History Series / TheLeagueOfGentlemen

* WrongGenreSavvy - Judith Buckle describes herself as the [[FemmeFatale 'glamourous mistress']] of Alvin Steele, and seems to think she's a character in a FilmNoir. She is, of course, a character in a horror comedy, and calling her a PlainJane would probably be an insult to [[PlainJanes]].

* ShowWithinAShow - Steve Pemberton is working on a screenplay for a new movie, ''The King's Evil'', about a plot to assassinate William III (played by Bernard Hill, aka [[TheLordOfTheRings Theoden]]. Naturally, it's just as real as Royston Vasey.

* NiceGuy - Mr. Matthew Chinnery, the worst vet ever.

** Not to mention Mr Gatiss as Mrs Denton.

Set in the town of Royston Vasey (or Spent, in the original radio version), the show focuses on the very strange lives of the inhabitants: their warped obsessions, quirks and relationships. Also notable in that almost all characters are played by one of only three actors: Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, and MarkGatiss. (FourthRanger Jeremy Dyson is part of the writing team, and is occasionally seen in cameos.)

Set in the town of Royston Vasey (or Spent, in the original radio version), the show focuses on the very strange lives of the inhabitants: their warped obsessions, quirks and relationships. Also notable in that almost all characters are played by one of only three actors: Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, and MarkGatiss.

* TheDitz - Mickey, who is clearly mentally handicapped.

* CallBack/CallForward - Pop's line about wanting a daughter as well as sons can be seen as a callback to Chloe and Radclyffe's line about Val. Given the twins' implied psychic abilities, and the similar context of both lines, however, it may be that the girls were making deliberate reference to something that hadn't happened yet.

* ContinuityNod - At the end of Season 2 [[spoiler: Hilary Briss]] escapes to the Caribbean. During Season 3, a newspaper headline can be seen declaring ''"Mysterious Nosebleed Outbreak In Carribean!"''

* FagHag - [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructed]] with Tish, who unintentionally offends the hell out of all her fairly StraightGay friends. Mark Gatiss (who is gay) was probably very angry when he wrote her scenes.

* MundaneMadeAwesome - The entire Job Centre plot thread. Includes InternalAffairs, TheMole, HeelFaceTurn, BecomingTheMask, and other things you'd expect to see in a spy movie. Except it's about unemployment.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome - The entire Job Centre plot thread. Includes InternalAffairs, TheMole, HeelFaceTurn, BecomingTheMask, and other things you'd expect to see in a spy movie. Except it's about unemployment.

* SpecialGuest - David Warner (aka [[TimeBandits Evil]], aka [[{{Tron}} Dillinger/Sark]],[[BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Ra's al Ghul]], aka [[BaldursGate Jon Irenicus]], aka [[{{Discworld}} Lord Downey]], aka [[{{Freakazoid}} The Lobe]]) as Mr. Pea.

''Welcome to '''Royston Vasey'''. You'll never leave.''

* CaughtWithYourPantsDown - Parodied and inverted. Harvey Denton has a peculiar paranoia about walking in on his nephew, Benjamin, and has an entire, SpitTake-inducing collection of {{Unusual Euphemism}}s ready. There has never been any concrete evidence of Benjamin actually masturbating.

** David Tattsyrup becomes a TheVoice variant after Tubbs and Edward take him back in.

* {{Homage}} - Edward frequently references ''TheWickerMan'', and Chloe & Radclyffe obviously parody ''TheShining''. Papa Lazarou's introductory episode features a few quotes from ''{{Freaks}}'', and Geoff's subplot in Season 2 parodied ''{{Deliverance}}''. In fact, at least one {{horror movie}} gets referenced per episode.

* {{Malaproper}} - Herr Lip, who keeps making not-so-{{Innocent Innuendo}}

* TheresNoBInMovie - [[MeaningfulName Meaningfully named]] Harry Portrait and Ally Welles, who are obsessed with horror movies. However, some of the films they watch are quite good, such as ''TheShining'', ''{{Alien}}'', and Stephen Loncraine's version of ''RichardIII'', starring Sir Ian [=McKellen=]. As long as it has killin's, they're happy.

** MarkGatiss based his performance of Mr. Chinnery on Peter Davidson's as Tristan Farnan in the BBC production of {{AllCreaturesGreatAndSmall}}. And of course, on Peter Davidson because Gatiss is huge DoctorWho fan.

** In episode two of Season 1 ''The Road To Royston Vasey,'' two construction workers visit the Local Shop and end up being abducted by Tubbs and Edward. Their names? [[DiamondsAreForever Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd.]]

* CelebrityParadox - Mick [=McNamara=] claims that an episode of Tom Baker-era ''Series/DoctorWho'' was filmed at the Stump Hole caverns. So why does Mick, and approximately one third of the town, look exactly like that guy who played Dr. Lazarus in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS3E6TheLazarusExperiment The Lazarus Experiment]]" and wrote the episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E7TheIdiotsLantern The Idiot's Lantern]]"? And why does another third of the town so greatly resemble the guy who played Strackman Lux in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E8SilenceInTheLibary Silence in the Library]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E9ForestOfTheDead Forest of the Dead]]?" And why [[spoiler: does Dougal Siepp so greatly resemble the Ninth Doctor?]]

* ''The League Of Gentlemen'', a classic [[TheCaper Caper]] movie from 1960, after which the show was named.

** "Royston Vasey" is the real name of comedian Roy "Chubby" Brown, who appears in a {{Cameo}} as [[ActorAllusion the mayor]]. The mayor's name is Larry Vaughn, which is also the name of the mayor in ''{{Jaws}}''. Recursive ShoutOut!

* ExpositionOfImmortality: When Papa Lazarou is going through his Book of Wives in Season Three, some of the photos are clearly old, sepia ones that heavily imply that he's a lot older than he appears.