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The League of Gentlemen (TV series) (view source)

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''Welcome to '''Royston Vasey'''. You'll never leave.''
 
British [[Sketch Comedy]]/[[Sitcom]], with a very dark tone of humour, and plenty of [[Horror Tropes|horror trappings]].
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* [[The Butcher]] - Hilary Briss, a literal butcher who sells some kind of very illegal and hideously immoral "special stuff".
* [[Bilingual Bonus]] - Dialogue between Herr Lipp, Lotte and Justin at the climax of Lipp's attempts to seduce the schoolboy. Lotte tries to warn Justin about Lipp in German:
{{quote| '''Herr Lipp''' "Er konnt kein Deutsch. Er ist ''meine'' junge."<ref>"He knows no German. He is ''my'' boy."</ref><br />
'''Lotte''' "Denn Gott hilfe ihn."<ref>"Then God help him."</ref> }}
* [[Buried Alive]] - The fate of {{spoiler|Justin Smart}}, although he is given a funnel through which to breathe.
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** Alvin: "Home is the hunter!"
* [[Cats Are Mean]] - Cat enthusiast Dougall Siepp is a scary guy.
* [[Caught with Your Pants Down]] - Parodied and inverted. Harvey Denton has a peculiar paranoia about walking in on his nephew, Benjamin, and has an entire, [[Spit Take]]-inducing collection of [[Unusual Euphemism|Unusual Euphemisms]] ready. There has never been any concrete evidence of Benjamin actually masturbating.
* [[Celebrity Paradox]] - Mick McNamara claims that an episode of Tom Baker-era ''[[Doctor Who]]'' was filmed at the Stump Hole caverns. So why does Mick, and approximately one third of the town, look exactly like that guy who played Dr. Lazarus in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S3 E6S29/E06 The Lazarus Experiment|The Lazarus Experiment]]" and wrote the episode "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S2 E7S28/E07 The IdiotsIdiot's Lantern|The Idiot's Lantern]]"? And why does another third of the town so greatly resemble the guy who played Strackman Lux in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 E8S30/E08 Silence in Thethe Library|Silence in the Library]]" and "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 E9S30/E09 Forest of the Dead|Forest of the Dead]]?" And why {{spoiler|does Dougal Siepp so greatly resemble the Ninth Doctor?}}
* [[Characterization Marches On]] - In Series 2, Herr Lipp was essentially a creep and a sociopath; in the Christmas Special, though still a nasty pederast, he at least shows some compassion and sacrifices himself to save Matthew. By the time we get to the Movie, he is a kind and caring guy (even his turn to violence is intended to save the locals from what he believes to be endless misery) who is incidentally campy, a far cry from the selfish date-rapist he originally was.
* [[Cheshire Cat Grin]] - Hilary Briss gives these a lot.
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* [[Exposition of Immortality]]: When Papa Lazarou is going through his Book of Wives in Season Three, some of the photos are clearly old, sepia ones that heavily imply that he's a lot older than he appears. There are more on the wall of his room, too.
* [[Eye Scream]] - Hilary Briss is seen scaring children with a pair of sheep's eyes, which he then eats.
* [[Fag Hag]] - [[Deconstruction|Deconstructed]] with Tish, who unintentionally offends the hell out of all her fairly [[StraightInvisible Gayto Gaydar]] friends. Mark Gatiss (who is gay) was probably very angry when he wrote her scenes.
* [[Fan Disservice]] - Tubbs torturing the construction men while dancing around nude "The Road to Royston Vasey."
* [[Fat Idiot]] - Barry Baggs, the debt collector. Also a [[Big Eater]]. In the live show "The League of Gentlemen Are Behind You", his idiot status is subverted--and may even have been [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]--when he outwits and (in the epilogue) replaces his boss.
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* [[Generation Xerox]] - In The [[Christmas Special]], we see a bit of Royston Vasey in the 1890s, including Victorian versions of Harvey, Barbara, Chinnery, Pauline, Mickey, and Ross
* [[Gender Bender]] - Barbara the transgendered cab driver.
{{quote| '''Barbara''': Have you heard what they're saying about the Beast of Royston Vasey?<br />
'''Mrs. Levinson''': Now, Barbara, people can be very cruel. }}
* [[Grotesque Gallery]] - Because almost all of the characters are played by the same three actors, a variety of prosthetics are used, some of which are profoundly hideous. Of particular note are Edward, Tubbs, Iris, Harvey, Bernice, Mickey, Stella, Vinnie & Reenie, Ally, and Herr Lipp.
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** In the original radio series, this trope was played straight, but the writers gave it a more creative spin for the TV version.
* [[He Who Must Not Be Seen]] - "that Merrill." Frequently mentioned by Vinnie and Reenie, but never actually appears.
** David Tattsyrup becomes a [[The Voice]] variant after Tubbs and Edward take him back in.
* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]] - Harvey--or rather hoist by his own {{spoiler|pet toad}}.
* [[Homage]] - Edward frequently references ''[[The Wicker Man]]'', and Chloe & Radclyffe obviously parody ''[[The Shining]]''. Papa Lazarou's introductory episode features a few quotes from ''[[Freaks]]'', and Geoff's subplot in Season 2 parodied ''[[Deliverance]]''. In fact, at least one [[horror Movie]] gets referenced per episode.
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* [[Lamarck Was Right]] - Mr. Chinnery inherits his ancestor's curse.
* [[Laser-Guided Karma]] - after awful restart officer Pauline is sacked, she has to sit through restart sessions of her own, with an even ''worse'' one.
{{quote| '''[[The Chew Toy|Mickey:]]''' Pauline... she's worse than ''you''!}}
* [[Laughably Evil]] - All of the villainous characters. It is a comedy, after all.
* [[Little People Are Surreal]] - Papa Lazarou's circus.
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* [[Scary Scarecrows]]
* [[Serial Killer]] - The Tattsyrups
* [[She Is's All Grown Up]] - In the wrongest way possible.
* [[Shout-Out]]
** [[Mark Gatiss]] based his performance of Mr. Chinnery on [[Peter Davison]]'s as Tristan Farnan in the BBC production of ''[[All Creatures Great and Small]]''.
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* [[Sliding Scale of Comedy and Horror]]
* [[Sorry I Left the BGM On]] - Used as a [[Running Gag]] when the ''League'' theme music is repeatedly revealed to be [[Cell Phone|mobile phone]] ringtones.
* [[Special Guest]] - David Warner (aka [[Time Bandits|Evil]], aka [[Tron|Dillinger/Sark]],[[Batman: The Animated Series|Ra's al Ghul]], aka [[Baldur's Gate|Jon Irenicus]], aka [[Discworld|Lord Downey]], aka [[Freakazoid!|The Lobe]]) as Mr. Pea.
* [[Talking to Himself]] - There's one scene where Geoff, Edward, and Papa Lazarou all discuss the fact that they are played by the same actor.
* [[Throwing Your Sword Always Works|Throwing Your Bardiche Always Works]]
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{{reflist}}
{{BAFTA TV Award for Best Comedy (Programme or Series)}}
[[Category:British Series]]
[[Category:Sketch Comedy]]
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[[Category:TV Series]]
[[Category:Britain's Best Sitcom]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:League of Gentlemen (TV series), The}}
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