The League of Gentlemen Series 1 on DVD

• Cert:
• Cat.no: BBCDVD 1007
• Running time: 176 minutes
• Year: 1999
• Pressing: 2000
• Region(s): 2, 4 (UK PAL)
• Chapters: 36 plus extras
• Sound: Stereo
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: English
• Widescreen: 16:9
• 16:9-enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: No
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: £19.99
• Extras: Outtakes, Character statistics, Photo Gallery, Writer/Director Commentary
  

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  Director:

  Steve Bendelack

Producer:

Screenplay:

Music:

Cast:

Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith

This is a local shop for local people.

There’s only one comedy series synonymous with that catchphrase, the distinctly dark comedy, The League of Gentlemen. Perhaps there’s something that’s passed me by about this programme, but the preposterous antics of Tubbs and Edward, the local shop owners, the Denton family with their regular lectures on self-abuse and Babs Cabs owner Barbara, the pre-op transsexual with a voice deeper than Barry White leave me slightly on the cold side.

That’s not to say that it doesn’t leave me with nothing to laugh at, but this type of humour displayed in the town of Royston Vasey would be best served by the removal of the canned laughter soundtrack. There are other jokes in there which I can see are funny as I get the joke, but just aren’t making me laugh and I can’t think why. I don’t care that the sniggering and guffawing came from those watching the same piece of material, but the gags are best accompanied by the sound of silence and nothing else. It makes me feel like I’m watching a stage play more than a TV sitcom.

All six episodes of series 1, broadcast in January and February 1999, are here and it can’t be long before series 2, shown in early 2000, plus last year’s Christmas Special, see the light of day on DVD.

As filmed, this DVD is presented in the original 16:9 widescreen ratio and is anamorphic. There’s no intentional artifacts onscreen, but the way it’s been shot on film gives an apparently slightly hazy look throughout the series which hinders the image to a degree. The average bitrate is 5.31Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 7Mb/s. The stereo soundtrack is purely functional, giving clear English dialogue, but nothing else is necessary.

There are 36 chapters to the series, the menus are static and silent and subtitles come in English only.

The extras contain Outtakes, a whole 20 minutes worth and also in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen, Character statistics for the entire townsfolk, a Photo Gallery and a Writer/Director Commentary which runs for the duration of the series – quite a unique feature this really since I’ve yet to come across such a thing for a TV show.

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALL