League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse, The (2005, Mark Gatiss, Michael Sheen)

‘Welcome to Royston Vasey – You’ll Never Leave’ reads the forbidding road sign that ‘welcomes’ visitors to England’s weirdest town. But in this feature-length spin-off from the BAFTA-winning comedy series some of the population do leave. They learn that their creators, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith and Jeremy Dyson (Michael Sheen) plan to stop writing the series and thus end their fictional lives. Mad butcher Hilary Briss (Gatiss), Herr Lipp (Pemberton) and Geoff (Shearsmith) set out on a desperate mission to London to confront their creators and sabotage their latest effort, feature film The King’s Evil , by infiltrating and disrupting the shoot. Directed by Steve Bendelack (who also directed the TV series), and with appearances from other Royston Vasey residents, including Mickey Michaels, Pauline Campbell-Jones and Papa Lazarou.

Rather like A Cock and Bull Story , the film-within-a-film-within-a-film plot works in its favour. If there is a drawback for the fans of the TV series, it is that some of the most popular characters only have brief appearances before the demented trio leave Royston Vasey for the scriptwriters’ London offices. But that’s more than compensated for by seeing them confront their creators as well as invading The King’s Evil, with Bernard Hill as William of Orange and Victoria Wood as his wife Mary. And, of course, the film wouldn’t be complete without the stop-motion monster that’s straight out of Ray Harryhausen’s imagination.

production details
UK | 87 minutes | 2005
Director: Steve Bendelack
Script: Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton,

cast
Mark Gatiss as Various Characters
Liam Cunningham as Director
Steve Pemberton as Tubbs
Simon Pegg as Peter Cow
Reece Shearsmith as Various Characters
Bruno Langley as Damon
Paul Hays-Marshall as Barbara Dixon
Michael Sheen as Jeremy
Danielle Tilley as Dahlia