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Last night I gave one of my most disappointing movies a second chance.

The League of Gentlemen was one of my favourite TV series, and its dark humour still makes me laugh. The problem with the TV series was the risk that it would become a parody of itself, with catchphrases and recurring characters who essentially had a limited lifespan.

Many of the characters were one-joke characters, similar to those in shows such as The Fast Show. The difference being that in The Fast Show, the  intention was to produce one-joke, instantly quotable characters, placing them in different situations, delivering a few humorous lines before wrapping up with their punchline catchphrases. In 30 second to 2 minute sketches, this is easy to do, but when you have created a whole world (well, village) that these characters live in and interact in, the characters become harder to write for, and less believable as a result.

The first two series of The League of Gentlemen centred around the characters of Tubbs and Edward, the Local Shopkeepers, their plans to disrupt the building of a new road that would bring strangers to their village, and their attempts to find a mate for their son, David (ironically the developer who was building the road from the first series). By the end of the second series, the characters of Tubbs and Edward had got a little worn, and were killed off. The writers took a bold decision here, as they could have easily took the easy route for a few more series with their ‘Local Shop, for Local People’. For the third series, they tried a new approach with a single story that was told from different angles, introducing new characters while reducing of some of the older characters. Series 3 wasn’t as well received as previous series, but it was obvious that the writers wanted to take a step away from their creations.

The announcement of a League of Gentlemen movie genuinely excited me, but could you turn a half-hour show into a full length movie?

When I saw the movie for the first time, I thought it was terrible. The characters escape from the fictional world of Royston Vasey and enter our world in a ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ way, the humour coming from the fact that these cartoonish characters were interacting with normal people.

The low budget was particularly evident, and the diversion into a story-within-a-story-within-a-story seemed nonsensical, and not relevant to the plot at the time.

I suppose my initial reaction was also coloured by the fact  that two of the main characters were two of my least favourite - Herr Lipp and Geoff Tipps.

Lipp I’ve always found too creepy and his innuendos the least funny. Geoff just rude and not very funny (which I suppose is the point of his character.) However, on second viewing, these were possibly the best selection of characters to use for the movie.

The opening sequence where Tubbs, Edward and Papa Lazarou confront writer Jeremy Dyson (the unseen gentleman, and again, played by someone else) sums up the fact that most of the characters are too bizarre to exist in the ‘real’ world. While the murderous butcher Briss is possibly the most extreme character of the bunch, he is also the most intelligent and perfect as a leader.

Lipp is a one-joke character, and actually has quite a good story arc in the movie, where he comes to realise that he is a one-dimensional character, and craves to be seen as more than a stereotype. His final rant filled with his trademark innuendos is not meant to be humourous, and draws another parallel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit, he is almost like Jessica Rabbit - “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way…”

The premise that the actors are fed up with playing the characters they have played for the last 10 years and want to go on to other things, is believable - As parodied in the excellent episode of Father Ted ‘The Mainland’, Richard Wilson (a respected Shakespearean actor) is constantly being taunted by Ted saying his catchphrase from ‘One foot in the Grave’: ‘I Don’t believe it!’. The League of Gentlemen are actors and want to be remembered more than ‘Are you Local?’ or ‘Okey-cokey-pig-in-a-pokey! Good Morning Jobseekers!’.

The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse is a tribute to those characters - a fond farewell.

Since this film, the actors have all gone on to do other projects, from Dr. Who to Lassie.

The final twist in the film that it is all in the mind of Jeremy, the one who is not prepared to let go of Royston Vasey is particularly poignant, as well as being amusing in that his original plan for everyone to have tails. The idea that the writers have not all perished leaves the village of Royston Vasey alive as long as the writers stay alive, and we have the possibility to return there one day.