Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not the same, but just as good, 8 Jan 2004
The 3rd series of the League wasn't received too well when first broadcast, as I remember. Boring, no sketches, too surreal, too sick, no Tubbs and Edward. Just a few of the initial criticisms the show faced. Maybe people weren't ready, or maybe the weeklong gap between each episode was too much to notice the links and references between each story.
Either way, I half-heartedly bought it, and I'm very glad indeed. Far surpassing purely comedy, the 3rd series also scares, disgusts, confuses, and even touches you with the variety of the stories being told, more so than the previous efforts.
In summary, if you liked the first two series for their irreverant take on comedy, then you may be interested to see the direction theyve taken. If you're a sketch show person, its probably not for you.
Personally, I hadn't lived until I saw Ross and Pauline (Oh god, its true), the Debt Collectors, Charlie providing 'extras' and the oh-so-camp Keith Drop.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The League are back and better than ever!, 4 Oct 2003
This is the third series of the phenomenom that is the League of the Gentlemen television show. Different from series 1 & 2 in that there's no annoying laughter and more concentration on specific characters, it's definitely the best and most daring thing they've done so far.The idea of following one character around in each episode is an ingenious one, and I'm sure nothing like this has ever been done before in comedy. It's good to see people like ever-suffering Charlie Hull and 48 yr old ex-restart officer come lesbian, Pauline (both played by Steve Pemberton) brought out of their restrictive 'sketch' environment and into the real world (so to speak) where we can learn more about them - we find out that Pauline has always wanted to own a pen shop called 'Her Nibs' with a girl who does Saturday mornings, and that Charlie is quite the handyman when it comes to giving massages... Overall we get a much more action-packed and gritty series that brings frighteningly REAL touches to the show. I think prior to this series you were safe in the knowledge that the characters were locked away in Royston Vasey and they couldn't really 'harm' you or anything. But now many of those old, more theatrical characters, such as Local Shop inhabitants Tubbs and Edward and toad obsessed Harvey Denton, have been replaced by people who are made THAT much creepier and realistic by the way the Gents have played them and by the way Director Steve Bendelack has shot them (more subtleties, less studio and more location filming etc.). But of course, this is the League Of Gentlemen so nothing and no-one are ever what they seem... As for the DVD. They promised a decent one for series 3 and it looks like they've delivered (the Dean Taveloris magic tutorial should be funny). This is well worth getting. It's a piece of COMEDY HISTORY for this will be looked back on as one of the greatest series' ever committed to film.
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24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Returned and Refreshed, 23 Oct 2003
Imagine the scene: You are a highly successful and original comedy group with two critically acclaimed and award-winning series, a similarly lauded Christmas Special and a sell-out national tour under your collective belt. You know what your audience like and will best respond to. It's time to start work on a third series. Buoyed up by these successes, especially the unprecented triumph of your recent tour, you have perhaps three options:
A) Stick to the formula that has worked extremely well for you so far and produce more of the same. After all, it's probably the easiest option and you know your fans will lap it up.
B) Dumb it down a little - tone down the more grotesque elements and obscure references and go for a more mainstream approach. After all, this will probably appeal to a wider audience and may even get you moved over to BBC1.
C) Take a risk and shake things up a little. After all, tempting as it may be to stick to familiar territory and creatively tread water, you're mindful of other shows which have done this and gone off the boil. You're not too concerned with belly laughs - they're no benchmark for real quality, and quality is what you're keen to maintain. To this end, you have a possible new direction in mind.
Go for option C. You may alienate some of your audience, but if they're going to moan about you trying something different then you're probably better off without them anyway. Who needs a laughter track? It's just annoying and slightly patronising - I don't want to be told when to laugh. I don't want a "THIS IS A JOKE" reminder. I'm intelligent enough to work that out for myself and laugh if I feel the need.
Thankfully, the League credit their audience with this intelligence, as well as the ability to comprehend that just because it might not necessarily make you laugh out loud does not by any means purport that it isn't as good as its' predecessors. Or that it isn't funny.
Other reviewers' complaints about the change in format seem silly to me. To my mind it's a real shot in the arm for what could have become a tired formula had they plumped for options A or B. And it is commendable that the League have clearly not allowed themselves to become complacent and rest on their laurels.
So, this third series follows six different paths to the same conclusion at the end of each episode, each one told from a different perspective and revealing a little more each time, before everything is tied up in the final episode. As you would expect, the characters are as grotesque as their situations, and so brilliantly performed that it's easy to forget that they are all played by the same three men. The depth given to many characters - even those who only appear in one scene - is a solid testament to the strong writing and superb acting of the ensemble. A real highlight is Mark Gatiss' mortician, whose grim monologue contains several allusions to a deeply unhealthy interest in his work. It carries echoes of his wonderful monologue as the cave tour guide in Series One, but manages to top it for sheer bleakness.
Several new characters make an appearance, and more familiar characters are given an expanded setting. And there are one or two surprises too - who would have thought Pauline, the tyrannical lesbian Restart Officer and jailbird, would fall for the tragically stupid Mickey? And then there's the rather unsettling sight of Pauline's sexual blackmail at the hands (and other parts) of Ross. Tish, the irritating fag-hag who made her first appearance in the live show, is a superb creation and appears here as a friend of Phil from Legz Akimbo at their base in Camden. Some purists balked at the idea of having some of the action take place outside the confines of Royston Vasey, which again is a silly objection. Observe Geoff's struggle to cope in London - the absurdity of London life to those who have moved there from the North (like myself) is brilliantly played out.
On the whole, this fresh approach is a total success. The use of the red bag blowing in the wind in the background as a linking device is an old but clever idea, and helps the major plot strands mix with the seemingly insignificant ones. It's also one of the League's many tips of the hat to various films and genres.
Watch this and admire the many talents of a comedy team who seem determined to stay fresh and avoid the temptations of selling out for the easy dollar. Too many comedy shows have started out with so much promise, only to deteriorate into repetitive parodies of themselves, content to trot out the same tired old catchphrases ad nauseum and tread the same puerile path for the sake of maintaining audiences made up of dedicated, glassy-eyed, uncritical consumers. Not so for The League Of Gentlemen. If you like your comedy with a heavy undertone of discomfort and outright tragedy, if you appreciate respect for the viewer's intelligence, and if you appreciate fine writing and superb acting, then this is most definitely for you. Outstanding.
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