Hello Dave! Is That Dave? Is Dave There? (The League Of Gentlemen - The Entire Second Series (DVD))

Member Name: M.Frieel

Product:	The League Of Gentlemen - The Entire Second Series (DVD)
Date:	03/11/01 (2046 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Show, Superb Features

Disadvantages: None

Oh yes I’m back and this time I bring you the second series of The League Of Gentlemen and let me just say what a top class DVD this is but please pull up a chair sit back and have a read.

Quick Note this is a rather large op so it may be better to view offline to save your phone bill unless you are like me and don’t have to worry about time limits.

Right so let me take you back a few weeks when I ordered the second series of the League Of Gentlemen on DVD from www.play247.com and if you know me you will know that I’m a major fan of the show and couldn’t wait until the postman knocked on my door with the little parcel of joy, so for the next three days I annoyed the hell out of my girlfriend running to the door every morning at eight to see if the postman had anything for me but to no avail, the day finally arrived when a light tap tap tapping as if someone was rapping upon my chamber door, I ran and nearly gave the young fresh faced postman a heart attack as I swung my front door open and cheered when I saw what he was holding, oh yes I had my copy of the funniest DVD ever.

The League Of Gentlemen

I shall go into a tad more detail about the members then I did in my series one opinion as I feel you should get to know the members out of character, oh and if you haven’t read my previous opinion shame on you 8)

Jeremy Dyson

Born in Leeds Jeremy studied Philosophy at Leeds University and also Script Writing at the Northern School Of Film And Television, he has also written a collection of short stories entitled Never Trust A Rabbit.

His main duties for the League Of Gentlemen are script writing but can also be seen in the show but due to his own reasons he has decided never to show his face, in interviews I have witnessed him in he has always come across as a very intelligent and funny man.

Mark Gatiss

Mark was born in Sedgefield Co Durham, he was trained at B
retton Hall College Wakefield where he met and wrote with Steve Mark has starred in many television programs Barbara, Randall and Hopkirk and he lately had a small part in the first episode of the second series of Spaced.

Marks duties in the show are not only writing scripts but also portraying such characters as Mickey, Les McQueen, Hilary Briss and one of my favourites Dr Matthew Chinnery the vet who no matter how hard he tries never keeps a patient alive.

Steve Pemberton

Steve studied at Bretton Hall College in Wakefield where he co-wrote various pieces with Mark, Steve has done a vast amount of theatre work including tours of Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, his television work include Friday Night Armistice, Randall and Hopkirk and the superb Gormenghast.

Steve also as with the three other members write for the show as well as playing some major characters from the brilliant Pauline to Harvey Denton as well as a great new character Herr Lipp a German who is visiting the town with a bunch of students and finds nothing better than sitting on the lap of young Dieter, but he will also be Tubbs to me.

Reece Shearsmith

Reece hails from Hull and as with Mark and Steve was taught and graduated from Bretton Hall College, he has trodden the boards on many an occasion in such pieces as The Honest Whore and The Traitor, as with the other members he has also graced the small screen in such efforts as Alexei Sayle’s Merry Go Round, Lenny Henry as well as London’s Burning he can also been seen in series two of Spaced staring as a wanna be Robot Wars contender.

He not only writes for the show but stars as Edward the loving husband of Tubbs, and new to series two Vinnie a very odd old women who works in the local charity shop and who loves plastic bags and also new to series two my new favourite Papa Lazarou the ringmaster of a freak show who steals ladies wedding rings so they can be His Wif
e Now.


The Show

The second series follows straight on from the first and again is set in the lovely town of Royston Vasey where mysterious things are happening to the locals. If you are not aware of the show then I will give you a quick run down but you should check out my series one op for more information. The show is based in a dark northern town called Royston Vasey and centres around the locals and their odd behaviour; this is a very dark comedy indeed and will certainly go down in British comedy history.

Right that out of the way onto a run down on series two well things go from dark to pitch black as the main storyline for the whole series is an epidemic of nose bleeds spreading through the locals but who is to blame? As you can imagine this leads to some pure moments of comedy genius, the series is also full of old favourites as well as some new faces to the town my favourites being the fore mentioned Papa Lazarou and Herr Lipp, these new characters bring a whole new flavour to the show while still staying true to the darkness of the first series. Not only that but we also get to see the older characters evolve in ways you would not imagine watch out for a final confrontation between Iris and Mrs Levinson.

As I said earlier the main story is the whole nosebleeds havoc but we must not forget other unfinished business such as will Pauline get her job back? Will Les McQueen ever relive the glory days of Crème Brulee? Will Dr Chinnery ever keep an animal alive? And of course does Benjamin survive an encounter with Tubbs? I shall not answer any of these question for you here as it will only ruin the whole show.

I really shouldn’t go on too much more about the show because a lot of the joy comes from some of the surprises that come from out of nowhere, but I will say that this is one of the greatest comedies around and is in my DVD player nearly everyday for at least 30 minutes.


The Discs
<
br>What that I hear you cry “Discs” yes discs I was rather surprised when I opened the box to find two discs instead of the usual one, at first I got a tad worried thinking that maybe they had split the series onto two discs but luckily that is not the case the second disc is purely for special features.

Region 2

Certificate 15

Running Time 175 minute’s approx

Bad Language: Infrequent, Strong

Sex/Nudity: Occasional Strong References

Violence: Infrequent, Mild

Other: Some Comic Horror

Produced By Jemma Rogers

Directed By Steve Bendelack

Written By The League Of Gentlemen

Starring Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith.



Episode Guide

1: Destination Royston Vasey

2: Lust For Royston Vasey

3: A Plague On Royston Vasey

4: Death In Royston Vasey

5: Anarchy In Royston Vasey

6: Royston Vasey And The Monster From Hell


Special Features

Pre And Post Examples

This is a little touch for all the techies out there; it is a short scene where you can use your angle button to view the scene short first in its original digital tape format and then in the de-interlaced format. To the rest of us this means one is light and another is dark pretty much.

Behind The Scenes Documentary

This is as it says a documentary about the making of the first and second series, this is a very nice 30 minute piece that is full of interviews with the League and they explain a lot about the reasons behind some of the characters a real nice little feature. You may have seen this, as I believe it was on Playuk last year.

Local People

Again a whole bunch of character biographies and they have really gone all out here with 28 new character bios. They are a lovely touch that adds a lot to the feel of the show but as with a lot of features you won
’t visit it too often, the people are as follows.

Alvin Steele

Sunny Steele

Tony Cluedo

Patch Lafayette

Bob Chagall

Murray Mint

Mayor Vaughn

The Mechanic

Wolf Lipp

Lotte Lipp

Cathy Carter Smith

Papa Lazarou

Mama Lazarou

Simba Brown, Pebble Reynolds and Tik-Tikk Binns

Iain Cashmore

Olive Kilshaw

Chris Frost

Reenie Calver

Vinnie Wythenshawe

Dr Edgar Fish

Dr Lucas Wesley

Paul Bamford

Simon Saez

Mike King

Jonathan Best

Pamela Doove

Jed Hunter

Missing

Yes you have guessed it this section is dedicated to missing scenes; unlike the first disc this has not only cut. This is a real favourite feature of mine as there are some brilliant scenes here that they just had to cut because of time and the likes.

Missing Scenes Are

Barbara And Gary And Lynne

Gary And Lynne And The Loonies

Tubbs And Edward In Bed

Henry And Ally, Die Hard Vs Lecter

Original Full Length Edits Are

Pam Doove ( Sooooo funny)

Charity Shop 3

Iain And Olive

Papa Lazarou’s Shadow

Papa Talk (Alternative Takes)

FX Footage Are

Chinnery And The Dog

Minge-O-Morph

Amphibarium

L’Enfant Diseau

Portaloo Repair

The Wobbly Stick

USA Is

Title Cards For The Extra U.S. Shows

Series Two Scrapebook

This is really a little filler just a whole bunch of photos taken from the show, there a hell of a lot of these but as I said once you have looked at them once chances are you will forget they are even on the disc but still nice to have all the same.

Territorial Army

I don’t really see the point of this it is just and old style your country n
eeds you poster but changed to Royston Vasey Needs You with Chubby Brown in it, not too sure why this is on here if anyone knows give us a call.

Royston Vasey Tunes

There are three options here they are

House Rules Song (Singalong Version) this is a song taken from the show where the Dentons sing the rules to an ill Benjamin, the funny thing here is the words are at the bottom of the screen with a toad bouncing on them whenever you have to sing.

Voodoo Lady (Performance Video) yes that superb band Crème Brulee are back with the video for Voodoo Lady a nice little song

Show Tunes, these are just tunes taken from the show you have four to listen to quite nice but you will never go back to it.

Cast Commentary

Yes I know I always rave about this feature but trust me listen to it once and you will be hooked, this option lets you watch the show while listening to the League talk about every aspect of the shoot top feature and the boys really do a good job

Note the Pre And Post Examples and Cast Commentary are on disc one with the rest on disc two.


Who This Disc Is For

This is such a top class show that if you have any sense of humour you will find something to laugh at here, also if you have a bit of a wicked streak then you will feel right at home here


Who Should Avoid It

Not too many people really but of course anyone under 15 and anyone who doesn’t have a taste for dark comedy or people who are easily offended. Also anyone who hasn’t seen series one granted you will still laugh but not as much because you will not know the background of some of the main players.


Web-Links

There are a whole host of sites out there but try the official one it has a ton of features for you to look at and download; you can find it at www.leagueofgentlemen.co.uk


Final Note

This series for me is a whole lot more sinis
ter than the first series which really makes it all the more fun, the characters are portrayed in such a superb manner that you will soon forget that nearly all of them are played by only three men add to this really does impress. I can not recommend this enough as I’m sure you can tell I love it to bits, if you have never watched the show do yourself a favour a get hold of a copy.

I do apologise for the length of this op but I like to give as much information on the disc because then you know if you should buy the DVD or cheaper video

Summary: