THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMAN'S APOCALYPSE

'Welcome to Royston Vasey - You'll Never Leave".

On Channel 4 on Friday 28 December 2007 is the premiere of the League of Gentleman's big screen finale, Apocalpyse, to the characters from the TV series.

The forbidding road sign that 'welcomes' visitors to England's weirdest town sees a reverse flow for some of the population. They learn that their creators, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith and Jeremy Dyson plan to stop writing the series and thus end their fictional lives. Mad butcher Hilary Briss (Gatiss), Herr Lipp (Pemberton) and Geoff (Shersmith) set out on a desperate mission to London to confront their creators and sabotage their latest effort, a feature film called The King's Evil , by infiltrating and disrupting the shoot. Directed by Steve Bendelack (who also directed the TV series), this hysterical conceit also sees appearances from other Royston Vasey residents, including Mickey Michaels, Pauline Campbell-Jones and Papa Lazarou.

Rather like A Cock and Bull Story , the film-within-a-film-within-a-film plot works in its favour. If there is a drawback for the fans of the TV series, it is that some of the most popular characters only have brief appearances before the demented trio leave Royston Vasey for the scriptwriters' London offices. But that's more than compensated for by seeing them confront their creators as well as invading The King's Evil , with Bernard Hill as William of Orange and Victoria Wood as his wife Mary. And, of course, the film wouldn't be complete without the stop-motion monster that's straight out of Ray Harryhausen's imagination.

Director: Steve Bendelack
Writers: Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith
Cast: Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, Michael Sheen, Danielle Tilley

NEW TRICKS: BIG TOPPED

It's the final episode of the season for the New Tricks team, this entertaining show has one of the best casts on TV. Big Topped airing on the ABC on Saturday, 17 November 2007 @ 7.30 sees the team at the circus when they are assigned to reinvestigate the suspicious death of the Great Miraculo aka Bert Dignam. In 1990, ringmaster and circus owner Bert Dignam was found burnt to death inside his caravan at Spingles Circus. Mysteriously, all that remained of him were his feet, and nothing else in the caravan was burnt. How or why he died was never discovered. To try and solve the puzzle, Brian attempts to recreate his death using a whole pig carcass as the body. It doesn't take long for the case to get twisted. With pressure from Bert's long lost daughter and a lack of leads from his old friends, the team struggle to get a break. Off the case, Sandra's trust in her team is shattered when she discovers they have hidden an important secret about her past from her. The news t...

WIRE IN THE BLOOD Prayer of the Bone

Robson Green goes stateside for a special episode of the acclaimed and hard-hitting drama Wire In The Blood, made in America for ITV1 by Coastal Productions. The feature-length thriller, filmed in and around Austin, Texas, takes talented but eccentric clinical psychologist Dr Tony Hill (Robson Green) away from the familiar streets of Bradfield and pits him against the might of the US legal system, sweltering heat, and rattlesnakes. Prayer of the Bone, written by acclaimed scriptwriter Patrick Harbinson (ER, Red Cap, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) comes ahead of a sixth, eight-part series of Wire In The Blood. The action begins as Tony Hill is invited to Luther in Texas as an expert witness in the case of an American man accused of brutally slaughtering his wife and young son and daughter. Iraq combat veteran Darius Grady (Brad Hawkins) has confessed to the crimes but his defence team claim his traumatic experiences in war have left him with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and th...

DOC MARTIN SEASON THREE FINAL EPISODE

This entertaining comedy drama series comes to close on ITV1 on Monday 5 November @ 9.00pm and it's the wedding day for Dr Martin Ellingham (Martin Clunes) and Louisa Glasson (Caroline Catz). It’s business as usual for Dr Martin Ellingham (Martin Clunes), even though it's his wedding day. He opens the surgery as normal to a stream of patients, including one of the bridesmaids. Louisa Glasson’s (Caroline Catz) best friend Isobel (Amanda Abbington), who is heavily pregnant, is hit in the eye with a party popper as Roger Fenn (Jeff Rawle), who is giving Louisa away, raises a toast to the bride to be. The doctor prescribes eye-drops, and a patch to cover the injury. An eye patch with a bridesmaid’s dress is not a good look. Martin manages to offend the local vicar (David Ryall) who is due to conduct the wedding ceremony by suggesting he has a drink problem. But when he goes to the church to try to placate the vicar, Martin catches him red handed with a bottle of whisky. The vicar ...

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