The League of Gentlemen: Series 02 (2000)

Originally telecast by BBC2 from January 14 through February 18, 2000, season two of the dizzily irreverent British sitcom The League of Gentlemen consists of six half-hour episodes. As was the case in the BBC radio series On the Town that preceded it, the TV version takes place in the bizarre provincial town of Royston Vasey, with all principal characters played by Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, and Reece Shearsmith. The season opener, "Destination: Royston Vasey," finds the tiny community invaded by Papa Lazerou's Pandemonum Carnival. (As if this town needs any more pandemonium!) Next is "Lust for Royston Vasey," wherein Herr Lipp (Pemberton) and a group of German exchange students manage to match the locals in weirdness, and then some. (This is the one in which incompetent vet Dr. Chimmery [Gatiss] electrocutes a pondful of carp while performing oral surgery on a toad.) Also: "A Plague on Royston Vasey" deals with such esoterica as a sex-fetish magazine, a bear trap, and a quota of "twelfty"; over-obsessive Uncle Harvey (Pemberton) and Aunt Val (Gatiss) then celebrate their annual Nude Day; and Mayor Vaughn (guest star Roy "Chubby" Brown) humiliates himself in public television by using profanities generally taboo on BBC2 in "Death in Royston Vasey"; Lesbian parole officer Pauline (Pemberton) takes hostages, and dull-witted Mike (Shearsmith) tries to cover up a murder by blaming the local wolves in "Anarchy in Royston Vasey"; and in the season finale "Royston Vasey and the Monster From Hell," the community is besieged by a nosebleed epidemic and the Legz Akimbo Theater Company lays a large and noxious egg. In addition to the six regular episodes, season two of The League of Gentleman offers a Christmas special -- but don't expect anything resembling peace on earth or goodwill to men! Also, a concert special, "The League of Gentleman Live at Drury Lane," was seen approximately one year after the final second-season offering. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi