The League of Gentlemen -- Christmas Special [DVD] [1999]

Amazon.co.uk Review A Gothic-comedy masterpiece, The League of Gentlemen Christmas Special is a horrific anthology of three related stories, all set in Royston Vasey, which takes its inspiration as much from the writings of MR James and Edgar Allan Poe as the low-budget Hammer and Amicus shockers that the team parody so affectionately. The stories are all linked by the Dickensian device of Reverend Bernice receiving unexpected guests on Christmas Eve: the first concerns troubled married couple Charlie and Stella becoming unwittingly involved in voodoo and witchcraft; the second features the horrendous Herr Lipp in a Nosferatu skit that reveals the terrible truth about what really goes on in Duisburg; while the third, and best, tells of the horrible hereditary curse that afflicted Dr Chinnery's great-grandfather. This one-off special distils all the League's penchant for disturbing, twisted characterisation and macabre humour into a single hour; the result is one of the most daring "comedies" ever seen on British TV. On the DVD: The League of Gentlemen Christmas Special on disc contains the hour-long main feature accompanied by a diverse and entertaining array of extras. There's another illuminating group commentary; a 20-minute documentary "Tales from Behind the Crypt", in which we get to see excerpts from the team's first ensemble effort, "Highgate House of Horror"; a chat with composer Jody Talbot; and the League themselves "In Conversation" with Paul Jackson in the complete Radio 4 broadcast. A selection of out-takes, extended scenes, character biographies and a photo gallery are all worthwhile, but best of all is a Jackanory special with Mark Gatiss as the Victorian Dr Chinnery telling the Gothic tale of "The Curse of the Karrit Poor", a spot-on Arthur Conan Doyle spoof. --Mark Walker Product Description It's Christmas time in Royston Vasey, the little northern town whose proud motto is 'You'll Never Leave', and this special full-length episode has a darkly Dickensian yuletide flavour. We are presented with a complex tableau of stories delivered to Royston Vasey's vicar Bernice by a variety of strangers who visit her church. In flashback we are shown the terrible secret behind Dr Chinnery's always fatal attempts at veteninary surgery. Back in the present, and taking a sideswipe at Stanley Kubrick's 'Eyes Wide Shut', the endlessly warring couple Stella and Charlie try to resolve their dysfunction, and Stella visits a strange masked group called 'Solutions' in the hope of using voodoo to get rid of her husband. Finally we travel back to visit a younger Herr Lipp, the vicious pederast, who is captured here leading a choir of small boys in the small German town of Duisberg; but what will he do to the young lad who asks if he may come to visit this Christmas?