In the last of the series, Reenie is forced to take on a new volunteer. But what is the dark secret behind the mysterious Keith Drop's costume jewellery?
Making of The League of Gentlemen follows on BBC Choice at 10.30pm
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Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss and Steve Pemberton tie up some loose ends in this series' last visit to Royston Vasey
COMEDY The League of Gentlemen 10.00pm BBC2
This latest series of The League of Gentlemen, which finishes tonight, has been somewhat overshadowed by The Office, which has won most of the column inches and high-profile raves.
But The League of Gentlemen retains a special place in the hearts of anyone who loves anything that is black, bizarre and completely out of the mainstream. The third series has seen the Gents - Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and (the non-acting) Jeremy Dyson - develop familiar characters, frequently leading them into dark alleyways, and brought us glimpses of new Royston Vasey inhabitants we can only hope to see again. Tonight we meet tragically terrible magician Dean Tavalouris (Shearsmith), who, with his cod-American accent, waylays passers-by with his awful tricks.
Then there's the diminutive Kenny Harris (Gatiss), owner of the town's dog cinema, which, naturally enough, shows films only about dogs. This week, he has to face up to the arrival of his nemesis, Dougal Siepp (special guest Christopher Eccleston), who has a similar obsession, though with cats.
We also meet the handsome, charming and rather mysterious Keith Drop (Shearsmith), who arrives to work in the local charity shop with the carrier-bag-obsessed Reenie (Pemberton). And we're reacquainted with a deeply sinister face from the past.
Anyone who has followed the series will learn tonight how the various strands left during previous episodes are tied up. And for me, tonight's episode contains one of the series' finest moments - the appearance, in the Royston Vasey Players' production of The Diary of Anne Frank, of Pam Doove, the world's most incomprehensible actress.
Later, over on BBC Choice, a special documentary, The Making of The League of Gentlemen, visits the cast and crew in the "real" Royston Vasey. Alison Graham
