league1dvd

This is the series that started the cult status of the show, and began a national love of "special stuff", sarcastic vicars, deadly local shop owners and cries of "Hello, hello? What's going on...what's all this shouting, we'll have no trouble here!". If you were lucky enough to catch the Radio 4 series in 1997, much of this will be familiar to you (with a few exceptions - the Hilary Briss and Tubbs and Edward characters were not in the radio version). For most people though, it was this incarnation on TV that introduced the show to them. Set in the small, dingy town of Royston Vasey, the rather unusual inhabitants lead rather unusual lives. In this first series, developers decide that a new road needs to be built...right through Royston Vasey. While some townspeople welcome the project (the three businessmen who agree more work will come their way), there are some who abhor the idea and the strangers who would visit the town (Tubbs and Edwards' view). It's true this kind of humour will not be to everyone's taste, as it is very weird in places. The tone is dark and black humour is very much the order of the day, leaving you chuckling at things you really shouldn't. It contains the kind of characters and sketches last seen in Monty Python's Flying Circus some thirty years ago. Often regarded as the next Goons or Pythons, the League are a writing/acting team with a big future if the success of their TV series, radio show and always successful stage exploits are anything to go by. A great introduction to a series that just gets better and better.

EXTRA FEATURES
Boasting a fine commentary by the three on screen actors and Jeremy Dyson (who writes but does not appear in the show, save for a short cameo) which is both informative and funny and tells you everything you would want to know about what is happening on screen. There are also text documents and photos chronicling the League's appearances on stage, radio and TV, biographies of each character with hidden sound clips, over 20 minutes of deleted and extended scenes (that were cut for time rather than quality, so you can be assured they will be hilarious). A fine disc from the BBC.