The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse

Infobox_Film
name = The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse

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writer = Jeremy Dyson
Mark Gatiss
Steve Pemberton
Reece Shearsmith
starring = Mark Gatiss
Steve Pemberton
Reece Shearsmith
director = Steve Bendelack
producer = Peter Bennet-Jones
Greg Brenman
Ed Guiney
Andrew Lowe
music = Joby Talbot
editing = Tony Cranstoun
cinematography = Rob Kitzmann
distributor = FilmFour
Universal Pictures
released = 3 June 2005
runtime = 91 min
language = English
imdb_id = 0435687
awards =
budget =

"The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse" is a film spin-off from the popular British television comedy series "The League of Gentlemen". Starring Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, the film was written by the cast with Jeremy Dyson, and directed by Steve Bendelack. Also featuring in guest roles are Victoria Wood, David Warner, Bruno Langley, Bernard Hill, Simon Pegg and Peter Kay.

The film was due for a UK release on 22 April 2005, but the release date was moved back to 3 June. Over 20 minutes of footage was deleted in the final cut.

Plot

The League of Gentlemen have decided to work on a new project and stop working on their creations set in the town of Royston Vasey, the location of their tv series. One of writers, Jeremy Dyson (played by Michael Sheen), does not want to do the project and keeps coming up with weak ideas in order to keep them alive, such as giving all the characters tails. After failing to convince the other members of The League, he is horrified to find one of Royston Vasey characters, Tubbs Tattsyrup, in his bathroom. He runs for help, but is stopped by Edward Tattsyrup, who try to prevent Dyson from destoying them. Jeremy escapes and runs to the edge of a cliff. He pretends they do not exist, only to find out that they are real, when Papa Lazarou appears from behind and throws him him off the cliff to his death.

Back in Royston Vasey, the local vicar, Bearnice Woodall, tells fellow residents Pauline Campbell-Jones and Mr. Chinnery at the church that there are signs of The Apocalypse occurring (such as local war memorial being struck by lightning and Chinnery causing a giraffe to ejaculate sperm of a crowd of old women). She tells them that she sent Tubbs, Edward and Papa through a secret door into another dimension in order to stop it. Having heard no word, she assumes they died during the mission, and so they plan to go through the door.

However, in the moors near Royston Vasey, Hilary Briss has escaped from prison. He finds Herr Lipp on the moors and holds him hostage. Hilary uses Herr Lipp to steal a car, driven by Geoff Tipps. Hilary leads them to the church and through the door to the other dimension, before Berenice, Pauline and Chinnery do so.

When Hilary, Herr Lipp and Geoff come out, they are in Hadfield - the town where "The League of Gentlemen" is filmed. They have entered our dimension. They meet Papa Lazarou, who takes them to see Tubbs and Edward. They explain that Royston Vasey is in fact a fictional place created by a team of writers called "The League of Gentlemen". They know that the writers are planning to stop Royston Vasey, so they were sent to prevent the writers from destroying the town. After throwing Jeremy off the cliff, only three of the writers remain: Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith. Hilary, Herr Lipp and Geoff are sent to persuade them continue to write for Royston Vasey.

Hilary, Herr Lipp and Geoff travel to London. After sneaking into an office where Gatiss, Pemberton and Shearsmith are working, they discover the new project they are working on. However, Lipp bumps into Pemberton. Geoff knocks Pemberton unconscious and kidnaps him. Hilary and Geoff take Pemberton to their hideout (The Overlooked Hotel), while Lipp is mistaken for Pemberton. Lipp pretends to be his creator and goes home, where he discovers that Pemberton has been neglecting his family.

Hilary and Geoff read through The League of Gentlemen's new project, a historical horror called "The King's Evil", in which a group of Catholics work together with a black magician called Dr. Pea (David Warner) in order to kill the Protestant King William III (Bernard Hill) and Queen Mary II (Victoria Wood) using a poisonous monster called a "Homunculus". While they read, Pemberton escapes. Hilary chases him while Geoff continues to read. Hilary re-captures Pemberton, but when they return to the hideout, Hilary discovers Geoff has written himself into the plot of "The King's Evil" as the hero.

Herr Lipp meanwhile becomes deeply attached to Pemberton's family, in particular his children. He looks through some of Pemberton's personal belongs in order to find Pemberton's notes. He then becomes angry when he realises that he was created as a "One-joke character" and is depicted as gruotesque. Meanwhile, in the plot of "The King's Evil", Geoff is captured by Dr. Pea and his friends, where his tortured by them to reveal all of his knowledge about what has been going on, including the writers.

Hilary takes Pemberton up to Hadfield, where he telephones Shearsmith about what has been going on. Shearsmith does not believe that Pemberton has been captured, so Hilary talks to him. Shearsmith only believes when Hilary is talking to him while seeing Gatiss in front of him at the same time. Shearsmith and Gatiss find and capture Herr Lipp, who then travel up to Hadfield.

They enter the dimensional door and swap their hostages. When they exit the door, they have entered Royston Vasey, which is now in chaos. Hilary explains what has been going on, with the residents of Royston Vasey coming up with their own ideas. Just as Pemberton is about to create on of his own, he is killed by characters from "The King's Evil". They have anaged to enter in Royston Vasey, along with Geoff who apologises for what has happened. Pea tries to convice Briss to leave Royston Vasey and join him, but Hilary refuses. Pea kills his fellow characters and turns them into a gigantic homunculus, which Hilary tries to fight. Shearsmith and Gatiss try and climb up the church in order to escape, but Shearsmith falls to his death as he climbs.

Hilary kills the monster, but he himself is stabbed in the back by Pea. Before he passes away, he tells Geoff that he is the only one who can save Royston Vasey. Geoff fights with Dr. Pea, while Gatiss tries to return to real world. However, he is stopped by Herr Lipp, who holds him at gunpoint. Geoff manages to kill Dr. Pea using part of the homunculus, but the chaos still goes on. In the church, Herr Lipp says he will kill Gatiss, claiming that once he is dead, then they will be free from their writing and live their own lives as they see fit. Geoff tells Herr Lipp that because he managed to save the day and can therefore change, he does not need to kill Gatiss. He persuades Herr Lipp to hand him the gun, only for Geoff to accidentally fire it and kill Gatiss himself.

The residents of Royston Vasey prepare for the worse, but nothing happens. Instead, everything calms down and The Apocalypse ends. Also, with the writers gone, the characters now have free will. Herr Lipp finds some children and becomes their father. Chinnery finds a rabbit and is able to take care of it without killing it. Bearnice begins to believe in God. Geoff leaves the church, waving goodbye to Edward, Tubbs and Papa Lazarou.

However, it is discovered that Dyson is still alive. He is in a coma after falling off the cliff. Everyone else in the world now has tails.

Characters

Nearly all of the action involves the characters Herr Lipp, Hilary Briss and Geoff Tipps, played by Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith respectively. Other characters such as Mr Chinnery, Pauline Campbell-Jones, Mickey Michaels, Barbara Dixon, Reverend Bernice Woodall, Tubbs & Edward Tattsyrup and Papa Lazarou also feature. The actors also play themselves, as well as three other characters from their new project, a 17th century gothic horror entitled "The King's Evil". Computer trickery is used to show several characters played by the same actor interacting at once. The fourth writer, Jeremy Dyson, who is not an actor, is played by Michael Sheen.

External links

* [http://www.uip.co.uk/leagueofgentlemen/ Official website]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435687/ "The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse"] at the Internet Movie Database