The League of Gentlemen-Series 2 (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio & Animation Menu Animation & Audio Audio Commentary-Cast and Director Featurette-Behind The Scenes Deleted Scenes Biographies-Character Gallery-Photo Gallery-Poster Isolated Musical Score
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	176:39 (Case: 225)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (92:38) Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Steve Bendelack
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Mark Gatiss Steve Pemberton Reece Shearsmith
Case	Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual
RPI	$49.95	Music	Joby Talbot

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (256Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (256Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The League of Gentlemen - Series 2 is the follow up to the outrageous black comedy following the weird happenings in the fictitious northern English town of Royston Vasey. The first series, reviewed earlier, was some of the most startlingly refreshing comedy television I have seen in years. Does the second series live up to the lofty standards of the first?

    Basically, yes it does. Whilst there are some new characters introduced in this series, you will be delighted to know that almost all of the monstrous creations make a welcome return. Tubbs and Edward, Pauline, Mr Chinnery and even Legz Akimbo are all back with a vengeance. Some of the new creations are simply outstanding, and add a welcome twist to the crazy shenanigans in Royston Vasey. Probably the most striking new character is Papa Lazarou, with his Pandemonium Carnival and his (genuinely) three-legged dog. A twisted creation indeed, his New Orleans style voodoo and travelling freak show are both scary and hilarious. Herr Lipp, a camp German tourist guide brings a group of exchange students to town for some Teutonic fun. Not all of the new characters are welcome however, and personally I found Vinnie and Reenie - the two old biddies who run the Charity Shop - to be more annoying than funny.

    The League of Gentlemen - Series 2 is presented as a two-disc set. The first disc presents all six episodes of the second series, whilst the second disc is full of bonus material. The series is even more sinister than the first, and whilst it is still uproariously funny on occasion, is rather more dramatic and slightly less humorous overall. Once again all of the major roles are played by Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith, but there are more supporting actors on hand this time, to provide a bit more variation to the faces. Foul-mouthed English comedian Roy "Chubby" Brown makes an appearance as the foul-mouthed Mayor - wittily enough, Royston Vasey is actually Brown's real name.

    The first disc provides the six episodes of the second series:

• Episode 1 (29:00): Destination Royston Vasey. The carnival is coming to town! Papa Lazarou and his Pandemonium Carnival arrive to thrill the folks of Royston Vasey with a freak show beyond compare...unless you compare it to the freakish residents of this town of course. Pauline meanwhile has been sacked from her position at the Job Centre, but refuses to let it go. Benjamin returns to the Denton's house - somewhat against his wishes.
 
• Episode 2 (29:08): Lust for Royston Vasey. A mysterious ailment begins to afflict the locals, with unstoppable nosebleeds creating huge queues at the St Mary of Bethlehem Hospital. Meanwhile, Benjamin is struggling to regain his memory of why he is at the Dentons. Herr Lipp arrives with a busload of non-local German exchange students.
 
• Episode 3 (29:26): A Plague on Royston Vasey. Les McQueen gets the chance to host a show on hospital radio - a night of Creme Brulee classics! Pops finds some tenants for his seedy flat, and he takes rather more interest in them than they would ever expect. Hilary Briss continues to supply the mysterious comestibles to his growing band of addicts. Pauline takes the law into her own hands after she is sacked from her job at "Burger Me".
 
• Episode 4 (30:06): Death in Royston Vasey. The nosebleeds are reaching epidemic proportions and are now warranting local TV news coverage. Tubbs and Edward begin the search for a "no-tail" to marry their captive son David. Benjamin discovers the joys of "Nude Day" at the Denton's. Brian, Geoff and Mike have to survive the wilds of the moors after becoming lost en-route to a management conference.
 
• Episode 5 (29:16) : Anarchy in Royston Vasey. The mysterious illness is causing panic in the town and the emergency services move in en masse. Tubbs and Edward resort to kidnapping after attempts to trap a local no-tail have failed. Les McQueen gets the opportunity of a lifetime as Creme Brulee plan to re-form and begin performing live once again! Herr Lipp must return to Germany - so will he be able to convince Justin of his feelings for him?
 
• Episode 6 (29:43) : Royston Vasey and the Monster from Hell. Edward and Tubbs have found a bride for David, so there are wedding bells in the air. The panic in the town is palpable and the Mayor needs something to raise morale. Perhaps a heartfelt rendition of "No Home 4 Johnny" by the magnificent Legz Akimbo will do the trick? Meanwhile Benjamin makes a desperate bid for freedom as his memory returns and things reach a horrifying climax.
 

    The League of Gentlemen - Series 2 is possibly slightly less funny than the first. I suppose that this series does not carry the same shock value as the first, as the main characters and their weird foibles are already known to the viewer, however, it remains a highly enjoyable, top quality piece of work. The drama has been ramped up slightly and this series is even darker than the first, often verging on the chilling. I await the third series with much anticipation. This is inspired comedy madness.

Video

    The video quality of this transfer is slightly better than the first series. Again however, it is not brilliant, and it does still have some minor defects.

    The series is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and it is 16x9 enhanced. I assume that this was the original televised aspect ratio. The video transfer is once again fairly soft, with quite a significant amount of grain present in many shots. One of the special features points out that this was a post-processing effect, deliberately applied to make the series look like it was shot on grainy film rather than high quality digital videotape.

    Colours are generally well rendered and the transfer is a little brighter than the first series. Skin tones look fairly natural, except when characters are deliberately wearing heavy make-up. Colour bleeding is not a problem. Black levels are pretty deep with no significant low level noise and acceptable shadow detail.

    The transfer is free from major MPEG artefacts. Much like the first series however, there is still a noticeable problem with aliasing throughout the series. It never reaches the annoyingly bad levels seen in the earlier release, but is nonetheless mildly distracting once noticed. The usual suspects are to blame, with spectacle frames and the edges of characters and furniture commonly showing the problem. Edge enhancement is not an issue and telecine wobble is absent.

    The transfer is free from significant film (video) artefacts.

    The English subtitles (for the Hard of Hearing) are legible, well timed and true to the on-screen dialogue, albeit with minor edits for brevity.

    This is an RSDL formatted disc, with the noticeable layer change cropping up just before a scene change at 5:02 during Episode 4. It's disappointing that it wasn't placed more carefully, before the start of the episode.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The overall audio transfer is typical for a television comedy show and is clean but rather unremarkable.

    The sole English audio track is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo encoded at 256 kbps, as was the first series. The surround flag is not enabled.

    Dialogue is always clear and there are only minor issues with audio sync (for example the dubbed singing at 15:29 in Episode 2 and a hint when the twins speak at 13:46 in Episode 6).

    The musical score is credited to Joby Talbot, and will be recognizable to viewers of the first series. The music seems to have more presence this time around - perhaps due to the more dramatic storylines. Mr Talbot is certainly a talented chap, with several diverse tunes scattered through the series.

    The surrounds and subwoofer are unused, unless you have Pro Logic enabled, in which case there is some reasonable ambience directed through to the surrounds.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Most encouragingly for a BBC television release there are some extras provided on the first disc, plus a whole second (DVD 5) disc of local goodies:

Disc 1

Menu

    The menu is a lively and spooky Blair Witch inspired affair. It contains much more animation this time around and some suitably scary sound bites. Each episode can be selected independently, or they can be played in sequence. Chapter stops can be selected from any episode and subtitles can be turned on or off. Finally, by selecting Precious Things, the following extras can be enjoyed:

Local Gossip

    As with the first series, The League (along with director Steve Bendelack) provide an entertaining commentary track for every episode. Fortunately, the sound quality is much improved this time, with the main soundtrack sufficiently muted to allow you to hear the commentary track clearly. As with the commentary from the first series, the lads are obviously film fanatics as they reveal numerous references and homage scenes to cinema classics which are scattered through the series.

Pre and Post Examples

    A very interesting, albeit short, extra. This reveals the "filmising" technique applied to the series, in which the images are deinterlaced, frames dropped and a grain effect applied. This explains why the transfer looks the way it does - with the intention of creating a "high budget yet dark and brooding film feel to the series". It uses the "angle" button to allow you to switch between the samples on the fly.

Disc 2

Menu

    The menu is a lively and sinister beast with Papa Lazarou making a creepy appearance against a grating and off-kilter accordion track. It allows the following following extras to be selected:

Behind The Scenes Documentary

    Playable in one sizeable hit (29:22), or via nine selectable chunks. Narrated by Griff Rhys-Jones (Alas Smith and Jones, Not the Nine O'Clock News) and presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 16x9 enhanced with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 256 kbps. It covers the early history of the League, and goes into great depth regarding their writing and character generation process, as well as showing behind the scenes rehearsals. This is a great extra, with good video and sound quality throughout.

Local People

    As for Series 1, this is a collection of silent text-based screens providing a hilarious summary of the major characters seen in this series. It really is amazing how many new characters they have managed to create!

Missing

    An extensive collection of deleted and (some subtly) extended scenes from Series 2. Presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 256 kbps and presented in a ratio of 1.78:1 16x9 enhanced. All are available with English subtitles, and run for a total of 21:29:

• Barbara, Gary and Lynne - Babs gives the young couple a lift.
• Gary & Lynne And The Loonies - the escapees from the mental hospital pay a visit.
• Tubbs and Edward in Bed - Edward tests Tubbs on her Highway Code.
• Henry and Ally; DIE HARD vs LECTER - the eternal question - who would win?
• Pam Doove - the director sets the scene for Pam.
• Charity Shop 3 - Vinnie and Reenie talk bags.
• Iain and Olive - Olive at the dating agency interviews Iain.
• Papa Lazarou's Shadow - a vain attempt to film a spooky shadow.
• Papa Talk - Alternative Takes - Learn to talk the Papa way.
• Chinnery and The Dog - Darn evasive canine action.
• Minge-o-Morph - an actor's best friend is his mirkin.
• Amphibarium - the magic of CGI revealed.
• Papa Talk - Alternative Takes - Learn to talk the Papa way.
• L'Enfant Oiseau - CGI tragedy at the carnival.
• Portaloo Repair - remember to flush after you rise.
• The Wobbly Stick - CGI violence.
• Title Cards for the Extra US shows.

Series II Scrapbook

    Dozens of (silent) behind the scenes photographs of the cast and crew.

Territorial Army

    A single poster advertising the Royston Vasey territorial army.

Royston Vasey Tunes

    Several tunes from the series in Dolby Digital 2.0 encoded at 256 kbps:

• House Rules Song (Singalong Version) (2:10) - karaoke enhanced version.
• Voodoo Lady (Performance Version) (2:57) - yummy Creme Brulee.
• Show Tunes (Joby's Music) - four music-only versions of tunes from the series.

    This series does not appear to be available in Region 1. The Region 2 release of this series appears to be identical to our own. Buy whichever is cheapest.

    The League of Gentlemen - Series 2 is arguably a tad less funny than the first season. The drama is more edgy this time around, and whilst there are still some hilarious scenes, there is a much more tangible sense of suspense and occasional pathos in this series. For League Lovers, this will be an essential purchase. Top notch comedy with a nice selection of extras. You don't need to be local to buy this disc - it will be widely available!

    The video quality is better than the first series, but still has some minor issues with aliasing and the (deliberately added) grain.

    The audio transfer is good for a television series, and packs more impact than the first series.

    There is a whole second disc full of extras. Well done again BBC.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall