DVD Reviews: The League of Gentlemen the entire second series

The cult hit "The League of Gentlemen" returns with the complete second series of this unusual black comedy. As with the previous season, the series is based in the isolated town of Royston Vasey where nothing is what it seems. In order for the creators to keep the series fresh and interesting, they have introduced a variety of new characters such as Papa Lazarou (who "guest starred" from season one), the bizarre Herr Lipp and the Mayor of Royston Vasey. Fortunately the creators have also kept our old favourites such as the Dentons and Mr. Chinnery to name a few.

The episodes have taken a darker twist since the first series (if that is possible) as the first episodes starts with a visit from Papa Lazarou and his circus that leads to one of the funniest nose bleeds in history as just about everyone in Royston Vasey unexpectedly gets a nose bleed. When the scariest freaks in the world (Papa Lazarou's circus) is scared by the denizens of Royson Vasey, then you know something is extremely messed up in this town.

The comedy of The League of Gentlemen is at the best of times extremely weird and is probably not suited to lovers of mainstream comedy. I loved the first season of this strange black comedy but I found that season two was generally a hit and miss. It appears that the creators have tried to outdo themselves and unfortunately it didn't work too well. Don't get me wrong, the show still had me in stitched but these were too far and thin. To those that have never seen the League of Gentlemen, the main characters in the town are played by three extremely talented actors, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith.

As with the previous DVD collection, the series also contains some hilarious extras that include character biographies, cast commentary, a photo gallery and over 20 minutes of unseen footage that must be seen to be appreciated.

The video quality of The League of Gentlemen the entire second series is once against flawless and is shown in a 16:9 aspect ratio with exceptionally clear and colourful picture quality. Unlike the previous season, I found no traces of artefacting or any other DVD errors.

The audio quality of the disc, although using Dolby Digital 2.0 has been perfectly transferred to DVD without any problems such as lip syncing. For a television made series, it comes across exceptionally clear and add the music from John Talbot and you have a perfect addition to this strange black comedy.

As stated in the first season review, this comedy may not be for everyone but if you are looking for something different on your comedy menu, then The League of Gentlemen may very well be for you.

- Andrew B

Episode Listing