his story in Season 3: the search for him was based on a facial description, so he's no longer in danger of being caught by the police.
Brian is mentioned early in Season 3; where Geoff claims a rumor's going around that he was "bummed by some binmen." He appears in person later, having quit his job to search for his missing wife Katie, but eventually both he and his wife are imprisoned inside circus animals—along with Reenie, Charlie, and Bernice—by Papa Lazarou. Neither Mike nor Brian appears in The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse; Geoff, however, is an important character in it as he overcomes his anger and cowardice to emerge as the hero—despite shooting Mark Gatiss at the end of the film when he takes the safety catch off Herr Lipp's gun. His film character noticeably differs from his television persona: instead of being angry, bitter, and nearly psychotic, he's more of a bumbling yet kind-hearted underdog.
band Creme Brulée (and still has plenty of copies of two of their albums: Just Desserts and Another Helping). He now works in the hospital laundry, longing for the old days when he would walk into a Royston Vasey urinal and heads would turn. He constantly bothers other aspiring musicians he meets, boring them with tales of a now outdated and unfashionable music era. When they politely (or in some cases impolitely) ask him to leave them alone, he does so, stating sadly (as if he is trying to convince himself of it, rather than convince whoever he is talking to): "It's a shit business; I'm glad I'm out of it."
McQueen is one of the more 'normal' inhabitants of Royston Vasey (when compared to other much more bizarre characters such as Tubbs, Edward and Papa Lazarou), as well as one of the more tragic characters. As a result he evoked genuine sympathy from the audience. However, despite this, he's never given anything close to mercy by the writers, with things getting progressively worse for him. In his final appearance in Season 2 he's conned out of his redundancy package (which he was going to use to open a bar abroad) by the lead singer of Creme Brulée, in the hopes of reuniting the band. In the commentary on the DVD, the writers mention an alternative ending where the reunion actually happens and the band is a success. He makes a brief cameo appearance in Season 3 as the MC for the Little Miss Elegance Beauty Pageant.
In the live version of the show, he's introduced as just having had a major resurgence in his career, with a big record contract and a promising solo career. When he walks on stage he dances to the music before approaching the microphone
and is fatally electrocuted. This is followed up in the second live tour, whereby he is waiting to audition for the "Commu-nativity". He talks about his career to a hooded teenager next to him—who turns out to be the Grim Reaper, waiting to lead the deceased Les McQueen to his afterlife.
, Bernice (Shearsmith) does not believe in God or the teachings of the Bible, and constantly berates parishioners for their sins. It seems she takes a perverse pleasure in humiliating people in the confessional booth. In a recent BBC7 League of Gentlemen night Reece Shearsmith revealed that the original incarnation of Bernice was based on This Morning
's agony aunt, Denise Robertson
.
Her original role in the radio series was as the local DJ. In the live show, she acted as an agony aunt on her own show called "Hours of Agony", supposedly attempting to comfort, but really just insulting, an obese woman.
In the Christmas Special it emerges that Bernice witnessed her mother being kidnapped
when she was a child, perhaps explaining her cynical outlook on the world. She plays an important role in the Christmas Special, hearing the problems of some of the locals, all the while battling with her past. At first she has no sympathy for the people who tell her about their troubles, but gains more sympathy when Mr Chinnery arrives to describe his problem. When she has helped him "cure" himself of the curse, she regains her faith and is preparing the church for the next day when the kidnapper suddenly returns for her, revealing himself as Papa Lazarou
. He kidnaps her declaring "You're my wife now."
A picture of her is seen on a missing-persons flier posted on the church noticeboard at the start of the Season 3, and at the end she is briefly spotted in Papa Lazarou
's big tent — trapped inside an elephant with Brian, Charlie, and various other people. She also makes an appearance in the movie as the person who organises the attempts to save Royston Vasey and might have had some foresight in the coming destruction of the town.
These stories usually involve their husbands, who are never seen. Judee's husband, Eddie, is said to be "King of the Carpet Warehouses," but in the final episode of Season 2, it is revealed that he became bankrupt and died of a heart attack at 42. Iris's husband, Ron, is alive and well, but Judee believes him to be nothing more than a sex-hungry prehistoric animal. Iris tells Judee "Ron has me doing things that would make a whore blush!"
At the end of Season 2, Iris finally snaps back at Judee after all her insults, revealing that they are mother and daughter. The story goes that a teen Iris gave birth to Judee but they were soon separated. Many years later, Judee hired Iris as a cleaner, but upon discovery of her being her mother, nothing changed between them. This is taken a step further in the live show, where it is suggested not only that both are cleaners who take it in turns to pretend to be their unseen employer, but that they are father and son who've been pretending to be women all along.
In Season 3, Judee has started up a beauty salon with Charlie Hull called "Spit and Polish". The customers believe her to be giving the massages, when it is in fact Charlie. During this time, Judee develops a crush on Charlie. When people start demanding "extras", Charlie struggles with homosexuality when he finds himself attracted to Tony, the man with whom his wife, Stella, has had an affair. When he confesses to giving "extras", Judee fires him and Stella takes the opportunity to leave him after her gambling addiction finally pays off. Iris, meanwhile, appears to have a brief cameo in Pop's strip club, where her body is seen dancing and Pop thanks a woman called Iris for her services. She is also heard on one of the massage tapes in the beauty salon, asking Judee if she wants a cup of tea.
It is often suggested, though, that most of their quarrels are competitive, as seen when, after the third party voices his/her displeasure at the situation and leaves, they revert to normal or polite conversation, as though their quarrel has been forgotten completely. Throughout the sketches in Seasons 1 and 2, we discover that Stella has a gambling addiction, and that she has slept with other men, including Tony.
In the Christmas Special, the story is taken a step further, with both Charlie and Stella speaking to each other directly for the first time during their argument. Charlie visits the Reverend Bernice about a dream he keeps having where he is going to enter a line-dancing competition on Boxing Day. Frustrated with his obsession over his new hobby, Stella seeks help from her friend Donna (Liza Tarbuck
), through the form of a secret organisation called "Solutions, Inc." (which is run by Val Denton and includes other local females such as Pauline, Vinnie & Reenie, Judee & Iris, and Pam Doove, all of whom wear white masks). She gives them three items belonging to Charlie, which they use to form a voodoo doll of him, saying that they will let her know the price when the deed is done. During the line-dancing competition, Charlie does very well until he falls (Val throws the doll to the ground) and cannot stop dancing (Pauline burns the doll's feet) and is forced to douse himself with beer (the women use water) to stop himself. He receives an extremely low score, effectively ruining his hobby and his confidence.
Later, on a snowy day, Stella is relaxing on a bench with Lee (Mark Gatiss), Donna's husband, with whom she's been having an affair. She tells Lee about her success with Solutions, Inc., but Lee claims he has never heard of the organization despite the help they apparently provided his and Donna's relationship. Suddenly, blood gushes from his throat and he falls over dead. One of the "Solutions" members then appears and reveals herself to be Donna. She used Charlie's razor to slit Lee's doll's throat, saying that this is the price and begins shouting for the police to arrest Stella, having framed her for Lee's murder. Unfortunately, Bernice cynically believes his story to be nothing more than a "cheese-dream" and kicks him out of her church; he cries as he wanders off into the night.
In Season 3, Charlie forms a partnership with Judee Levinson at the "Spit and Polish" beauty salon, where he is soon asked to give "extras" to customers (i.e. helping them masturbate). After he gives an "extra" to Tony (with whom Stella has had an affair), he struggles with homosexuality after suddenly developing feelings for Tony himself and even desiring to share Stella with Tony. When Tony goes on a date with Judee, Charlie confesses to have given the "extras." As a result, Tony is disgusted and beats him up, before Judee fires him and Stella announces she has won on the pools and is going on holiday without him. To crown it all, his order at the restaurant has to be cancelled, as they are out of calamari. Depressed and rejected, he wanders to the Windermere B & B, but it is closed for a private function. He gets caught up in the accident involving Pauline, Lance, Geoff and the Legz Akimbo van before being kidnapped by Keith Drop (aka Papa Lazarou) and imprisoned inside an elephant (although in his final appearance he is shown to be happy, as Brian was now keeping him company).
Charlie is usually seen wearing his Rotherham United replica home shirt from the 1996 season.
In Season 3, Vinnie is killed when she falls off her motorised mobility scooter onto a large spike, in the process of chasing a red plastic bag that flew out of the Charity Shop window. This bag plays an important role in connecting all the storylines in Season 3 and having great significance in the motor accident at the end of each episode which links all the stories into one larger narrative as we see the accident from differing character's viewpoints. Her replacement turns out to be Keith Drop, whom Reenie befriends after losing her best friend. However, Keith reveals his true identity to be Papa Lazarou. Reenie and Brian follow him back to his house, attempting to find out what has happened to Brian's wife, but both are then kidnapped and imprisoned, Reenie inside a crocodile, Brian in an elephant.
Papa Lazarou has also been taking the possessions of his "wives" to sell at the charity shop, and this is why Brian begins to suspect that "Keith" (aka Papa Lazarou) knows something about his wife's disappearance - he finds, for sale in the shop, a brooch that she was wearing on the day she went missing.
" and Leslie Halliwell
. When not browsing the horror section at the local video rental shop or sitting in the cinema, they wandering the streets playing the game "Who would win out of.." in which they pair up famous film characters in hypothetical duels.
Papa Lazarou
(Shearsmith), blackface
d proprietor of a travelling circus
and freak show
, The Pandemonium Carnival, with a frighteningly acquisitive nature. In the first episode of Season 2, Lazarou is introduced when he brings his circus to Royston Vasey. The episode also introduces his bizarre pastimes such as selling pegs and collecting wives. In one particularly memorable scene, he breaks into a woman's house, unrelentingly asking for "Dave" ("Hello Dave" and "Is Dave there?" have since become his catchphrases). He frightens her into giving him her wedding ring, before declaring "you're my wife now". This scene in particular was cited as one of the most macabre and genuinely frightening scenes from the series. However, he ran off when he realised that everyone in Royston Vasey was stranger than he was.
In Season 3 he became even more sinister when he took on the disguise of Keith Drop at the Charity Shop, and demonstrated his more elaborate techniques of keeping his wives (and anyone who dared to rescue them) in his circus animals.
Papa Lazarou quickly became a fan favourite, despite only appearing in two episodes out of the whole three seasons of LOG. He also featured in the Christmas special and the League of Gentleman's Apocalypse.
Papa Lazarou seems to display some unusual physiology. When disguised as Keith in Season 3, part of his flesh-coloured make-up was scratched off, revealing his familiar colouration beneath. This suggests that this is in fact his natural skin, rather than Blackface. In his film appearance, he coughs up a hairball, composed of his own black curly hair.
Papa Lazarou doesn't seem to age. In the Christmas Special when he kidnaps Bernice's mother he looks the same age as he does in the series.
According to interviews with Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton broadcast on the BBC, Papa Lazarou is based on Peter Papalazarou, one of their past landlords. Many of Papa Lazarou's catchphrases are based on the telephone conversations that Reece used to have with Papalazarou, including an insistence on speaking to Steve which generated the "Hello, Dave ?" and "Is Dave there ?" catchphrases.
, who leads tour groups in Royston Vasey. A homosexual, he becomes obsessed with Justin Smart, a boy with whom he is staying. Justin's mother comes down with a nosebleed during the epidemic, leaving Herr Lipp more time to spend with him. He has not quite mastered the English language, so he often makes mistakes which come out as double entendre
s. He has been to Vasey before, as well as many other cities in Britain, where he has presumably come into contact with many schoolboys like Justin. In the penultimate episode of Season 2, he struggles to express his feelings for Justin before ending up throwing some drug-laced coffee in his face, causing him to collapse. When Herr Lipp says goodbye to Mrs Smart (who survives the epidemic, having only been a "carrier"), it is revealed that he and his wife, Lotte (Gatiss), buried Justin alive, with only a snorkel to breathe through. He leaves saying "See you next year, Justin! Tschüß!" before stroking the snorkel.
In the Christmas Special, a man named Matthew Parker reveals how in 1975, he was part of an exchange programme and stayed with the Lipps, where Herr Lipp ran a boys choir and Lotte assisted on the organ. He gradually comes to believe that Herr Lipp is a vampire
and, when Lipp attempts to make advances on him, he misinterprets them as Lipp's attempts to make him into a vampire, but in the end it is revealed that Lotte is the one who is a vampire, as well as the choirboys, who were turned into vampires because Rolf could never give her any children. Matthew flees the church, but the choirboys appear to eat away at Herr Lipp before he can escape. He does not appear in Season 3.
In The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, he discovers that he is a character in the programme and disguises himself as his creator, Steve Pemberton, blending in at home and treating his wife and children far better than the real Pemberton appears to. He becomes upset at his status as a one-joke character, feeling it better for him to die than to carry on without Free Will
, thus threatening to shoot Mark Gatiss during the film's climax. He is convinced by Geoff to hand over the gun, Geoff subsequently kills Gatiss believing that the safety catch was on. Lipp appears to have changed, as he is last seen looking after some children seeking their parents after the apocalypse.
In the live show, he is allowed some audience participation by playing "Blind Man's Poof" with an unfortunate young man.
ism. Phil (Gatiss) is gay and both Dave (Pemberton) and Ollie are jealous of his ability to get film and television roles, but both Phil and Dave hate Ollie. They drive in their van, nicknamed "Bessie" (a possible homage to the car driven in Doctor Who, of which Gatiss is a longtime fan) and their slogan is "Legz Akimbo - Put Yourself in a Child!"
Gatiss' character, Phil Proctor, is no doubt named for Philip Proctor
, a voice actor and longtime member of the radio comedy troupe, The Firesign Theatre
, pioneers in the sort of bizarre, dense character comedy that the League explores.
In Season 1, during a production of "Everybody Out!" (a play about homosexuality) at the local school in Royston Vasey, it is revealed that Phil is leaving the group at the end of the month as he has been "plucked for stardom" — a fact that Dave and Ollie put down to his homosexuality. However, by the end of the episode, Dave reveals that he has also decided to leave the group, leaving Ollie exasperated. In Season 2, they are both back inexplicably, performing in a new play about homeless people called "No Home 4 Johnny". They are seen trying to calm the homeless at the town hall during the nosebleed epidemic, but instead it triggers an angry mob to confront Mayor Vaughan and, eventually, Tubbs and Edward.
In Season 3, they're together again, working on their latest play, "Vegetable Soup" (about the disabled) in the "Salmon of Knowledge" comedy club in London run by Geoff's old friend, Don Lynch (Gatiss). However, Ollie insists on trying out "extended improv" — meaning that Dave must order a cake from a bakery whilst pretending he is "deafblind", while Phil sits in a wheelchair. Phil pretends to lie on the pavement and when a man spots him, he complains to Ollie, whose rude behaviour ends up in him being beaten up. Later, Ollie, now himself in a wheelchair from his injuries, witnesses Geoff stealing the Legz Akimbo van and heading back to Royston Vasey.
They play an important connecting role in the second live tour, organising a "Commu-nativity" for the inhabitants of Royston Vasey.
Also, Ollie's supposed email address was printed in the tour programme. One fan, after sending an email and discovering the address didn't exist, decided to set up the account in his own name, thereafter acting as Ollie on the dedicated forums and MSN Messenger. This mystery lasted for a short while until his identity was revealed as being a fan, with the "real" Ollie (Shearsmith) having no affiliation with it, although it was referenced in a blog on the official website.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comedy troupe known as The League of Gentlemen
The League of Gentlemen (comedy)
The League of Gentlemen are a quartet of British dark comedy writers/performers, formed in 1995 by Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith...
. All of the characters were created by the troupe, who are Jeremy Dyson
Jeremy Dyson
Jeremy Dyson is an English screenwriter and, along with Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, a participant in The League of Gentlemen.-Early life:...
, Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss is an English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock....
, Steve Pemberton
Steve Pemberton
Steve James Pemberton is an English actor, comedian, writer and performer, most famous as a member of The League of Gentlemen along with fellow performers Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss and co-writer Jeremy Dyson.-Early life:...
and Reece Shearsmith
Reece Shearsmith
Reeson "Reece" Shearsmith is an English actor and writer. He is most famous for his work as part of The League of Gentlemen along with fellow performers Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and co-writer Jeremy Dyson.-Early life:...
.
Quick Reference
| Actor | Local Shop | Dentons | Job Centre | Plastics | Butchers | Hulls | Charity shop | Foots | Legz Akimbo | Misc. | Misc. | Misc. | Misc. | Misc. |
| Shearsmith | Edward | Benjamin | Ross | Geoff | Samuel | Stella | Vinnie | Peter | Ollie | Bernice | Papa Lazarou Papa Lazarou Papa Lazarou is a fictional character in the BBC TV comedy programme The League of Gentlemen.He appeared in two episodes, a Christmas special, and the film The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse. The character is part written by and played by Reece Shearsmith.Papa Lazarou has been listed as both the... |
Judee | Pamela | Ally Welles |
| Pemberton | Tubbs | Harvey | Pauline | Mike | Maurice | Charlie | Reenie | Ernest | Dave | Herr Lipp | Barbara | Pop | Farmer Jed | Henry Portrait |
| Gatiss | David | Val | Mickey | Brian | Hilary | Tony | Customer | Sheila | Phil | Mr. Chinnery | Les McQueen | Iris | Lance | Alvin Steele |
Edward and Tubbs
Edward Tattsyrup and Tulip "Tubbs" Tattsyrup, played by Reece ShearsmithReece Shearsmith
Reeson "Reece" Shearsmith is an English actor and writer. He is most famous for his work as part of The League of Gentlemen along with fellow performers Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and co-writer Jeremy Dyson.-Early life:...
and Steve Pemberton
Steve Pemberton
Steve James Pemberton is an English actor, comedian, writer and performer, most famous as a member of The League of Gentlemen along with fellow performers Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss and co-writer Jeremy Dyson.-Early life:...
respectively, are a married couple (as well as brother and sister) who are the proprietors of Royston Vasey's local shop
Retailing
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
(which they inherited from their mother
Mother
A mother, mum, mom, momma, or mama is a woman who has raised a child, given birth to a child, and/or supplied the ovum that grew into a child. Because of the complexity and differences of a mother's social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to specify a universally...
and has apparently been in the Tattsyrup family for generations), located on the top of a hill some distance away from the town. Both have distinctly piggy noses (in live shows, the actors simply hold their noses up with tape). Despite being complete outsiders to most of the other action in the show, they have become, arguably, the most popular and identifiable characters.
Edward, who claims to have served in the armed forces
Armed forces
The armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body, and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external aggressors. In some countries paramilitary...
and had been in "a war" at some point, has a distrust of outsiders
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
and is likely to emerge from the back of the shop saying "Hello, hello? What's going on? What's all this shouting? We'll have no trouble here!" (regardless of whether or not any shouting is actually going on) and challenge people with the question, "Are you local?", dismissing those who reply "no" with, "This is a local shop, for local people; there's nothing for you here" — one of the show's best-known catch phrase
Catch phrase
A catchphrase is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through a variety of mass media , as well as word of mouth...
s.
Tubbs (real name Tulip
Tulip
The tulip is a perennial, bulbous plant with showy flowers in the genus Tulipa, which comprises 109 species and belongs to the family Liliaceae. The genus's native range extends from as far west as Southern Europe, North Africa, Anatolia, and Iran to the Northwest of China. The tulip's centre of...
), though also scared of newcomers, dreams of visiting the "bright lights" of towns and cities (usually London, said as "Landan"; also places such as Swansea and Chorley), whose existence Edward has tried to keep from her. She tends to ask "Are you local?" with both hope and fear mixed in her voice, but is afraid that visitors may take her "precious things" from the shelves of the shop (in particular, the snow globe
Snow globe
A snow globe is a transparent sphere, usually made of glass, enclosing a miniaturized scene of some sort, often together with a model of a landscape. The sphere also encloses the water in the globe; the water serves as the medium through which the "snow" falls. To activate the snow, the globe is...
s on the counter). In general Tubbs has a childlike innocence which only tends to be guided towards malevolent ends by Edward's influence.
Edward and Tubbs have a son, David, who was a mild-mannered civil engineer responsible for building a new road threatening to link Royston Vasey to the outside world; after they reunite at the end of Series 1, his parents keep him locked up in the attic, where he develops a bestial
Animal
Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...
nature. During Series 2 they attempt to kidnap a wife for him; in the end the unwitting victim is Barbara (see below).
The couple are serial killers, responsible for a large number of murders in the area. Some of these occurred when trying to kidnap friends and a wife for David ("be careful, Tubbs...we don't want her to suffocate like the other three"); and with the intention of stopping the building of "New Road"; others seem to be simply for their gratification (for example, they kill a backpacker and subsequently the investigating police officer after Tubbs gives the game away- she yells out "We didn't burn him!").
At the start of Season 3, they are seen to have survived the fire set by the inhabitants of Royston Vasey at the end of Series 2. (They are wrongly suspected of starting the nosebleed epidemic, which is ironic given the countless murders they actually are responsible for.) They decide to follow "New Road" and contemplate beginning a new life with a new shop in London. Unfortunately, Edward's glasses were smashed by the incident and he's unable to see, so Tubbs, using one of the snow globes as a map, has been leading them along a railway line, and they are both promptly killed by a speeding train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
.
In the final shot of Season 3 we see a brief glimpse of their grandchildren in Barbara's arms; they have the same pig noses as Edward and Tubbs.
The pair go on to appear in the live show as their ghosts, although this is set in a continuity outside of the main series, much like the film, where they appear briefly and accidentally kill Jeremy Dyson.
The couple's piggy noses may have something to do with the family's bestiality towards pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
s meaning that the reason for their strange noses are gene
Gene
A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
tic. This is implied in the second episode of the first series where Tubbs is shown breast-feeding a piglet. The noses, and Edward's appearance in particular, may also be indicative of congenital syphilis
Congenital syphilis
Congenital syphilis is syphilis present in utero and at birth, and occurs when a child is born to a mother with secondary syphilis. Untreated syphilis results in a high risk of a bad outcome of pregnancy, including mulberry molars in the fetus. Syphilis can cause miscarriages, premature births,...
. Another thing to note is their ages. While the Series 1 DVD biographies state that Edward is 84 years old and Tubbs is 33 (also throwing doubt on their mother's age based on the decades between their conceptions) the audio commentaries for the series note a time in the 16th century when Tubbs betrayed Edward and that the couple got married in the 14th century making them both over 700 years old.
Barbara Dixon
The transsexual Barbara (voiced by Pemberton) is the proprietor of the local taxiTaxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
firm, Bab's Cabs, and likes to regale passengers with graphic descriptions of her upcoming operation. She has a deep voice and a necklace with her name on it nestling in among her chest hair. Her face is briefly seen in season 1 episode 6. At the end of Season 1 the operation is botched by substitute surgeon Mr. Chinnery (see below), with the result that in Season 2 Barbara can't tell what sex she is any more. To further confuse matters, Barbara is seen heavily pregnant in Season 3 (and gives birth to twins who strongly resemble Tubbs and Edward). Barbara was briefly married to Tubbs and Edward's son, David. Their marriage was short-lived as angry townsfolk set fire to the Local Shop on their wedding night, killing David in the blaze. Despite the fact that she was kidnapped for the marriage, she genuinely fell in love with David and was grief-stricken when he died.
In the radio series, Barbara joins a dating agency, and gets romantically linked with Mr. Ingleby, who funds the last part of her operation.
The Dentons
Harvey Denton (Pemberton) and his wife Val (Gatiss) are a bizarre couple whose gaudy 1970s-style house is run in an insanely ordered manner. For examples, they have two rolls of toilet paper labelled "1's" and "2's," and colour-coded towels for every purpose, from hands and spills to pubic hair. The name Harvey 'Toadface' is also a reference to Batman villain Harvey Two-FaceTwo-Face
Two-Face is a fictional comic book supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. and is an enemy of Batman. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #66 , and was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger....
. They have identical twin daughters, Chloe and Radclyffe. With their long white dresses and their habits of turning up unexpectedly and speaking in unison, they are obvious references to the two girls in The Shining
The Shining (film)
The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. A writer, Jack Torrance, takes a job as an...
. Harvey's dream in life is to have a self-lowering toilet seat. Val's wish is to have a son.
Into this formula, their completely normal nephew Benjamin (Shearsmith) is interjected. Harvey and Val tell him to make himself at home which is obviously impossible. Harvey is obsessed with male masturbation
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
, forever accusing Benjamin of masturbating, using an array of amusing euphemism
Euphemism
A euphemism is the substitution of a mild, inoffensive, relatively uncontroversial phrase for another more frank expression that might offend or otherwise suggest something unpleasant to the audience...
s.
Harvey is deeply fascinated by toad
Toad
A toad is any of a number of species of amphibians in the order Anura characterized by dry, leathery skin , short legs, and snoat-like parotoid glands...
s and has had the basement converted into a special chamber for keeping his huge collection. He is not so fond of frogs, refusing to allow the use of "The "F" word" in his home.
He also owns the toad known to the Mapapa tribe of the shakiti hills as the devil's toad. "If one were to squeeze its little yellow belly, one's heart's desire would be granted." With him and his wife, Val, that turned out to be true. He wished for a self-lowering toilet seat, while Val asked for her nephew, Benjamin, to return. Both wishes came true. Benjamin also made the mistake of killing two of Harvey's favourite toads, Sonny and Cher (named after the musical duo
Sonny & Cher
Sonny & Cher were an American pop music duo, actors, singers and entertainers made up of husband-and-wife team Sonny and Cher Bono in the 1960s and 1970s. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector....
), by frying one on an electric heater and stepping on the other.
The Dentons also have a "nude day," which they claim is the first Monday of every month. They cast aside all clothing and go about their daily duties—including going to the supermarket, the newsagent's, and the post office, totally naked. When Benjamin walks in on them naked, they force him to strip off as well and answer the door naked. Benjamin surprises the caller and brings him back to the living room, where Harvey and Val are dressed and Benjamin is humiliated.
As Season 1 progresses, it becomes clear that the pair, especially Val (whose greatest wish is to have a son), don't want Benjamin to leave. In the first season, they merely used diversionary tactics, such as telling him that all guests must babysit their daughters. However, in Season 2 their plans become more sinister: they lock Benjamin in his room; type up a letter made to look as if it was from Benjamin, declaring that he wishes to stay with the Dentons; and construct a large chamber in the basement where they intend to keep him as a pet. Harvey even publishes a pamphlet entitled "My Plan to Keep Benjamin Locked Up as Some Kind of Pet, by Harvey Denton"; even Val is repulsed. Benjamin discovers this plan and turns the table on Harvey and Val, trapping them in the chamber and forcing them to confess before Chloe and Radclyffe chase him off with a shotgun. However, rather than free their parents, they lock them in.
Though they are never expressly killed off, this is the last we see of Harvey and Val. They were not featured in Season 3 or the film, although one of their previous routines does appear in the live show and in the Christmas Special, Val is seen as head of "Solutions Inc.", though this may not be real, given that it took place in Charlie's dream. A relative identical to Harvey is briefly seen on the streets of Royston Vasey in the Victorian era, shaking a collection tin in a suggestive manner. Their absence is unusual for such important and frequently used characters.
Benjamin Denton
The first character to be introduced, Benjamin is the only permanent non-local character. To illustrate his normality, Shearsmith wears no makeup of any kind in his portrayal of Benjamin. He is also an important character in some of the major storylines. Originally he stopped at the Dentons' to stay the night before embarking on a hiking trip with a friend. However, his friend was murdered by Tubbs and Edward. Tubbs now permanently wears the friend's walking boots.More importantly, at the end of Season 1, he attempts to escape from Royston Vasey, and is last seen entering Tubbs and Edward's shop. After some time missing, he returns at the start of Season 2, dressed in a grass skirt and coconut bra, covered in mud, and collapsing, uttering the word "local" as the camera zooms in on the snow globe he was carrying.
Though he cannot remember where he has been, he has a snow globe taken from the Local Shop. It is implied that Tubbs and Edward had attempted to keep Benjamin as a friend (or, based on how he's dressed, a wife) for David. Taking advantage of Benjamin's lacklustre state, the Dentons plan to keep him as a pet, although this is foiled when he recovers to a reasonable extent. After escaping the Denton's home, Benjamin is surprised to find that Royston Vasey has descended into anarchy as a result of the nosebleed epidemic. At this point, he finds the snow globe in his pocket and remembers his experiences in the Local Shop and leads an angry mob there. However, the rioters wrongly interpret this to mean that Tubbs and Edward are responsible for the epidemic, and only when they begin to burn down the local shop in the final scenes of Season 2 does Benjamin realise his mistake. He does not appear in Season 3, presumably having finally escaped Royston Vasey at the end of Season 2.
Hilary Briss
Briss, played by Gatiss, is a butcherButcher
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...
and proprietor of Hilary Briss and Son, Royston Vasey local butchers. His wares include a secret "special stuff", a highly addictive and mysterious substance, which, it is implied, is not only illegal but hideously immoral. Many authority figures are "in" on Briss' activities, including Police Inspector Cox, Magistrate Maurice Evans (Pemberton) and Councillor Samuel Chignell (Shearsmith), all of whom become hopelessly addicted.
Though Briss only sells his "special stuff" to a select group of gentlemen (often in cosy fireside gatherings at Briss' home), in Season 2 addiction to the "special stuff" led to a hemorrhagic epidemic—that is, chronic nose bleeding. This resulted in the death of many local residents, including the Mayor. The "special stuff" had reached a wider market through Evans' wife Eunice, who served it at her sandwich stall. She had gained access to the "special stuff" presumably through Maurice. The pure dose of "special stuff" which Briss served was one thing, but Eunice cut the substance and mixed it with her own paste, making it poisonous.
Before he could be caught, Briss escaped to a tropical island (where he continued selling his "special stuff") leaving behind his wife, who it turns out is a brown cow. Eunice was arrested along with Inspector Cox, while Sam and Maurice are last seen with nosebleeds, burning evidence of the "special stuff". Maurice appears to survive as he is talked about by Eunice in Season 3, but we don't know if Sam also survived. In Season 3 Briss's store is seen to be boarded up with graffiti reading 'Murderer' painted across the front. Briss did not appear in Season 3; all we know of him is a newspaper showing a story of a nosebleed epidemic in the Caribbean, suggesting his antics continued there in much the same way as before. However, in the film The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse
The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse
The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse is a feature film spin-off of the popular British television comedy series The League of Gentlemen. Starring Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, the film was written by the cast with Jeremy Dyson, and directed by Steve Bendelack...
(not considered canon to the series ), he returns clad in handcuffs and being chased by the police across the moors. Whereas in the first two seasons, Briss is a fairly one-dimensional villain, in the film, he is fleshed out into the anti-hero of the piece before being killed by Dr Pea, the film's parody of occultist John Dee
John Dee (mathematician)
John Dee was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, imperialist and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. He devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination and Hermetic philosophy....
.
Though it is never revealed what "special stuff" consists of, many have assumed that it is human meat. However, the writers have denied that this is the case, stating that they can think of "nothing more mundane than cannibalism
Cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
", and indicating that it is something much worse. However, the Season 1 DVD includes a fragment of brainstorming materials in its bonus section, on which the idea of the butcher selling human appendices obtained from the local hospital is listed. Others suspect it is a highly addictive substance like cocaine, given various clues throughout Seasons 1 and 2. Even the writers were apparently not sure what the special stuff was at the beginning of the series. When Briss takes Maurice along with him to receive a "special delivery" from deep in a dark forest, we see whom he gets the special stuff from: a tall ominous figure accompanied by a hunchbacked figure. It is shown that even Briss seems absolutely terrified of them. The only clue from the original live shows as to what the substance is that it rhymes with "drawstring", which has led some fans to believe that the "special stuff" is circumcised foreskins. 'Bris' is also the Yiddish name for the Brit milah
Brit milah
The brit milah is a Jewish religious circumcision ceremony performed on 8-day old male infants by a mohel. The brit milah is followed by a celebratory meal .-Biblical references:...
, the Jewish circumcision ceremony.
According to the character biography in Series 1, Briss says that his age "spans great oceans of time". What exactly he means by this is under debate.
Mr Chinnery
A cheerful and disarming man, Mr Matthew Chinnery (Gatiss) is the accident-prone local veterinarian (not "Dr Chinnery", as he is a veterinary surgeon). Most of the animals he treats end up dying, including a pregnant cow whose insides were mangled when he attempted to help the calf but put his hand up the wrong passage while a group of schoolchildren looked on, a sheepdogSheep dog
- Animals :*Livestock guardian dog, a dog used to guard sheep and other livestock*Herding dog, a dog used to herd sheep and other livestock- Computer science :*Sheepdog a distributed storage system for QEMU/KVM - Songs :...
whom he mistakenly euthanised
Animal euthanasia
Animal euthanasia is the act of putting to death painlessly or allowing to die, as by withholding extreme medical measures, an animal suffering from an incurable, especially a painful, disease or condition. Euthanasia methods are designed to cause minimal pain and distress...
while the owner was out of the room fetching the actual patient, and a tortoise
Tortoise
Tortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
he blasted out of its shell while attempting to give it oxygen. He was also responsible for botching Barbara's operation. As a result of his many accidents, he gets more and more upset.
In the Christmas Special, Mr Chinnery, who fears that he's on the verge of losing his sanity, told Bernice the story of how his great-grandfather Edmund Chinnery, the foremost vet of his time, was cursed to have any animal he touched "meet a dreadful end" and that his descendants would carry the curse after him. Bernice reassured him that there was no such thing as curses and that he, the doctor who first had the curse and his ancestor had had accidents similar to the curse primarily because they were scared of the curse and thought that they had it. She then told him to go and do his next job without any fear of the curse. He does not appear at all in Season 3 (most likely because he was "cured" in the Christmas special), but does make an appearance in the film, The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse
The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse
The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse is a feature film spin-off of the popular British television comedy series The League of Gentlemen. Starring Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, the film was written by the cast with Jeremy Dyson, and directed by Steve Bendelack...
, treating a giraffe and having a role in the film's climax. In the live show, he stands in for a magician and gives a new twist to the trick of pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
Many of Chinnery's disasters are parodies of scenes from the BBC's All Creatures Great and Small. Mark Gatiss's performance is reminiscent of Peter Davison
Peter Davison
Peter Davison is a British actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1982 to 1984.-Early life:Davison was born Peter Moffett in Streatham,...
, who played Tristan Farnon on that program. (Gatiss is also a famous fan of Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, in which Davison played the title character for three years. The name Chinnery almost certainly comes from actor Dennis Chinnery
Dennis Chinnery
Dennis Chinnery is a British actor, noted for his performances in television.His credits include: Hancock's Half Hour, Dixon of Dock Green, Z-Cars, Softly, Softly, The Saint, The Avengers, The Prisoner, The Champions, Public Eye, Special Branch, Oh Brother! 'The Laughter of a Fool' and...
who played three separate characters in Doctor Who. Coincidentally, Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston is an English stage, film and television actor. His films include Let Him Have It, Shallow Grave, Elizabeth, 28 Days Later, Gone in 60 Seconds, The Others, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra...
, the ninth Doctor, appeared in the League of Gentlemen as the owner of a cat theatre, set up in direct competition to Kenny Harris's Dog Cinema — Kenny Harris also played by Mark Gatiss.) Mark Gatiss was also in an episode of Doctor Who called "The Lazarus Experiment". The wig that he wore playing Professor Richard Lazarus in this episode was the same wig which was used for Mr. Chinnery in The League of Gentlemen.
Job Centre
Pauline Campbell-Jones (Pemberton) is a Restart officer in charge of leading mandatory (and exceedingly condescending) Restart course which the chronically unemployed are compelled to attend. Pauline makes no secret of her contempt for the "doleJobseeker's Allowance
Jobseeker's Allowance is a United Kingdom benefit, colloquially known as the dole . It is a form of unemployment benefit paid by the government to people who are unemployed and seeking work. It is part of the social security benefits system and is intended to cover living expenses while the...
scum" who attend her course at Royston Vasey's Jobcentre
Jobcentre Plus
Jobcentre Plus was a government agency for working-age people in Great Britain. The agency was formed when the Employment Service, which operated Jobcentres, merged with the Benefits Agency, which ran social security offices, and was re-named Jobcentre Plus on 1 April 2002...
, and her eventual humiliation at joining their sorry ranks is too much for her to bear. Pauline has an unusual obsession with pens (she has a tendency to bring one out whenever someone needs one) and has a startling similarity to Deirdre Rachid from Coronation Street (a fact commented on by Ross). Her catchphrase is "hokey-cokey, pig in a pokey!" which she says when she enters the classroom where her Restart courses take place. Pauline was accused by Cathy Carter-Smith of being a "psychotic 50-year-old lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
", to which she responds "How Dare You! I'm 48!" Her starsign is Virgo. She has a framed photograph of herself and another woman naked, who was named on the commentary of the Season 2 DVD as a former lover of Pauline's named Terri Makepeace. In the commentary of the Season 1 DVD when asked whether she is in a relationship, Pauline says, rather sadly, "There was someone once", and the commentary also names that person as Terri Makepeace. When asked about her family, she claims that they are all dead.
Mickey and Ross are two of the people taking the Restart course. Mickey M. Michaels (Gatiss), a well-meaning simpleton who wants to be a fireman
Firefighter
Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
, grows increasingly close to Pauline throughout the series - Pauline has developed the nickname "Mickey Luv" for him. Ross Gaines (Shearsmith) is considerably more intelligent than Pauline and always tries to embarrass her when asked to perform tasks to the rest of the class. However, Pauline usually resorts to violence to secure the upper hand. Ross seems very officious and doesn't appear to have any close friends or family — when Pauline once flicked through his address book it was empty apart from "Work" and "Mother". The course is also attended by a man named Colin.
At the end of Season 1, Ross reveals that he's an undercover agent
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
who has been inspecting Pauline. Naturally, he fires her, forcing her to sit the Restart course which, in Season 2, is now being led by Cathy Carter-Smith (Shearsmith), who's just as bad as, if not worse than, Pauline. After Mickey stands up for her, she leaves the class and briefly works with him at the Burger Me fast-food restaurant, but is fired when she spoils Ross's veggie burger in revenge. In an act of desperation Pauline, with the help of Mickey, takes Ross hostage in the Jobcentre and demands her job back. However, they aren't noticed, partly due to the epidemic and partly due to the fact that no one realises Ross is missing. Ross eventually tricks Mickey and escapes, returning later to have Pauline arrested. As an interesting side note, moments before she is arrested, Pauline is about to take a bite from a sandwich
Sandwich
A sandwich is a food item, typically consisting of two or more slices of :bread with one or more fillings between them, or one slice of bread with a topping or toppings, commonly called an open sandwich. Sandwiches are a widely popular type of lunch food, typically taken to work or school, or...
which she had just bought from Eunice Evans' stall. When she sees Ross with a police officer, she drops the sandwich in surprise. Presumably, had she eaten the sandwich she would have been poisoned.
In Season 3, Pauline is serving time at HM Clitclink Prison alongside Eunice Evans, nicknamed "The Royston Poisoner," whom she bullies and extorts pens from for temporary possession of 'The Exocet' an item featured later in Lance's joke shop. She is given early release when she strikes a deal with Ross to discover how Mickey's family has been cheating the employment system. However, she feels guilty for her involvement and she and Mickey sleep together and become engaged, cementing their love for each other. Mickey was dressed as a woman at the time and he asks Pauline if that was the reason she had sex with him, but she tells him it wasn't. Pauline then has sex with Ross to make sure he doesn't tell Mickey about their deal (although it is also implied she has actually been attracted to him all this time—these two liaisons suggest Pauline may actually be bisexual), but he decides to tell him anyway. He claims that he's doing this because "you made me hate my job!" Pauline runs to get to Mickey before Ross exposes her, and is nearly hit by the speeding Legz Akimbo van (driven by Geoff) before being saved by Lance, who sacrifices his life to save hers. She and Mickey get married, and even Ross applauds the happy couple.
In the live show, there is a "Who Shot Pauline?" saga, featuring Ross, Mickey, and Cathy Carter-Smith as suspects.
Geoff, Mike, and Brian
Geoffrey "Geoff" Tipps (Shearsmith), Mike Harris (Pemberton), and Brian Morgan (Gatiss) all work at the local plastics injection-moulding company (In the original radio series, this was a nuclear power plant). Mike is the most normal of the trio (like Shearsmith's portrayal of Benjamin Denton, Mike is portrayed by Pemberton with no added makeup), whilst Brian is slightly less intelligent, though still a good friend. Geoff is rather more tactless and distasteful, always aiming to perfect his comic timing with a series of ill-formed jokes. The three getting together always results in Geoff exploding in a fit of rage, often brandishing a gun and exclaiming "You knew I had this gun, Brian!" In Season 2, en route to an away-day training session, they become lost in the woods and turn to barbarism in a parody of DeliveranceDeliverance
Deliverance is a 1972 American thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman. Principal cast members include Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty in his film debut. The film is based on a 1970 novel of the same name by American author James Dickey, who has a small role in the...
. The reason Mike and Brian remain friends with Geoff despite his outbursts remains a mystery until Mike's wedding, when it's revealed that Mike once slept with Geoff's ex-wife, whilst Brian is now married to her.
In Season 3 Geoff travels to London to become a stand-up comedian (unsuccessfully) after being sacked by Mike, only to be accused of terrorism and having to return to Royston Vasey as police are searching for him in London. On the way back he swerves his stolen van into a garden wall and is horribly disfigured. He is finally seen a great deal happier (albeit with his face heavily bandaged) in hospital surrounded by his friends, including Mike and his wife Cheryl. The fact that his face has been disfigured concludes his story in Season 3: the search for him was based on a facial description, so he's no longer in danger of being caught by the police.
Brian is mentioned early in Season 3; where Geoff claims a rumor's going around that he was "bummed by some binmen." He appears in person later, having quit his job to search for his missing wife Katie, but eventually both he and his wife are imprisoned inside circus animals—along with Reenie, Charlie, and Bernice—by Papa Lazarou. Neither Mike nor Brian appears in The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse; Geoff, however, is an important character in it as he overcomes his anger and cowardice to emerge as the hero—despite shooting Mark Gatiss at the end of the film when he takes the safety catch off Herr Lipp's gun. His film character noticeably differs from his television persona: instead of being angry, bitter, and nearly psychotic, he's more of a bumbling yet kind-hearted underdog.
Les McQueen
Les McQueen (Gatiss) is former rhythm-guitar player for 70s glam rockGlam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
band Creme Brulée (and still has plenty of copies of two of their albums: Just Desserts and Another Helping). He now works in the hospital laundry, longing for the old days when he would walk into a Royston Vasey urinal and heads would turn. He constantly bothers other aspiring musicians he meets, boring them with tales of a now outdated and unfashionable music era. When they politely (or in some cases impolitely) ask him to leave them alone, he does so, stating sadly (as if he is trying to convince himself of it, rather than convince whoever he is talking to): "It's a shit business; I'm glad I'm out of it."
McQueen is one of the more 'normal' inhabitants of Royston Vasey (when compared to other much more bizarre characters such as Tubbs, Edward and Papa Lazarou), as well as one of the more tragic characters. As a result he evoked genuine sympathy from the audience. However, despite this, he's never given anything close to mercy by the writers, with things getting progressively worse for him. In his final appearance in Season 2 he's conned out of his redundancy package (which he was going to use to open a bar abroad) by the lead singer of Creme Brulée, in the hopes of reuniting the band. In the commentary on the DVD, the writers mention an alternative ending where the reunion actually happens and the band is a success. He makes a brief cameo appearance in Season 3 as the MC for the Little Miss Elegance Beauty Pageant.
In the live version of the show, he's introduced as just having had a major resurgence in his career, with a big record contract and a promising solo career. When he walks on stage he dances to the music before approaching the microphone
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
and is fatally electrocuted. This is followed up in the second live tour, whereby he is waiting to audition for the "Commu-nativity". He talks about his career to a hooded teenager next to him—who turns out to be the Grim Reaper, waiting to lead the deceased Les McQueen to his afterlife.
Rev. Bernice Woodall
The local vicarVicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
, Bernice (Shearsmith) does not believe in God or the teachings of the Bible, and constantly berates parishioners for their sins. It seems she takes a perverse pleasure in humiliating people in the confessional booth. In a recent BBC7 League of Gentlemen night Reece Shearsmith revealed that the original incarnation of Bernice was based on This Morning
This Morning (TV series)
This Morning is a British daytime television programme broadcast on ITV. As of September 2011, its main presenters are Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, and Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, with various other presenters standing in for illness or contributing to sections of the programme.The...
's agony aunt, Denise Robertson
Denise Robertson
Denise Robertson MBE is a writer and television broadcaster in the United Kingdom...
.
Her original role in the radio series was as the local DJ. In the live show, she acted as an agony aunt on her own show called "Hours of Agony", supposedly attempting to comfort, but really just insulting, an obese woman.
In the Christmas Special it emerges that Bernice witnessed her mother being kidnapped
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
when she was a child, perhaps explaining her cynical outlook on the world. She plays an important role in the Christmas Special, hearing the problems of some of the locals, all the while battling with her past. At first she has no sympathy for the people who tell her about their troubles, but gains more sympathy when Mr Chinnery arrives to describe his problem. When she has helped him "cure" himself of the curse, she regains her faith and is preparing the church for the next day when the kidnapper suddenly returns for her, revealing himself as Papa Lazarou
Papa Lazarou
Papa Lazarou is a fictional character in the BBC TV comedy programme The League of Gentlemen.He appeared in two episodes, a Christmas special, and the film The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse. The character is part written by and played by Reece Shearsmith.Papa Lazarou has been listed as both the...
. He kidnaps her declaring "You're my wife now."
A picture of her is seen on a missing-persons flier posted on the church noticeboard at the start of the Season 3, and at the end she is briefly spotted in Papa Lazarou
Papa Lazarou
Papa Lazarou is a fictional character in the BBC TV comedy programme The League of Gentlemen.He appeared in two episodes, a Christmas special, and the film The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse. The character is part written by and played by Reece Shearsmith.Papa Lazarou has been listed as both the...
's big tent — trapped inside an elephant with Brian, Charlie, and various other people. She also makes an appearance in the movie as the person who organises the attempts to save Royston Vasey and might have had some foresight in the coming destruction of the town.
Mrs Levinson and Iris Krell
Middle class Judee Levinson (Shearsmith) and her grotesque cleaning lady Iris Krell (Gatiss) who both have troubled private lives, indulge in a regular microcosm of the class struggle. Each taunts the other—Mrs Levinson with tales of her luxury lifestyle; Iris with lurid stories of her sex life—in a constant game of one-upmanship (at last count, at the end of Season 2, their score was 3-3). The stories usually turn to personal insults about upsetting events in each other's lives with increasingly catastrophic revelations.These stories usually involve their husbands, who are never seen. Judee's husband, Eddie, is said to be "King of the Carpet Warehouses," but in the final episode of Season 2, it is revealed that he became bankrupt and died of a heart attack at 42. Iris's husband, Ron, is alive and well, but Judee believes him to be nothing more than a sex-hungry prehistoric animal. Iris tells Judee "Ron has me doing things that would make a whore blush!"
At the end of Season 2, Iris finally snaps back at Judee after all her insults, revealing that they are mother and daughter. The story goes that a teen Iris gave birth to Judee but they were soon separated. Many years later, Judee hired Iris as a cleaner, but upon discovery of her being her mother, nothing changed between them. This is taken a step further in the live show, where it is suggested not only that both are cleaners who take it in turns to pretend to be their unseen employer, but that they are father and son who've been pretending to be women all along.
In Season 3, Judee has started up a beauty salon with Charlie Hull called "Spit and Polish". The customers believe her to be giving the massages, when it is in fact Charlie. During this time, Judee develops a crush on Charlie. When people start demanding "extras", Charlie struggles with homosexuality when he finds himself attracted to Tony, the man with whom his wife, Stella, has had an affair. When he confesses to giving "extras", Judee fires him and Stella takes the opportunity to leave him after her gambling addiction finally pays off. Iris, meanwhile, appears to have a brief cameo in Pop's strip club, where her body is seen dancing and Pop thanks a woman called Iris for her services. She is also heard on one of the massage tapes in the beauty salon, asking Judee if she wants a cup of tea.
Charlie and Stella Hull
Charlie (Pemberton) and Stella (Shearsmith) are a husband and wife with a tempestuous relationship. They have grown to hate each other and quarrel endlessly, using unwilling third parties as mediators. These include their daughter's boyfriend Tony (Gatiss), a waiter, and a baby. Their daughter, Julie, is never seen. In the second live show, it is revealed that Julie died 10 years ago - she drowned in the bath when Stella went to check the lottery numbers instead of looking after her ("It was a Rollover..." Stella cried). Also in this live show, the warring couple appeared to reignite some degree of unity and compassion with Charlie agreeing that Stella could "still buy her [Julie] clothes!"It is often suggested, though, that most of their quarrels are competitive, as seen when, after the third party voices his/her displeasure at the situation and leaves, they revert to normal or polite conversation, as though their quarrel has been forgotten completely. Throughout the sketches in Seasons 1 and 2, we discover that Stella has a gambling addiction, and that she has slept with other men, including Tony.
In the Christmas Special, the story is taken a step further, with both Charlie and Stella speaking to each other directly for the first time during their argument. Charlie visits the Reverend Bernice about a dream he keeps having where he is going to enter a line-dancing competition on Boxing Day. Frustrated with his obsession over his new hobby, Stella seeks help from her friend Donna (Liza Tarbuck
Liza Tarbuck
Liza Tarbuck is an English actress and television and radio presenter, and daughter of comedian Jimmy Tarbuck.She trained at the National Youth Theatre and RADA graduating in 1986 alongside Clive Owen, Rebecca Pidgeon and Serena Harragin.-Acting:...
), through the form of a secret organisation called "Solutions, Inc." (which is run by Val Denton and includes other local females such as Pauline, Vinnie & Reenie, Judee & Iris, and Pam Doove, all of whom wear white masks). She gives them three items belonging to Charlie, which they use to form a voodoo doll of him, saying that they will let her know the price when the deed is done. During the line-dancing competition, Charlie does very well until he falls (Val throws the doll to the ground) and cannot stop dancing (Pauline burns the doll's feet) and is forced to douse himself with beer (the women use water) to stop himself. He receives an extremely low score, effectively ruining his hobby and his confidence.
Later, on a snowy day, Stella is relaxing on a bench with Lee (Mark Gatiss), Donna's husband, with whom she's been having an affair. She tells Lee about her success with Solutions, Inc., but Lee claims he has never heard of the organization despite the help they apparently provided his and Donna's relationship. Suddenly, blood gushes from his throat and he falls over dead. One of the "Solutions" members then appears and reveals herself to be Donna. She used Charlie's razor to slit Lee's doll's throat, saying that this is the price and begins shouting for the police to arrest Stella, having framed her for Lee's murder. Unfortunately, Bernice cynically believes his story to be nothing more than a "cheese-dream" and kicks him out of her church; he cries as he wanders off into the night.
In Season 3, Charlie forms a partnership with Judee Levinson at the "Spit and Polish" beauty salon, where he is soon asked to give "extras" to customers (i.e. helping them masturbate). After he gives an "extra" to Tony (with whom Stella has had an affair), he struggles with homosexuality after suddenly developing feelings for Tony himself and even desiring to share Stella with Tony. When Tony goes on a date with Judee, Charlie confesses to have given the "extras." As a result, Tony is disgusted and beats him up, before Judee fires him and Stella announces she has won on the pools and is going on holiday without him. To crown it all, his order at the restaurant has to be cancelled, as they are out of calamari. Depressed and rejected, he wanders to the Windermere B & B, but it is closed for a private function. He gets caught up in the accident involving Pauline, Lance, Geoff and the Legz Akimbo van before being kidnapped by Keith Drop (aka Papa Lazarou) and imprisoned inside an elephant (although in his final appearance he is shown to be happy, as Brian was now keeping him company).
Charlie is usually seen wearing his Rotherham United replica home shirt from the 1996 season.
Charity Shop Workers
Vinnie Wythenshaw and Reenie Calver are two old ladies (Shearsmith and Pemberton) obsessed with carrier bags and whether the toys people donate have the 'special mark'. They are disorganised and skittish and have a particular dislike for the "Spastic" charity shop and "that Merrill", an unseen co-worker who works when they are "ill" on Thursdays. Reenie has a hearing disorder meaning that she misinterprets practically everything Vinnie or a customer says. They berate customers for being rude, even though their rudeness is often acceptable given the difficulty they have in processing even the simplest task.In Season 3, Vinnie is killed when she falls off her motorised mobility scooter onto a large spike, in the process of chasing a red plastic bag that flew out of the Charity Shop window. This bag plays an important role in connecting all the storylines in Season 3 and having great significance in the motor accident at the end of each episode which links all the stories into one larger narrative as we see the accident from differing character's viewpoints. Her replacement turns out to be Keith Drop, whom Reenie befriends after losing her best friend. However, Keith reveals his true identity to be Papa Lazarou. Reenie and Brian follow him back to his house, attempting to find out what has happened to Brian's wife, but both are then kidnapped and imprisoned, Reenie inside a crocodile, Brian in an elephant.
Papa Lazarou has also been taking the possessions of his "wives" to sell at the charity shop, and this is why Brian begins to suspect that "Keith" (aka Papa Lazarou) knows something about his wife's disappearance - he finds, for sale in the shop, a brooch that she was wearing on the day she went missing.
Henry Portrait and Ally Welles
Two scruffy teenagers played by Pemberton and Shearsmith, who consider themselves to be film experts, but will only watch a film if it has a sufficient number of "killings". Named after, respectively, "Henry: Portrait of a Serial KillerHenry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is a 1986 crime horror film directed and co-written by John McNaughton about the random crime spree of a serial killer who seemingly operates with impunity. It stars Michael Rooker as the nomadic killer Henry, Tom Towles as Otis, a prison buddy with whom Henry is...
" and Leslie Halliwell
Leslie Halliwell
Robert James Leslie Halliwell was a British film encyclopaedist and television impresario who in 1965 compiled The Filmgoer's Companion, the first one-volume encyclopaedia devoted to all aspects of the cinema. He followed it a dozen years later with Halliwell's Film Guide, another monumental work...
. When not browsing the horror section at the local video rental shop or sitting in the cinema, they wandering the streets playing the game "Who would win out of.." in which they pair up famous film characters in hypothetical duels.
Papa Lazarou
Main article Papa LazarouPapa Lazarou
Papa Lazarou is a fictional character in the BBC TV comedy programme The League of Gentlemen.He appeared in two episodes, a Christmas special, and the film The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse. The character is part written by and played by Reece Shearsmith.Papa Lazarou has been listed as both the...
Papa Lazarou
Papa Lazarou
Papa Lazarou is a fictional character in the BBC TV comedy programme The League of Gentlemen.He appeared in two episodes, a Christmas special, and the film The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse. The character is part written by and played by Reece Shearsmith.Papa Lazarou has been listed as both the...
(Shearsmith), blackface
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
d proprietor of a travelling circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
and freak show
Freak show
A freak show is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to as "freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, those with both male and female secondary sexual characteristics, people with other extraordinary diseases and...
, The Pandemonium Carnival, with a frighteningly acquisitive nature. In the first episode of Season 2, Lazarou is introduced when he brings his circus to Royston Vasey. The episode also introduces his bizarre pastimes such as selling pegs and collecting wives. In one particularly memorable scene, he breaks into a woman's house, unrelentingly asking for "Dave" ("Hello Dave" and "Is Dave there?" have since become his catchphrases). He frightens her into giving him her wedding ring, before declaring "you're my wife now". This scene in particular was cited as one of the most macabre and genuinely frightening scenes from the series. However, he ran off when he realised that everyone in Royston Vasey was stranger than he was.
In Season 3 he became even more sinister when he took on the disguise of Keith Drop at the Charity Shop, and demonstrated his more elaborate techniques of keeping his wives (and anyone who dared to rescue them) in his circus animals.
Papa Lazarou quickly became a fan favourite, despite only appearing in two episodes out of the whole three seasons of LOG. He also featured in the Christmas special and the League of Gentleman's Apocalypse.
Papa Lazarou seems to display some unusual physiology. When disguised as Keith in Season 3, part of his flesh-coloured make-up was scratched off, revealing his familiar colouration beneath. This suggests that this is in fact his natural skin, rather than Blackface. In his film appearance, he coughs up a hairball, composed of his own black curly hair.
Papa Lazarou doesn't seem to age. In the Christmas Special when he kidnaps Bernice's mother he looks the same age as he does in the series.
According to interviews with Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton broadcast on the BBC, Papa Lazarou is based on Peter Papalazarou, one of their past landlords. Many of Papa Lazarou's catchphrases are based on the telephone conversations that Reece used to have with Papalazarou, including an insistence on speaking to Steve which generated the "Hello, Dave ?" and "Is Dave there ?" catchphrases.
Herr Lipp
Herr Wolf Lipp (Pemberton) is a German from DuisburgDuisburg
- History :A legend recorded by Johannes Aventinus holds that Duisburg, was built by the eponymous Tuisto, mythical progenitor of Germans, ca. 2395 BC...
, who leads tour groups in Royston Vasey. A homosexual, he becomes obsessed with Justin Smart, a boy with whom he is staying. Justin's mother comes down with a nosebleed during the epidemic, leaving Herr Lipp more time to spend with him. He has not quite mastered the English language, so he often makes mistakes which come out as double entendre
Double entendre
A double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....
s. He has been to Vasey before, as well as many other cities in Britain, where he has presumably come into contact with many schoolboys like Justin. In the penultimate episode of Season 2, he struggles to express his feelings for Justin before ending up throwing some drug-laced coffee in his face, causing him to collapse. When Herr Lipp says goodbye to Mrs Smart (who survives the epidemic, having only been a "carrier"), it is revealed that he and his wife, Lotte (Gatiss), buried Justin alive, with only a snorkel to breathe through. He leaves saying "See you next year, Justin! Tschüß!" before stroking the snorkel.
In the Christmas Special, a man named Matthew Parker reveals how in 1975, he was part of an exchange programme and stayed with the Lipps, where Herr Lipp ran a boys choir and Lotte assisted on the organ. He gradually comes to believe that Herr Lipp is a vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
and, when Lipp attempts to make advances on him, he misinterprets them as Lipp's attempts to make him into a vampire, but in the end it is revealed that Lotte is the one who is a vampire, as well as the choirboys, who were turned into vampires because Rolf could never give her any children. Matthew flees the church, but the choirboys appear to eat away at Herr Lipp before he can escape. He does not appear in Season 3.
In The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, he discovers that he is a character in the programme and disguises himself as his creator, Steve Pemberton, blending in at home and treating his wife and children far better than the real Pemberton appears to. He becomes upset at his status as a one-joke character, feeling it better for him to die than to carry on without Free Will
Free will
"To make my own decisions whether I am successful or not due to uncontrollable forces" -Troy MorrisonA pragmatic definition of free willFree will is the ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. The existence of free will and its exact nature and definition have long...
, thus threatening to shoot Mark Gatiss during the film's climax. He is convinced by Geoff to hand over the gun, Geoff subsequently kills Gatiss believing that the safety catch was on. Lipp appears to have changed, as he is last seen looking after some children seeking their parents after the apocalypse.
In the live show, he is allowed some audience participation by playing "Blind Man's Poof" with an unfortunate young man.
Legz Akimbo
Legz Akimbo (Oliver Plimsoles, Dave Parkes, Phil Proctor) is a particularly earnest travelling theatre company. Ollie (Shearsmith) is the leader of the troupe; he writes, directs and produces all the work. He is still trying to cope with his discovery of his wife's lesbianLesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
ism. Phil (Gatiss) is gay and both Dave (Pemberton) and Ollie are jealous of his ability to get film and television roles, but both Phil and Dave hate Ollie. They drive in their van, nicknamed "Bessie" (a possible homage to the car driven in Doctor Who, of which Gatiss is a longtime fan) and their slogan is "Legz Akimbo - Put Yourself in a Child!"
Gatiss' character, Phil Proctor, is no doubt named for Philip Proctor
Philip Proctor
Philip Proctor is an American actor, voice actor and a member of The Firesign Theatre. He plays Rocky Rococo and Nancy in the Nick Danger series. He is from Goshen, Indiana...
, a voice actor and longtime member of the radio comedy troupe, The Firesign Theatre
The Firesign Theatre
The Firesign Theatre is an American comedy troupe consisting of Phil Austin, Peter Bergman, David Ossman and Philip Proctor. Their brand of surrealistic humor is best known through their record albums, which acquired a cult following in the late 1960s and early '70s.The troupe began as live radio...
, pioneers in the sort of bizarre, dense character comedy that the League explores.
In Season 1, during a production of "Everybody Out!" (a play about homosexuality) at the local school in Royston Vasey, it is revealed that Phil is leaving the group at the end of the month as he has been "plucked for stardom" — a fact that Dave and Ollie put down to his homosexuality. However, by the end of the episode, Dave reveals that he has also decided to leave the group, leaving Ollie exasperated. In Season 2, they are both back inexplicably, performing in a new play about homeless people called "No Home 4 Johnny". They are seen trying to calm the homeless at the town hall during the nosebleed epidemic, but instead it triggers an angry mob to confront Mayor Vaughan and, eventually, Tubbs and Edward.
In Season 3, they're together again, working on their latest play, "Vegetable Soup" (about the disabled) in the "Salmon of Knowledge" comedy club in London run by Geoff's old friend, Don Lynch (Gatiss). However, Ollie insists on trying out "extended improv" — meaning that Dave must order a cake from a bakery whilst pretending he is "deafblind", while Phil sits in a wheelchair. Phil pretends to lie on the pavement and when a man spots him, he complains to Ollie, whose rude behaviour ends up in him being beaten up. Later, Ollie, now himself in a wheelchair from his injuries, witnesses Geoff stealing the Legz Akimbo van and heading back to Royston Vasey.
They play an important connecting role in the second live tour, organising a "Commu-nativity" for the inhabitants of Royston Vasey.
Also, Ollie's supposed email address was printed in the tour programme. One fan, after sending an email and discovering the address didn't exist, decided to set up the account in his own name, thereafter acting as Ollie on the dedicated forums and MSN Messenger. This mystery lasted for a short while until his identity was revealed as being a fan, with the "real" Ollie (Shearsmith) having no affiliation with it, although it was referenced in a blog on the official website.
Additional characters
- Ernest Foot (Pemberton), a widower who tries to be politically correct but always puts his foot in it. In Season 3, his brother Peter (Shearsmith) rehearses his funeral every weekend, long after his family has had enough; to get revenge, Ernest reveals his plans to marry Sheila (Gatiss), Peter's wife, by rehearsing at the time of Peter's funeral rehearsal and pretending he is already dead.
- Dr Ira Carlton (Pemberton) is a GP who works in Royston Vasey, and a particularly unsympathetic one. If a patient's illness cannot be remedied by pills or medicines from a chemist, he refuses to treat them unless they buy his time by playing party games at his house. He has a habit of crunching Polo mints without sucking them. One of his patients is the tearful Mrs Beasley (Gatiss), who also visits the Charity Shop in Season 2. If the patients appear to demonstrate traits often ascribed to hypochondriacs, he orders them to "go out would you!".
- Olive Kilshaw (Shearsmith), who works for the Attachments Dating Agency. She is a very condescending and arrogant woman who regularly and openly riducules the clients of the agency who trust her to find them partners. She has a boyfriend of her own that she didn't meet at the agency, and tries to "help" Iain Cashmore (Pemberton), a man lacking self-confidence, to find a date, despite taunting him about his appearance and inability to find a girlfriend.
- Pamela Doove (Shearsmith), a woman trying to be an actress; although she cannot say a single easy line without putting on an unusual accent, which she is unaware of, and mispronouncing most of the words. She auditions for an orange juice commercial directed by Jed Hunter (Pemberton) in Season 2, but, instead of "Excuse me, has anyone got a bottle of orange juice," says, in an accent "escewse beef haf anybody got any bokkal oran joof!". She inexplicably wins the part; the commercial goes on to become a widespread success. Pam later performs as a Nazi in Keith Drop's local production of "The Diary of Anne Frank" in Season 3. Jed also witnesses Geoff's appalling stand up comedy in London in Season 3. Pamela is seen in the Christmas Special as part of "Solutions, Inc."; she asks for a bottle of orange juice in addition to the three items Stella needs to collect, and Val dismisses her.
- DJ Mike King (Shearsmith), the disc jockey at the local hospital. He plays a card game called "Go Johnny Go Go Go Go" (one of a series of card games he's made up) with two doctors in Season 2 and helps friend Lance get a new arm attached in Season 3. He is also seen as the DJ for the line-dancing competition in the Christmas Special attended by the Hulls.
- Owen Fallowfield (Gatiss), a mortician who loves his job, but is fired when certain activities are seen to have been inappropriate.
- Glen and Barry Baggs (Gatiss and Pemberton), debt collectors who aren't very good at their job, especially the obese Barry (Pemberton), who is very childish and in permanent need of food. Their boss is Mr Lisgoe (Shearsmith), who deals with them violently.
- Pop (Pemberton) is a lecherous Greek, the world's seediest landlord and its worst father, to his cringing sons Richie (Shearsmith) and Al (Gatiss). In Season 1 he disowns Richie after some Maverick barsMaverick (chocolate)Maverick was a chocolate bar snack manufactured by Nestlé Rowntree and marketed in the UK.The snack, which was similar to the Fuse bar sold by Nestlé Rowntree competitor Cadbury, was launched in 1997 and contained caramel, raisins and biscuit and toffee pieces covered in milk chocolate. Three years...
were stolen from Richie's newspaper booth he was supposed to be watching, and in Season 2 he ruins Al's chances of a relationship with a nurse called Patricia. Aside from owning a string of newsagents' and some tenements, Pop also owns a strip club which features in Series 3. When would-be tenants refuse to sign his contracts, he denounces them as being homosexual until they sign. - Christopher Frost (Shearsmith), store detectiveStore detectiveA store detective is employed to deter and detect theft in retail outlets . The term is no longer frequently used in the retail industry. More common terms today with major retailers are Loss Prevention Agent, Detective or Investigator and Asset Protection Officer or Investigator...
. Frost is a store detective who takes his work just a little too seriously, making a special effort to look inside prams, in case "baby turns out to be a 16 piece Queen Anne Breakfast set". He also targets wheelchair-bound individuals, completely prepared to ask them to slide over in their seats in case they're sitting on a book or a plate, saying "Chalk 'em up!" It turns out he's a bit of shoplifter himself. - Terry Lollard (Shearsmith) and Anne Hand (Pemberton), two religious door-to-door people who also sell loft conversions. Anne remains mostly silent and appears to have the mental age of a young child.
- Ken Sweeney, blind photographerBlindnessBlindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
- Lance Longthorne (Gatiss), a joke-shop owner with a very perverse sense of humour. He only has one arm and claims that the other was ripped from its socket by the Frankenstein monster at a young age. In Season 3 he gets a bigger role with his own story about being controlled by his new arm. His arm compels him to save Pauline from Geoff and he subsequently dies a hero.
- Little Don (played by Don EstelleDon EstelleDon Estelle was a British actor and singer.Born Donald Edwards in Crumpsall, Manchester, he was brought up in a house on Russell Street, Crumpsall. During World War II, at the age of eight, he was evacuated to Darwen, Lancashire, twenty miles away from his home town, to escape the German bombing...
), who runs a zoo on a town roundabout. He has a pig, a goat and a chimp. All three are stolen and killed by Edward.
- Kenny Harris (Gatiss), owner of the Dog Cinema. He is assisted by Shelley Shirley (Shearsmith) and Oshi Kurosawa (Pemberton). His rival is Dougal Siepp (Christopher Eccleston), who is more into cat films.
- Dean Tavalouris (Shearsmith), a hopeless street magician who uses his camera to film tricks in the street (a couple of pensioners lose interest, while two youths reveal his secret and stub a cigarette out in his hand). He uses his camera to cover the aftermath of the big accident at the end of Season 3. Named after the renowned 1970s film production designerDean TavoularisDean Tavoularis is an American motion picture production designer whose work appeared in numerous box office hits such as The Godfather films, Apocalypse Now, The Brink's Job, One from the Heart and Bonnie and Clyde.-Biography:...
. - Alvin (Gatiss) and Sunny Steele (Chrissie Furness), who run Windemere Guest House. Sunny regularly arranges and hosts bondage parties, at which Alvin, a very plain man who is fond of gardening, is often left feeling awkward. In Season 3, Sunny and the attendees at one of her bondage party are killed in a sex guru's machine after he has a heart attack and dies before he can switch the air back on, asphyxiating everyone else. Meanwhile, Alvin has an affair with Judith Buckle (Shearsmith), who works at a garden centre. After Alvin and Judith leave the Windermere Guest House, a BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television crew arrive to film a show that involves quickly constructing something in someone's garden (Alvin's garden being the next one they work on) and leaving. The construction workers come close to discovering the bodies, but are interrupted by Geoff when he crashes into Alvin's wall, in the big accident at the end of each episode. - Professor Erno Breastpinch'd (Gatiss), a man carrying out a survey on the streets of Royston Vasey, but his only question is if a woman wants her breasts pinched.
- Mayor Larry Vaughan (Roy Chubby BrownRoy 'Chubby' BrownRoy "Chubby" Brown is an English stand-up comedian, notorious for his decidedly blue humour. The controversial nature of his act means that he rarely appears on major television channels, and Brown has attracted accusations that his comedy style is outdated whilst also being described as "The most...
, Season 2 only). Larry Vaughan is a reference to the film JawsJaws (film)Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
, where Amity Island's Mayor also has this name. Ironically he is also extremely foul-mouthed and his bad language usually gets him in trouble with the media. In the end he dies from a massive nose-bleed just after assuring the public that the nose-bleeds have stopped. His last words are "Urrrgggh...bastards". An interesting note would be that Roy Chubby Brown's real name is in fact Royston Vasey, so he is the namesake of the village in which almost all of the League Of Gentlemen takes place. - Murray Mint (Gatiss), Vaughan's right hand man. He is fired when he hires Legz Akimbo to try and calm the homeless during the epidemic.
- Mick McNamara, the Stump Hole Caverns guide (Gatiss), who believes that he is responsible for the death of a small boy called Jay who once took part in his tour on a school trip.
- Farmer Jed Tinsel (Pemberton), the frighteningly paranoid and jealous farmer. Several of his animals have been killed by Mr. Chinnery. He imprisons Andrew Ward (Gatiss), who worked at the local cash and carry, because he had an affair with Tinsel's wife. Ward tries to get help from the Denton twins, but they simply ignore him.
- Cathy Carter-Smith (Shearsmith), Pauline's rival restart officer whose behavior is even more arrogant and patronising towards her clients. Cathy seems to be as obsessed with computers as Pauline is with pens. It is hinted in the first live show that she also shares Pauline's lesbian tendencies. Pauline has an intense dislike of Cathy, referring to her as a "tubby little tit-witch."
- Mr Ingleby (Shearsmith) is a shopkeeper who insists on doing all the work in his shop himself, despite him being very small (his height varies over the episodes). He only appears in the radio series; an escapologist called "Ingleby" is seen in Season 2 as part of Papa Lazarou's Pandemonium Carnival.
- Mr Wint and Mr Kidd, two construction workers who are seen planning for the new road in the beginning of "The Road to Royston Vasey." The pair inquire to Edward and Tubbs, with the intent of purchasing their land on behalf of PQ Construction. Unfortunately, Mr Kidd mentions that the road will bring strangers into their shop, and invokes the wrath of the couple. The pair are subjected to ritualistic torture and sexual assault, before Edward lets them go. However, while they flee, he shoots them down with a crossbow.
- Grandma Bradley, is a missing elderly woman. A missing persons poster was put up for her in "The Road to Royston Vasey." It is later shown that she has become trapped on the roof of the SynagogueSynagogueA synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
.