Royston Vasey residents start shooting

With comedy blacker than a milkless espresso drunk at midnight under an inky sky The League Of Gentlemen film has begun shooting.

15:59 06 October 2004

With comedy blacker than a milkless espresso drunk at midnight under an inky sky The League Of Gentlemen film has begun shooting.

Mark Gatiss' cult comedy will have aficionados of the edgy series chomping at the bit for a big screen adaptation of the adventures of Edward, Tubs, Papa Lazarou et al - but producers will be hoping it is more than a local film for local people.

The series is set in the fiercely xenophobic fictional village of Royston Vasey (complete with Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen memorial gardens) and pushes the boundaries of acceptable taste at every opportunity.

The League originally shot to fame after winning the Perrier award for comedy at the Edinburgh festival (including the funniest AIDS joke yet made) and a televised version followed. After three series on the small screen, not to mention the Christmas special, the creators felt it was time to make the move to the big screen.

In the film, the residents, which include transexual cab drivers and wife-collecting circus ringleaders, are forced to enter the outside world to prevent their own destruction.

A string of cameos by more established stars has been promised - but considering the calibre of those who have already visited the series (including Llewelyn-Bowen and Roy Chubby Brown) the celebrity cameos might be less impressive than Johnny Depp's visit to the Fast Show.