General Information

Written By:

JEREMY DYSON
MARK GATISS
STEVE PEMBERTON
REECE SHEARSMITH

Directed By:

STEVE BENDELACK

UK RELEASE DATE: June 3rd 2005

RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes (TBC)

CERTIFICATE: 15

Synopsis

The fictional world of Royston Vasey is familiar to the countless fans of award-winning TV comedy series "The League of Gentlemen". But something has gone disastrously wrong in the nightmarish town as a series of dark omens appear foretelling its doom. Royston Vasey is facing apocalypse and the locals realise that the only way to avert disaster is for a small rescue party to find a way into the real world and confront their creators.

Fugitive butcher Hilary Briss and his two hostages, German exchange master Herr Lipp and businessman Geoff Tipps accidentally make it through to the real world. There they meet fellow characters Edward, Tubbs and Papa Lazarou who explain that everyone and everything in Royston Vasey has actually been written by comedy group The League Of Gentlemen. Now that these creators have decided not to write any more Royston Vasey, the town and its inhabitants are all facing destruction. Hilary, Herr Lipp and Geoff are told they must travel to London and make the writers return their attention to Royston Vasey, othewise everyone will perish. But they soon find out that The League of Gentlemen have already started writing their new creation, a 17th Century demonic drama called "The King's Evil"...

From present day Soho to the fictional world of the 17th Century, the locals must overcome countless bizarre obstacles in their adventure to return Royston Vasey to safety.

The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse is a Universal Studios and Film Four presentation of a Tiger Aspect Pictures production in association with Hell's Kitchen International. The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse is directed by Steve Bendelack and produced by Greg Brenman and Ed Guiney. Executive Producers are Peter Bennett-Jones, Andrew Lowe and The League of Gentlemen.

Production Information

One: The Return to Royston Vasey

Royston Vasey is a local town for local people, and strangers are not always welcome there. They are advised to stay clear of the butcher's, where owner Hilary Briss's prime cut 'special stuff' causes riots - and nosebleeds - among its addicted aficionados. They are warned to keep an eye out for demented black-faced circus host Papa Lazarou, whose eerie voodoo causes wives to leave their husbands and follow him to who-knows-where for no good reason. But most of proprietor Edward and his demented wife Tubbs sate their mutant son David with human sacrifices while trying to find a 'no-tail' wife for him to marry.

These dangers are well known to followers of The League Of Gentlemen, a tight band of writer-comedians whose acclaimed work over the last ten years has seen their act rise from being a sore thumb on the otherwise predictable stand-up circuit to a cult radio show and finally a majestically bizarre fixture on BBC2. Through three series, beginning in 1999 and a Christmas special in December 2000 - which owed as much to Hammer horror as it did to such camp predecessors as The Dick Emery Comedy Hour - The League Of Gentlemen reeled British audiences into a unique and wholly original world. Though following firmly in the tradition of the Monty Python team, this was sketch-comedy as never seen before, tautly bound into an inspired narrative that tightened with each episode, digressing into unexpected plots and punchlines.

The League Of Gentlemen - otherwise known as Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, and Reece Shearsmith - had no intention of following that route. "We've never been influenced by other TV comedies," says Pemberton, "because we're more influenced by cinema. So I think what we've always brought to our work is a sense of ambition and sense of the unexpected. It's quite scary not to know what's going to happen, but most comedy is fairly comfortable. The rule used to be, 'Don't upset your audience - let them know that they're in on the joke.' But we're not interested in that. We want our audience to be a step behind us, not a step in front."

True to their word, the League are taking their next step into the unknown with their first ever feature film. Though rooted firmly in the world that their fans know well, their debut film, The League Of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, will wrong-foot even their most ardent supporters. A breakneck trip through three parallel realities -- two admittedly a little less real than the other -- it will surprise even those who think they've seen all the dark little secrets Royston Vasey has to offer. The League, however, argue that a movie is no departure; it was their plan all along.

"We've always thought that, as a platform for our vision, it would be great to do a film," says Shearsmith, "though not necessarily just a straight rerun of the TV programme. I think it was always on the cards that we'd do one. The way that our Christmas special was a step towards it. We're so film literate, our series was always packed full of film references and people said it was filmic, even though it was shot on treated video, not film. So the question was, How could we actually make it cinematic?"

In fact, this question was the most important of all, before the subject matter was even decided on. Royston Vasey didn't even enter their minds at this stage, and they were quite prepared to abandon the town, along with its denizens. Says Dyson, "At the very beginning we thought we could start completely afresh, and we felt that it wouldn't have to have any connection at all with the work we'd done before. We'd talked about doing something historical, but that was the only idea we had going in."

The inspiration for this was partly the result of looking back over British comedy to see what worked and what hadn't. Clearly a straight rerun was out, so how would they approach it? "We were struck very much by the success of the Monty Python films," says Pemberton, "because they're one of the few TV comedy teams who have successfully crossed over to cinema. So we were very interested to see what they'd done and how they'd done it and we realised they'd created their own world by using period."

The 17th Century was chosen by popular demand, but after two or three weeks it became clear that this idea wasn't going anywhere. "Those initial historical ideas had no big idea to them," says Dyson, "other than they were set in the past, so we just weren't happy.

Strangely, it seemed that someone - or something - had other plans. Explains Pemberton, "Although we started off trying to write something without the Royston Vasey characters, they were always in the back of our minds. I found it very hard to shake off the notion that we really should be using them. I thought, 'Wouldn't it be funny if our characters came after us, wanting to know why we wanted to kill them off?'"

The breakthrough came when Pemberton began thinking about one of his own creations: Pauline, a rude, spiteful and tartily made up council worker who runs horribly mean-spirited workshops for the unemployed. Recalls Dyson, "Steve had been working with Reece, as he usually does. But he came in one day and said he'd seen Pauline in Budgens in Muswell Hill, and Reece said,'What do you mean? You've seen someone who looks like Pauline?' Steve said, 'No, I've seen the real Pauline, staring at mer It was a hysterical idea, and it was the first time in three weeks that we'd genuinely laughed. That's what we were looking for - something that felt fun and original.

Says Pemberton, "It was a good sign, and that was the beginnings of it, just having this idle conversation, when we weren't really thinking about the film. To be honest, at the time I felt it was too self-indulgent and would never really amount to anything. But when we thought about it, there were so many ideas there. Even though it was the last place we thought we'd ever end up, we knew we had to go back to Royston Vasey."

Two: Writing the Script

With the premise in place, the four writers began work on the script, thrashing out ideas that could translate to the big screen. It was an arduous process that took the best part of two years. "It's not actually quicker with four writers," explains Pemberton, "it's actually slower, because generally everyone has a say on every scene, on every sentence and every joke." Adds Dyson, "lt was very challenging. We generally write in pairs, so for the series we were able to write our own bits and bring it all to the table. But this was very different because we had to come up with a narrative that made sense, so we were all fighting over the same turf. We'd still pair up and assign sequences but we'd all have to come together to do the drafts and make it all work. But it had to be challenging or we wouldn't have been able to do it. We have to set ourselves a new task every time, otherwise it would feel like we're treading water.

However, they all felt such collusion had its benefits. Says Gatiss, "The script really did benefit hugely from that amount of focus and rewriting and constant attention. The curious thing is that not since the first series have we lived with a project this long without doing it. Because when we did the first series we were doing sketches that we'd done on stage and on radio. Obviously we'd done a lot of new things but the bulk of it was familiar material. As we went on, the gap between writing and production got smaller and smaller, so with the film it felt as thought we'd been working on the script for ages, until we were beginning to feel as if we'd already shot it about three times. "

Initially, the League had decided to throw out the historical aspect of the plot, preferring to start with a simple premise: what if the people of Royston Vasey realise that they're fictional characters, just figments of the League's collective imagination? Soon, however, Dyson began to realise that maybe the 17th century material could come in handy: what if they found out that they were actually being abandoned by their creators, who had turned their backs on Vasey because they wanted to write... a film set in the 17th Century.

"Jeremy came up with the idea of jumping between genres," says Pemberton. "So because we'd done the reading and didn't want to waste all that research, we put that into the mix: the thing that's preventing Royston Vasey from surviving is the fact that we are working on a different project called The King's Evil, which is set in 1690. So we settled on three worlds - their world, our world and the film-within-a-film - and just enjoyed the fact that the characters could move between all three." Although a triple-parallel universe setting may appear complicated on paper, The League are confident that the narrative will work on screen. Admits Pemberton, "it's a film which is easier to watch than it is to describe!”

Writing in permutations of one, two and four, the League found the process a lot more difficult than usual. "We usually write in pairs or individually," confirms Gatiss, "but this time was very different and we did sort of divvy things up. It was all done in collaboration for months but then we'd split up to work on various scenes. Which generally worked extremely well and it was a very fruitful thing. There was also input coming in from outside, since there was plenty going on around them to help them develop the idea. "It became very much informed by a lot of stuff happening at the time of our writing it," says Shearsmith. "There was a lot of Charlie Kaufman-esque Adaptation stuff around, a lot of films within films. We looked at a lot of films that contained the idea of a fictitious programme, like Pleasantville, The Truman Show and Galaxy Quest, but the difference with our programme is that it already existed, which is a twist in itself." Or as Gatiss says, "lt's a genre that has been played with before - like Stephen King's The Dark Half - it's just that the odd thing here is that it's based on something real rather than invented.

It was a bold move, but all four Gentlemen are satisfied that viewers will follow the story without needing an in-depth knowledge of the show. "We'd like to think that you don't have to know the series to get it," says Gatiss. "I kept saying, 'If this was an original screenplay, it's the equivalent of Rumplestiltskin finding out he's a story-book character and going through a hole in time to confront the old lady who wrote the original fairy tale.' So I think you can get it without knowing the series, and if you do know it, then it rewards your loyalty. But we knew early on that if we just tried to do a spin-off, it would only appeal to the TV viewers and it wouldn't work as a movie.

Work began in May of 2003 and by the end of the year the League had a first real draft that they were happy to show people. Among those who were interested were Tiger Aspect, who were quick to see the potential. "We first got involved in this project in about September 2003," says producer Greg Brenman. "The League had written a script on spec and sent it to four or five companies to see who was most interested and who they felt most comfortable with. Thankfully we won that particular 'competition'. They brought a pretty well developed script to us, which we worked on with them for four or five months before looking to finance it. There was a lot of interest from the outset. Interestingly, the television series had been done at the BBC but FilmFour were very keen to see if they could win them over. They showed massive enthusiasm, and then Universal got involved, so there was a lot of support for the project from pretty early on.

The League carried on working on the script right up until the film went into production at the end of September 2004, so they were revising it all the time. But surprisingly for such a potentially mind-bending endeavour, there was no pressure from the financiers. "There's been no executive interference at all," says Dyson. "We've not had any studio execs breathing down our necks, saying, 'You have to change this..."You have to change that...' People would give us the odd note, but to be honest there's something about the four of us combined that people seem to trust. I think they know what they're getting, otherwise they wouldn't want to be involved in the first place.

Brenman agrees. "When you're reading the script from scratch it helps if you know the characters. However, if you're seeing the film for the first time, I don't think you need that knowledge. What you're presented with is a variety of pretty weird characters travelling from one world into another and then into a third. A fair proportion of audiences are likely to be pretty familiar with that device - certainly people who've read, say, Philip Pullman's Dark Materials are pretty at ease with characters travelling from one world, through portais, into other worlds, often a parallel world to boot. So that, as a narrative device, is pretty familiar. So what are we asking people to do? We're asking them to travel with our Royston Vasey crazy characters and accept that they are fictional characters, who cross over into our world to meet their creators. When they get here, they discover their creators are at work on another project, so they travel through time into that project." He laughs. "It doesn't sound too complicated... does it?"

Three: Choosing the Characters

The script the League eventually delivered proved to be a surprise in many other respects, and even those familiar with their perverse sense of humour will be a little taken aback by the characters they chose to make their big-screen debut. Although the likes of Pauline, Tubbs and Edward figured prominently in those early script meetings, the three main protagonists who stalk their writers are not the obvious contenders.

Though it first seems that sour-faced Vasey vicar Bernice, uptight restart office Pauline and cursed vet Dr Chinnery are about to cross the threshold into the real world, they are shoved aside at the last minute by escaped convict Hilary Briss (Gatiss) and his two hostages: camp German exchange teacher Herr Lipp (Pemberton), and broken-down white-collar worker Geoff (Shearsmith). Once in the real world, the three find out the truth about the League Of Gentlemen and follow them to their management's office in London, where they attempt to steal the script that could destroy Royston Vasey.

Explains Gatiss, "It was kind of led by the story. We knew very early on that we couldn't have a story about Tubbs and Edward or Papa Lazarou. Even though people love them, by their very nature they're very odd. So in terms of what the story needs, you need to feel a lot more care for the characters and those three would be too extreme. Also, it's like the Chinese curse: be careful what you wish for. Even if people think they want that, it's best not to give it to them. It's like Hannibal Lecter in The Silence Of The Lambs: behind the glass he's a fantastic presence but once he's running around it's diminished. So the story demanded a different approach."

The choice of Herr Lipp, Hilary Briss and Geoff was yet another part of the democratic creative process. "Because we've had so many characters in the series," says Shearsmith, "some of them have never been fully explored. So I think we actually had a conversation where we said,'Who would you like to be your driving character in the film?" As Gatiss points out, "lf it wasn't in any way a spin-off, if it was an original screenplay based on nothing, then you would concentrate on two or three characters. That's what you always do. So very early we realised that we could not do cameo after cameo, because to a general audience it means nothing. Plus we couldn't afford it."

Three was the number on everyone's minds. Although Dyson is very much a part of the writing team, he has never performed in the series and does not intend to. However, the other three portray the bulk of Vasey's inhabitants, so the right characters were crucial to the film's success. "lt was obviously going to be three characters - one for myself, Mark and Reece," says Pemberton, "but I guess we were looking for characters that could handle a story and could handle having, for want of a better word, a 'journey'. Not just a physical journey but one in which the character changes, so certain characters had a little more depth." Adds Gatiss, "lt worked out that we had a sort of Abbott and Costello pairing of Herr Lipp and Geoff, and we needed a leader who was quite together, so Hilary was quite natural for that. He's a bit like a Bond villain! We thought of him as being a bit like Lee Marvin in The Dirty Dozen, someone who's a bit of a dangerous figure. You're not sure about his morality or what he's going to do, but he can drive things along. Because with those two idiots we needed someone to make things happen.

Though this trio was simply the upshot of early brainstorming sessions, the League decided to stick with them. "When we started writing," says Pemberton, "we thought, Let's just choose these three characters and if it's not working we'll go back.' But we never did. It just seemed to gel."

Particularly, it seems, in the case of Herr Lipp, who turns out to play an important role in the proceedings. Says Gatiss: "We decided early on that Herr Lipp's journey would represent what it would be like if you were a fictional character and somehow had a taste of what real life is." This gives rise to some unexpectedly poignant scenes involving a character previously depicted as a lascivious and possibly psychotic pederast. "Herr Lipp is quite a disgusting character," agrees Pemberton. "He's repulsive to look at, quite grotesque, and the stuff we did with him in the series gave people the creeps. He's a nasty piece of work. But you just need to find something about the character that makes it believable, which gives it a bit more complexity in a 90-minute film. We asked ourselves two things: one, what would it be like for a character to discover that he's fictional, and two, what would happen if they had a taste of life on the other side? So when we started writing him we decided to"d the innuendos and make him very much a one-joke, sketch-show character - an older, predatory gay man who comes out with lots of sexual innuendoes. We really pushed that in the early stages.

However, all this is simply the payoff to a plotline Pemberton had been developing from the beginning. "I came up quite quickly with the idea that my character would pretend to be me and take over my life. I thought that idea had a lot of potential, so it had to be someone who looked just enough like me to be believable. I toyed with the idea of it being Pauline - I thought that might be quite funny if she had to strap her tits down and take her make-up off - but then I thought,Wo, that would just be me thed' You can't take the lipstick away from Pauline, you'd have nothing. So Herr Lipp was a very obvious choice and he gave a real emotional heart to the film. What happens when he comes through into the real world is that he kind of realises that he enjoys this life and he feels that he's painted into a corner because he's written a certain way. He doesn't want to go back, basically, and you actually feel sorry for him.

Aftef finding the three leads, there only remained one problem: the part of League member Jeremy Dyson, who is tormented by Vaseyites in the opening scenes. "l'm not an actor and I've never aspired to be an actor," says Dyson, "and I didn't even write the bits with me in it. I wouldn't have dreamed of being so presumptuous. But that was part of that first set of ideas that Steve and Reece came in with. As well as the joke about seeing Pauline in Budgens, they'd also written a sketch with me being followed by one of the characters. So we developed that, and although we didn't really think about it too much while we were writing, there was a certain logic to how the character of Jeremy was threaded into it. It was only much later on that discussed how we were going to do it and whether I would play me or whether we'd cast an actor.

In the end, the part went to Bright Young Things star Michael Sheen, in a small but pivotal role. "He's done a sterling job, says Dyson, "and because most of those scenes are at the beginning of the film, it works well having a recognisable actor playing that part. It signals that there's a game going on, that it's fiction. Which is all part of the stuff we're playing with. Plus he's a much better actor than I would have proven to be.

The result surprised Dyson as much as anybody. "It was organic in that sense, he says. "We didn't premeditate which characters were going to be involved and what they would do. We were just led by the story, basically: who was the most interesting to write about. But we did have half an eye on the knowledge that there would be certain expectations that we really had to fulfil, or else we weren't being fair to the audience.

Which is why, diehard fans will be relieved to hear, Tubbs and Edward do appear - despite having been killed in the series twice before. "Well," says Dyson, "we've never been bound by that kind of logic anyway..."

Four: Making it a reality

Dealing with parallel worlds, the 17th century and, yes, the Apocalypse, the League's film was never going to be easy. "When we sent the script out to be budgeted," says producer Brenman, "the guy doing the costing said,'Well, which do you want - the £40 million version or the £4 million version?' As you can imagine, we're at the lower end of that scale. But it's still unbelievably ambitious. I've never worked on a project so complicated, in terms of the separate elements and Ray Harryhausen-style stop-motion animation. Set-wise, we're going from Royston Vasey, which is a weird, eccentric place, to the real world of Britain today, and then back in time to 1690, with all its period requirements. So it's a supply. But we've been pretty blessed on that front, I think."

"lt's an extremely ambitious film for the money," nods Gatiss, "and that really does sharpen your comedy instincts as well as your film instincts - like, how to make a lot out of very little - and we've had a fantastic team. We have an apocalypse that was shot on a shoestring and it looks amazing. You won't believe what they can do with practical effects and a pile of burning car tyres.

Architect of this wizardry was the League's regular collaborator and director Steve Bendelack, whose run of award-winning TV shows began in the '80s with Spitting Image. "Steve's got a great working relationship with the boys," says Brenman. "There are very few directors you work with who absolutely, one hundred per cent understand comedy, and Steve has an intuition that knows what framing you need to deliver what gag. Plus he's got an extremely technical knowledge from his days at Spitting lmage and knows exactly how to shoot the various elements needed to slot together in post- production. I think he's terrific.

Shooting took place in six weeks during the winter of 2004, primarily in Dublin but with significant scenes shot in and around Soho, London, where Herr Lipp and co mingled with unwitting tourists. "The reason for us shooting in Dublin was two-fold," says Brenman. "We wanted to have a base that was within an hour's drive of a city centre, from which we could get to a vast range of locations, which you can easily do in Dublin. And then there was the financial incentive - local tax breaks, added to sale and leaseback over here, allowed us to come up with about 25 per cent of the budget."

Even on such a short shoot, the League soon established how the big-screen version could differ. "What we discovered is that we could give it a bit more room to breathe," says Gatiss, "just in the scale of the shots and the depth. I was reading Whiskey Galore director Alexander Mackendrick's fantastic notes on film comedy and he said that comedy always plays best in a wide shot. Having seen some of the rushes, some people were concerned that there weren't enough close-ups, but you've got to think about seeing it on a 40-foot screen and how different that is. In fact, I think when you see a film and it's full of close-ups, you just think, Hmm, telly.

"We're always talking about the feel of things," continues Gatiss. "For the historical section of the film - The King's Evil - we chose that period because of how much we love other films from that period, like Blood On Satan's Claw, Witchfinder General and The Draughtsman's Contract. I remember the conversation "Where shall we go?' And there was a unanimous vote to go late 17th Century for precisely those reasons.

The casting of British horror stalwart David Warner as imposing warlock Erasmus Pea in the film-within-a-film took some of those references a step further, cementing the League's love not only for the cinema in general but specifically campy British horror movies of the '60s and '70s, of the type made by Amicus, Tigon and, of course, Hammer.

"lt's not a compendium film like the Amicus films, obviously, which the Christmas special was a direct tribute to," says Gatiss. "But when we were looking at the production stills I felt that I'd seen them before in an omnibus book of horror movies from the '70s, which was full of big Eastman-Colour pictures of David Warner in a fog-shrouded cemetery. Hammer films are one of our chief influences. More than any American horror films, we were brought up on those Friday night Appointment With Fear shows on TV. Those films have a special place in our hearts, and having David Warner in our film was paying tribute and repaying him for all the pleasure he's given us over the years, in From Beyond The Grave and The Omen. It's important to us to capture that flavour, rather than attempt some grand Hollywood vision. There's an English flavour to the gothic."

This emphasis on flavour extended to making sure the effects team didn't run riot with the digital effects. "ln the period section of the film there's a monster," says Pemberton, "and we insisted that we would only do it if it was a stop-motion monster. We would not have written it thinking, 'Great, we'll get this big CGI monster.' Because when you see Jason And The Argonauts, although it's comparatively primitive, it's still magical. That's why we had a stop-motion monster, because we always adored those films and grew up wanting to be in them.

Affirms Shearsmith, "We're playing with all the films and genres that we've always enjoyed. The Poseidon Adventure's in there. In fact, we wrote a scene with us in tuxedos just so we could have our ties undone and sooty faces. It's a kind of a dream come true. We ticked all the boxes of the things that we'd have loved to have been in - and now we are!" Or as Pemberton says, "This film is all about writing and even filmmaking. In many ways it's our love letter to cinema.

Five: Beyond Royson Vasey

Now that two years of frantic, and sometimes not-so-frantic activity, have passed by and the film has gone from pipe dream to pub talk to script and now screen, the League are still breathless from the experience. No one, including the League themselves, knows quite how they achieved it but producer Brenman was knocked out by their originality and determination. "What they've achieved, in narrative terms, goes beyond the original world of Royston Vasey," he says, "taking some of those characters on an epic journey through two other worlds. development, plenty of ideas and, of course, it's funny. Unlike many scripts, it's consistently successful and pays off with a great ending.

Shearsmith agrees. "lt may just be in the look of it, but personally I think there's more to cinematic scope in the idea of characters' journeys and the themes being bigger than those in the series have ever been. It feels more grown-up in a way. It was always on the cards that we'd try to do it. Whether we would ever get the chance was another matter. It took two years, on and off, and now it's finally happened, I can't quite believe it."

"Looking back, the whole conceit of the film, I suppose, is the pitfalls of writing a spin-off TV movie," he concludes. "That was very much on our minds and we finally arrived at that as the basis of the story because it absolutely came from the struggle that we had, of trying to ditch the characters and write something new. So that ultimately became the idea behind the film: writers whose past work won't let them move on.

The struggle over whether to let Royston Vasey live or die has brought out a much lighter side of the League than their TV audience have come to expect. "We never think of censoring or editing ourselves when we're writing," says Dyson, "but it's very interesting that, of its own accord, this script has come out a little friendlier than the series. There's a warmth in there, definitely, but it wasn't intentional.

Brenman believes that the transition to the big screen is responsible for revealing such previously hidden niceties. "One of the biggest differences between sketch comedy and a 90-minute narrative comedy is that sketch comedy is about exploring characters rather than developing story," he says. "So if you're exploring character, it's much more likely to lead you into more extreme places. But when you're serving the story it needs to be more accessible and therefore lighter, less dark."

Steve Pemberton thinks this may well be true and points out that the starting point is different for cinema audiences. "The difference between the series and the film is that in the series you go into Royston as an outsider and you encounter these grotesque people," he observes. "But in the film, the characters are the outsiders and we're asking the audience to sympathise with them and align themselves with those characters. As a result, we see Herr Lipp get a taste of real life, Hilary goes from villain to hero and Geoff goes from zero to, well, zero and. It's actually quite moving at times. It does exactly what you need to do in a movie: it takes you somewhere, it's not just bits of a sketch show stuck together. We've structured it well, I think.

But what does all this mean for the people of Royston Vasey? In making peace with its townfolk, have the League finally finished with it for good? It's a question they're still wrestling with. Says Dyson, "We've always played this game with ourselves: 'Oh, we don't have to do Royston Vasey.' After the first series we told ourselves, 'Well, we've done that. The League Of Gentlemen is just an all- purpose name and we can do whatever we want under that umbrella.' But we found ourselves being drawn back to the characters, as we did with the film. So who knows? It's a mysterious process, the creative process." He laughs. "You may well think you know what you're doing -- but your subconscious mind has other ideas.

Biographical Information

The League of Gentlemen

The League of Gentlemen was formed in 1995 by Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith. A series of live shows in London and Edinburgh led to them winning the coveted Perrier Award in 1997. Their radio series On the Town with The League of Gentlemen was broadcast on Radio 4 in 1997 and won a Sony Silver Award for Best Comedy. Three television series (1999, 2000 & 2002) and a Christmas Special (2000) followed, winning the BAFTA, Royal Television Society, Golden Rose of Montreux and South Bank Show awards. The League of Gentlemen - The Making of Series 3 documentary was shown on BBC Choice in 2003.

A sell-out tour (2000/01), including six weeks at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Entertainment. A Local Book for Local People was pubiished by 4th Estate in 2000 and in 2003 Scripts and That was published by BBC Books.

JEREMY DYSON - WRlTER

In addition to his multi award-winning work on The League of Gentlemen, Jeremy wrote and directed a short film The Cicerones shown as a part of the 'Explosive Fragments' strand of the Edinburgh lnternational Film Festival in August 2002 and as a part of frightfest' at the Prince Charles Cinema in August 2002.

He has also written the book Bright Darkness: The Lost Art of the Supernatural Horror Film and Never Trust a Rabbit a collection of short stories. His first novel Still is to be published by Abacus in February 2006.

MARK GATISS - PERFORMER/WRITER

(Matthew Chinnery, Hilary Briss, Mickey, Mark, Sir Nicholas Sheet-Lightning)

In addition to his multi award-winning work on The League of Gentlemen, Mark's television writing credits include an acclaimed episode of the new series of Doctor Who in 2005 and Randall and Hopkirk in 2001. He played Serge in Art from October 2002 to January 2003 at the Whitehall Theatre. TV work includes the recent live remake of The Quatermass Experiment, Murder at the Vicarage, Nighty Night, Catterick, Footballers' Wives, Spaced and Agatha Christie: A Life In Pictures. He has been in films such as Sex Lives Of The Potato Men, Bright Young Things and The Cicerones. Mark has also enjoyed success on the radio with Nebulous, The Further adventures of Sherlock Homes, Ringing the Changes (Co-Written with Jeremy Dyson) and Costing the Earth. His books include, The Vesuvius Club, Nightshade, St Anthony's Fire, The Roundheads, Last of the Gaderene, and The Essex Files co-written with Jeremy Dyson.

STEVE PEMBERTON - PERFORMER/WRlTER

(Tubbs, Pauline, Herr Lipp, Steve, Lemuel Blizzard)

In addition to his multi award-winning work on The League of Gentlemen, Steve's television work includes Blackpool, The Last Detective, Shameless, Poirot: Death on the Nile, Randall and Hopkirk Deceased, and Gormenghast.

His film roles include The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Harry Secombe in The Life and Deafh of Peter Sellers, Churchill; The Hollywood Years, Birthday Girl, and Woody Allen's forthcoming Match Point.

On the stage Steve appeared as Marc in Art between October 2002 and January 2003 at the Whitehall Theatre.

REECE SHEARSMlTH - PERFORMER/WRITER

(Edward, Papa Lazarou, Geoff, Bernice, Reece, Father Halfhearte, Red Devil)

In addition to his multi award-winning work on The League of Gentlemen, Reece has made appearances on TV's Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere, Spaced, TLC, and Catterick.

Reece's movie credits include Shaun Of The Dead, Birthday Girl and This Years Love. He had the role of Yvan in the theatre production of Art, from October 2002 - January 2003 at the Whitehall Theatre and appeared in Debt Wish at the Brixton Academy with the other members ofThe League of Gentlemen'

He is soon to appear as Jaques in As You Like it at the Wyndhams Theatre with Sienna Miller and Helen McRory.

Additional Cast

MlCHAEL SHEEN - Jeremy Dyson

Michael Sheen is the winner Of the Best Short Film BAFTA Award 2005 for The Banker. His films include Dead Long Enough, Laws Of Attraction, and Bright Young Things. His earlier work includes the films Wilde, Othello and Mary Reilly. For his work in theatre he was winner of Best Actor at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in 2003 and Best Actor at The Critics' Circle Awards in 2003. He was also nominated for the Olivier Best Actor award in 1999 for his part in Look Back In Anger. He took the lead in television programme Dirty filthy Love and played Tony Blair in The Deal. Michael has also been in a variety of radio shows including The West Pier, White Merc With Fins and Strangers On A Train.

DAVlD WARNER - Dr Erasmus Pea

David is best known as an international screen star with credits ranging from Cross of Iron, Straw Dogs, Morgan - A Suitable Case for Treatment to The Omen, Time After Time, Time Bandits and Titanic. His television credits include Miss Marple, Hornblower, Cinderella, Rasputin and A mind to Kill.

He has also taken part in a vast amount of theatre work in both the United States and Britain, appearing in Shakespeare's, The Tempest and Twelfth Night, and playing the lead role in Hamlet , Richard II and Henry VI all at the RSC.

VlCTORlA WOOD - Queen Mary II

Victoria Wood is one of our most celebrated comedy writers and has few equals in the UK as a stand-up comedian. Victoria wrote her first sit-com Dinnerladies, in which she played the part of 'Bren'. Dinnerladies won a host of awards and enjoyed two highly successful series.

In Christmas 2000, she wrote, produced and starred in her first BBC Christmas Special for eight years, Victoria Wood with all the Trimmings, which was subsequently nominated for BAFTA as Best Comedy Programme. Victoria was awarded an OBE in 1997.

Victoria is currently working with director Trevor Nunn bringing her hugely popular Acorn Antiques sketches to the stage, featuring all the original cast, at the Theatre Royle Haymarket.

BERNARD HlLL - King William III

Bernard Hill has featured in theatre productions including A View From Bridge at the Old Vic and the Strand theatre, and Shakespeare's Macbeth at the Leicester Haymarket. He has also starred in television's Great Expectations, Mill On The Floss and Skallagrigg. Bernard's film career includes roles in hit films such as such as Titanic and The Lord of the rings: The Two Towers. Other recent films include Joy Division, Save Angel Hope, Wimbledon, The boys of County Clare , The Scorpion King, True Crime and Midsummer Night's Dream.

EMlLY WOOF - Lindsay

Emily Woof not only directed Between the Wars by Whatever pictures, but has also been the fantastic voice of Radio drama's, The Laughter of Stafford Girls - Radio 4 and Slicing The Gingerbread - Radio 3. Emily was also nominated for Best Actress in the Evening Standard Film Awards for Wondrous Oblivion. Other films she has appeared in include School of Seduction, Silent Cry, Going Going, Pandemonium, Passion, This Years Love, Fast Food, Velvet Goldmine, The Woodlanders, Photographing Fairies and the hugely successful The Full Monty. In television she played roles in Daylight Robbery (both series), Oliver Twist, Killer Net, E=MC2 and Middlemarch.

Film-Makers

STEVE BENDELACK - DlRECTOR

In addition to his multi award-winning work on The League of Gentlemen, Steve Bendelack is The lnternational Emmy Award Winner for Performing Arts 1994 for PETER AND THE WOLF. His work includes LITTLE BRITAIN (2003/4), THE ROYLE FAMlLY series 2 (1999), LENNY HENRY CHRlSTMAS SHOW (1995), SPlTTlNG lMAGE (1989-1993), NEVER MlND THE BUZZCOCKS (1996), & FRENCH AND SAUNDERS EASTER SPEClAL (1999).

GREG BRENMAN - PRODUCER

Greg produced Stephen Daldry's BILLY ELLIOT, which was released in 2000. With the huge box office success that the film gained, it won over 50 awards; including 3 BAFTA's, 3 Oscar nominations, 2 Golden Globe nominations including 'Best Picture' - and 4 British lndependent Film Awards including 'Best Independent Film'. Winner Amaznda Award Best Foreign Feature Film 2001 (Norway); Winner of Lumiere Award for Best Foreign Film 2002; nominated for Cesar Best Foreign Film 2001 (France) as well as many other nominations around the world. For his achievements on BlLLY ELLIOT, Greg was awarded the Best Newcomer Producer award by the Producers Guild of America. Greg Executive Produced OMAGH, a feature film written by Guy Hibbert and Paul Greengrass. OMAGH won one of the two top awards - the Discovery award - at the 2004 Toronto Film Festival, won Best lrish Film and Best Actor (Gerard McSorley) at the lrish Film & TV Awards 2004, as well as Best Male Actor at RTS Awards 2004 and won Best Single Drama at this year's BAFTA's

ED GUlNEY - PRODUCER

Ed Guiney is a producer based in Dublin and he runs Element Films with partner Andrew Lowe. Ed's other productions for release in 2005 include ADAM AND PAUL (Lenny Abrahamson), lSOLATlON (Billy O'Brien), BOY EATS GlRL (Stephen Bradley) and LASSlE COME HOME (Charles Sturridge) which is currently in production and will be released for Christmas 2005. Element Films are also acting as the lrish co-producer on the new Ken Loach film, THE WlND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY which is also currently shooting in Ireland. Recent productions include OMAGH, directed by Pete Travis, which Ed produced with Paul Greengrass and which won the BAFTA for Best Single Film 2004 as well as the Discovery Award at the 2004 Toronto Film Festival and the prize for Best European Film at the San Sebastian Film Festival 2004. Previous productions include THE MAGDALENE SlSTERS (Peter Mullan) which Ed executive produced and which was a major critical success winning the Golden Lion at Venice 2002,the Discovery Award in the Toronto Film Festival 2002 and the Audience Award at the Ljubljana Film Festival 2002.

RACHEL SALTER - CO-PRODUCER

With Tiger Aspect Rachel Salter has had a successful and varied career working across multi award winning television documentaries, comedy and drama, and feature films. Her television credits include TEACHERS, MURPHY'S LAW, RTS and British Comedy award winning THE VlCAR OF DIBLEY, and SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CASE OF THE SlLK STOCKlNG starring Rupert Everett. Feature films she has worked on include Moody Shoaibi's DOG EAT DOG, Tony Ground's THE MARTlNS and most recently Pete Travis' OMAGH written by Guy Hibbert and Paul Greengrass - winner of the 2004 Toronto Film Festival Discovery award, Best lrish Film at the lrish Film & Television Awards and Best Single Drama at the BAFTA's.

PETER BENNETT-JONES - EXECUTlVE PRODUCER

Peter Bennett-Jones is a leading London-based television, film and theatre producer and agent. Through his management company, PBJ Management, he has represented top comedy talent for 20 years. Clients include Rowan Atkinson, Barry Humphries, Lenny Henry, Harry Enfield, Reeves and Mortimer, Eddie Goodall. Sister company, KBJ management, represents leading presenters and newsreaders. As founder and Chairman of the Tiger Aspect Group he presides over one of the UK's most prolific, diverse and well regarded independent production companies. Operating in drama, comedy, entertainment, factual, animation, wildlife and feature film, Tiger Aspect Productions is acknowledged as a creative power- house within the industry, attracting the best on-screen and off-screen talent to its output.

YVES BARRE - COSTUME DESlGNER

Yves Barre is an award winning costumer designer, and has worked on some huge blockbuster hits. In 2000 THE LEAGUE OF GENTLMEN series 1 and 2 won an RTS award, a Montreux Golden Rose and a BAFTA nomination for Best costumes, Yves also won a BAFTA award for Best Comedy and THE ANT AND DEC show won a BAFTA and an RTS award for Best Children's Show. John Card's HENRY IV parts 1 and 2 got him a BAFTA nomination for Best Costumes and Eileen Atkins and Jean Marsh's HOUSE OF ELLlOT series 3 won him a BAFTA and an EMMY award for best costume. Yves has done two theatre tours including THE FAST SHOW and LEAGUE OF GENTLMEN. Other productions he has worked on include Simon Langton's PRlDE AND PREJUDlCE drama series and Simon Meyers' DOWN TO EARTH. More recently he has worked on television drama and Graham Theakston's feature film LAZARUS CHILD.

TONY CRANSTOUN - EDITOR

Tony Cranstoun has had a very successful career, winning him a number of awards. He's mostly worked on various television productions, some of which are DISPATCHES, Paul Watson's CUTTlNG EDGE and Emma Sayce REAL CRIME. Other work he has successfully completed is Tom Vaughan's COLD FEET, Frank W. Smith and Richard Signy's MEDICS, Mathew Evans' BAND OF GOLD series 2, Jean Stewart, Charles McDougall and Richrad Standeven's CRACKER, Menhaj Huda and Charles McDougall's QUEER AS FOLK, Nigel Douglas ' STAN THE MAN and Steve Bendelack's LEAGUE OF GENTLMEN series 3. Cranstoun has won an Editing ACE award for Christopher Menual's THE FORSYTHE SAGA, two RTS award for Adrian Shergold's THE SECOND COMlNG and DANlELLE CABLE 'EYEWITNESS'. More recently he has completed projects such as lSLAND AT WAR AND BLUE MURDER. THE LEAGUE OF GENTLMEN'S APOCALYPSE is his first feature film.

DANIEL PHILLIPS - MAKE-UP AND HAIR DESIGNER

Daniel Philips is an award wining make-up and hair designer. He has been very successful working in television and feature films. His television productions FRENCH AND SAUNDERS TITANIC SPECIAL, which won him two BAFTA nominations and a RTS nomination for Best Make Up and Hair. Other work includes Michael Winterbottom's WITH OR WITHOUT YOU, Shekhar Kapur's FOUR FEATHERS, with Steve Baron's ARABlAN NlGHTS and lan Softly's WlNGS OF A DOVE winning him a BAFTA and a Personal EMMY award for Wargnier's MAM TO MAN.

RICHARD BRIDGLAND - PRODUCTION DESIGNER

Richard Bridgland has had a very successful and productive career spanning commercials to feature films. He has worked on music videos for TRAVIS- THE FOCUS, VOLKSWAGAN POLO, ADIDAS and VIRGIN ATLANTIC. He's also successfully completed theatre productions involving opera and dance; shows include Danny Boyle's THE PRETENDERS and Sir Peter Hall's THE MAGIC FLUTE. He's worked on various television and feature film productions such as GANGSTER NUMBER 1, RESEDENT EVIL Richard Loncraines' RICHARD III, which won him a BAFTA award for best production design and an Oscar nomination for Best Art Design. More recently he has completed WlCKER PARK and ALlEN VERSUS PREDATOR.

KATE RHODES JAMES - CASTlNG DlRECTOR

Kate Rhodes James has a wealth of casting experience ranging from television commercials to huge blockbuster hits. The commercials she's worked on include VOLKSWAGAN GOLF, NlSSAN PRlMERA and RENAULT MEGAN. Her television productions include Declan Lowney's COLD FEET, David Carsen's THE 10" KINGDOM and Justin Chadwick and Susanna White's BLEAK HOUSE. She's been Assistant Casting Director on films such as Ben Elton's THE THlN BLUE LINE, Martin Campbell's GOLDENEYE, Roger Spittiswood's TOMORROW NEVER DlES and Baz Luhrmann's ROMEO AND JULIET. Her feature films include Mel Smith's HIGH HEELS AND LOW LIFES, Marc Munden's MIRANDA, Nick Hamm's THE HOLE. More recently Kate has completed work on Tim Fywell's I CAPTURE THE CASTLE, and Thadeus O'Sullivan's THE HEART OF ME.

Credits

Main Credits

Directed by Steve Bendelack

Written by

• Jeremy Dyson
• Mark Gatiss
• Steve Pemberton
• Reece Shearsmith

Produced by

• Greg Brenman
• Ed Guiney

Co Producer - Rachel Salter

Executive Producers

• Peter Bennett-Jones
• Andrew Lowe
• The League of Gentlemen

Directory of Photography - Rob Kitzmann

Film Editor - Tony Cranstoun

Productions Designer - Richard Bridgeland

Original Score By - Joby Talbot

Costume Designer - Yves Barre

Make Up & Hair Design - Daniel Phillips

Line Producer - Seamus McInerney

Casting Director - Kate Rhodes James

Cast

Mark Gatiss

• Matthew Chinnery
• Hilary Briss
• Mickey
• Mark
• Sir Nicholas Sheet-Lightning

Steve Pemberton

• Tubbs
• Pauline
• Herr Lipp
• Steve
• Lemuel Blizzard

Reece Shearsmith

• Edward
• Papa Lazarou
• Geoff
• Bernice
• Reece
• Father Halfhearte
• Red Devil

Main Crew

For Tiger Aspect Pictures

For Hell's Kitchen lnternational

Other Irish Unit crew

UK Shoot

If you are interested in the UK Shoot crew, please ask for this on The King's Evil Yahoo discussion group.

End Credits

Special Thanks to

Caroline Chignell, Richard Conway, Johnny Fewings, Grenville Horner, Ben Roberts, Jemma Rodgers, Tessa Ross, Sarah Smith, lvan Wormley and The People of Avoca

Filmed With Cameras And Lenses supplied by

• Arri
• Kodak
• Dolby

Produced with the support of investment incentives for the lrish Film lndustry provided by the Government of lreland. Filmed in lreland and the United Kingdom. An lrish - United Kingdom Co-Production.

No animals were maltreated or harmed in the production of this film. All characters and events portrayed are fictional. Any similarity to real persons other than Public Persons is strictly coincidental. Any similarity to real events is also coincidental.

THIS MOTION PICTURE IS PROTECTED UNDER THE LAWS OF THE UNlTED STATES AND OTHER COUNTRIES. UNAUTHORlZED DUPLICATION, DISTRIBUTlON OR EXHIBITION MAY RESULT IN CIVIL LIABILITY AND CRIMINAL PROSECUTION.

A Tiger Aspect Pictures Production. In Association with Hell's Kitchen lntemational for Film Four and Universal Pictures

Copyright 2005 Tiger Aspect Pictures (Royston Vasey) Limited

All Rights Reserved

The League of Gentlemen will return in

THE WlNDMlLLS OF YOUR BUM