
The League Of Gentlemen
- TV sitcom / sketch show
- BBC Two
- 1999 - 2017
- 22 episodes (3 series)
Royston Vasey is an isolated Northern community where dark, perverted and horrifying things happen behind closed doors. Stars Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith and Mark Gatiss.
Episode menu
Series 1, Episode 1 - Welcome To Royston Vasey

Further details
And what a welcome indeed. Benjamin Denton arrives to spend the night with his hygiene-obsessed relatives, Harvey and Val, and their twin daughters, twins Chloe and Radclyffe. But that's not before he encounters Barbara, the pre-op transsexual taxi driver.
Ben is due to meet his friend Martin to go hiking. At the Local Shop, Edward and Tubbs are worried that the construction of a new road will bring strangers to Royston Vasey. Martin's arrival seems to confirm their fears and they decide to take action. In a homage to The Wicker Man, a Scottish police officer comes looking for Martin, but meets with a sticky end.
We also meet Pauline Campbell Jones, the hard-nosed restart officer, whose role is to motivate jobseekers into finding employment. What she is meant to do, and what she actually does, are two different things. She spends most of her time preventing the "dole scum" from ever getting a job. Two of her jobseekers are Ross Gaines and Mickey Michaels. While Mickey cannot string a sentence together, Ross challenges Pauline at every turn.
This episode also sees the telling of the infamous Mau Mau joke. Businessmen Geoff, Mike and Brian are in the pub. Geoff insists his friends hear the joke about the Mau Mau, but is so rubbish at telling it, he eventually resorts to pulling a gun on Brian at the punchline!
Broadcast details
- Date
- Monday 11th January 1999
- Time
- 9:30pm
- Channel
- BBC Two
- Length
- 30 minutes
Cast & crew
Steve Pemberton | Tubbs |
Reece Shearsmith | Edward |
Steve Pemberton | Pauline |
Mark Gatiss | Mickey |
Reece Shearsmith | Ross |
Reece Shearsmith | Benjamin |
Steve Pemberton | Uncle Harvey |
Mark Gatiss | Auntie Val |
Reece Shearsmith | Geoff |
Steve Pemberton | Mike |
Mark Gatiss | Brian |
Mark Gatiss | Mr Chinnery |
Mark Gatiss | Hilary Briss |
Reece Shearsmith | Henry |
Steve Pemberton | Ally |
Steve Pemberton | Barbara Dixon (Voice) |
Frances Cox | Annie Raines (Old Lady) |
Mike Flanagan | Robert (Job Seeker) |
Edward McCracken | Colin (Job Seeker) |
Mark Gatiss | Martin Lee (Benjamin's friend) |
Steve Pemberton | Farmer Tinsel |
Mark Gatiss | Bobby Woodward (Policeman) |
Mark Gatiss | Writer |
Reece Shearsmith | Writer |
Steve Pemberton | Writer |
Jeremy Dyson | Writer |
Steve Bendelack | Director |
Sarah Smith | Producer |
Jon Plowman | Executive Producer |
Jemma Rodgers | Associate Producer |
Will Yarrow | Editor |
Adam Windmill | Editor |
Janey Walklin (as Janey Walkin) | Editor |
Sarah Kane | Production Designer |
Grenville Horner | Production Designer |
Rob Kitzmann | Director of Photography |
Yves Barre | Costume Designer |
Joby Talbot | Composer |
Helen Barrett | Make-up Designer |
Video
We Didn't Burn Him!
Tubbs and Edward are questioned by a police officer about the disappearance of a young man.
Featuring: Reece Shearsmith (Edward), Steve Pemberton (Tubbs) & Mark Gatiss (Bobby Woodward).
Press
A walk on the weird side
What apparently originated as sketches has here been opened out and adroitly blended into the bizarre mise en scene of Royston Vasey, but as the series goes by, individual sketch episodes might be increasingly difficult to shoehorn into this overall scenario. But for now The League of Gentlemen is a big hit: Sarah Smith's production is first-rate and Joby Talbot's weirdly catchy music sets the whole thing off nicely.
Peter Bradshaw, Evening Standard, 12th January 1999