YMMV / The League of Gentlemen

Film

• Values Dissonance: Oliver Reed's overly-camp depiction of the gay actors doesn't come across well now.
• Retroactive Recognition: Molly Weaver is played by Doris Hare, who would later be best known for playing Mrs. Butler in On the Buses.
• Stock Footage Failure: As Hyde is showing the movie of the exterior of the bank that they will rob he tells his cohorts, "This is the view of the bank that you will see three weeks from today, gentlemen." Sure enough, during the events just before the actual robbery: As the guard opens the rear door of the armored truck, the same-dressed man with a newspaper in his overcoat pocket walks past and, as the guards put the boxes on the flatbed truck, the same two women in light overcoats walk past.

TV Series

• Cargo Ship: Pauline Campbell-Jones and her pen.
• Crosses the Line Twice: All over the place. Cannibalism, serial killers, graphic toad-melting, And I Must Scream, a cursed veterinarian who despite good intentions manages to cause the agonizing deaths of all his charges, Brother–Sister Incest... sounds like a typical day in Royston Vasey, and generally played for laughs.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Papa Lazarou has only had a few appearances, but is probably the series' best-known and best-loved character.
• Heartwarming Moments: Pauline and Mickey’s relationship can be rather sweet at times. From him giving her a special new pen as a goodbye gift in series 1 to Pauline defending Mickey when Cathy Carter-Smith begins insulting him.
  Pauline: His name is Mickey. You leave him alone.
  • In a strange way, Ross' insistence that Mickey go for his job interview in series 1. He may be an auditor specifically gathering evidence against Pauline but he at least wants Mickey to have a chance.
  • Mike and Brian at least trying to give Geoff a Surprise Party, even if he did ruin it with his own idea of a "prank".
  • Benjamin's protectiveness of Barbara when The Tattsyrup's shop is burned down, warning her of the danger and comforting her.
  • Lance Longhorn is free of the Nun's arm; however, he is still in her control as she points out that Pauline is about to be hit by the van. He agrees by pushing Pauline out of the way but sadly takes the fatal impact as he lies dying with Pauline thanking him in tears with Mickey comforting her. As Lance raises his arm, he sees that he has two and expires with a smile.
    • In the Finale, we see that in Mike King's Booth framed pride of place is the local paper with Lance on the front saying He died a Hero.
  • At the end of Series 3, we are shown Pauline and Mickey getting married. Ross arrives too late to stop the wedding and alert Mickey of his fling with Pauline; seeing that Mickey is so happy and waves to him, Ross sad/happily holds his tongue.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Mick McNamara claims that the Doctor Who serial "Revenge of the Cybermen" 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 "The Lazarus Experiment" and the Brigadier's ancestor in "Twice Upon a Time"? And why does another third of the town so greatly resemble the guy who played Strackman Lux in "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead"? And why does Dougal Siepp so greatly resemble the Ninth Doctor? And why does the final third of the town look like the guy who played Rassmussen in "Sleep No More"?
  • Marilyn Manson donned blackface for his Golden Age Of Grotesque album in 2003 and bore a striking resemblance◊ to Papa Lazarou.
    • Coincidentally, Lazarou mentions in The League Of Gentlemen Are Behind You that he'd performed as Manson on Stars In Their Eyes.
• Jerkass Woobie: Ross with both characteristics being a product of his being the Only Sane Man whose logic is the last hold-out against the waves of insanity that surround Royston Vasey.
• Memetic Molester: Papa Lazarou. "You're my wife now!"
• Memetic Mutation - "Hello DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVE!"
  • "You're my wife now!"
  • "This is a local meme for local people. There's nothing for you here."
  • Within-universe, it is strongly implied that "Excuse me, has anybody got a bottle of orange juice?" becomes a meme.
    • "EXCOOVE ME...HAVE ANYBODY HERE GOT ANY OW-AN DOOVE!!!"
    • "Eskewed beef! Have anybody got any bockle ourange joof?"
• Moment of Awesome:
  • One of Tish's "friends" finally telling her off in Live at Drury Lane.
    I am not a girl! I'm a man! And at least I've had a boyfriend, unlike YOU, YOU STUPID FUCKING SHIT!
  • In an episode that seems to be all about screwing over every last one of the series' Staight Men, it is absurdly satisfying to see Ross tell Pauline that he's actually been an auditor this whole time, and that he's collected enough evidence of her violent and belittling behavior to ensure she'll never work in the government again in the first series finale.
  • The 2017 series shows that Mickey did achieve his dream of becoming a fireman.
• Nightmare Retardant: The build-up to the exact appearance and nature of the "Beast of Royston Vasey" feels almost unbearable...until one of the autopsy crew is radioed about the roundabout zookeeper missing animals which just happen to be the same ones the Beast was said to contain elements from.
• Paranoia Fuel - Herr Lipp's subplot in the Christmas Special.
• Tear Jerker: In the 2017 series it's revealed that Pauline now has dementia and that Ross and Mickey have been brought in to help with an exercise to help jog her memory. There's a scene where she steps out of the room after telling Mickey to hand out pens to the rest of the "job seekers" and she can be seen standing in silence and staring into space until an attendant has to get her to go back in. When she does, it takes her a moment to even remember her own name.
  • Later in the series due to a mistake, Pauline ends up being killed in her sleep by Geoff after he goes to the wrong address after arranging with Mike to kill his wife as a mercy killing only to realise Mike had moved house years ago. We see Mickey arriving home and discovering Pauline's body. However in the 2018 live tour continuing on from the anniversary specials, it was revealed that it was part of an insurance fraud scam with Pauline faking her dementia and death so she and Mickey can get the insurance money.
  • For some viewers, Charlie and Stella's marriage. From their constant arguing to infidelity to the revelation that their daughter drowned in the bath years earlier. It's obvious there's no relationship left, with Charlie freely admitting to Rev. Bernice that he doesn't love his wife anymore.
  • Reenie's realization that Vinnie is dead in "How The Elephant Got It's Trunk" is genuinely heart breaking. Even worse is when Papa Lazarou uses Vinnie's voice to torment Reenie as she cries out "You're not my friend!".
  • The emotional goodbye between Val an Benjamin at the end of the Anniversary special can also be read as one between the gents themselves and the fans of the series.
  • In the Christmas special, Matthew's rejection of Herr Lipp can come across as genuinely quite sad. Pemberton's facial expressions really sell it.
    Herr Lipp: The absence of love is the most abject pain...
    Matthew: [distraught] Leave me alone!
    Herr Lipp: I will try. [leaves]
• Values Dissonance:
  • There's no way a character like Barbara Dixon would fly today. Something the League parodied in the 2017 specials by having Barbara be something of a "Social Justice Warrior".
  • Papa Lazarou's resemblance to a blackface caricature is the reason the series was removed from Netflix in 2020 due to the Black Lives Matter Movement. The series is still available on BBC iPlayer but has a disclaimer at the beginning.
  • The fact that the town name itself is a reference to shock humor comedian Roy "Chubby" Brown, who has made his singular BBC appearance in a cameo as the mayor, while being otherwise effectively blackballed for his racist, sexist, and homophobic routines.
• Vanilla Protagonist: Benjamin Denton, the outsider who becomes acquainted with much of Royston Vasey's weirdness is always best described as one of the very, very few normal characters in the show. That's it. He is the normal guy and the most memorable parts of him are his reactions towards the lunacy that surrounds him. Only then does he show a multi-faceted personality and isn't just a Pinball Protagonist.
• The Woobie: Mickey, Les, Alvin, Charlie in series 3 and any animal who gets anywhere near Mr. Chinnery.
  • Hell, Mr. Chinnery himself, a chipper, happy man who loves animals and yet will inevitably kill any he gets close to.

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