| “ | Alles klar. | „ |
| ~ Herr Lipp. |
Herr Wolf Lipp is a character in The League of Gentlemen, appearing in the second series and Christmas Special. He was one of the three main protagonists in 2005 film The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, appearing as a more sympathetic and tragic character than his unsettling and perverted nature in the series. He was played by League co-writer and co-creator Steve Pemberton, who also plays numerous characters in the series including Tubbs Tattsyrup.
History
The League of Gentlemen (TV Series)
Series 2
Herr Lipp appears in the second series of the show, in which he arrives in Royston Vasey, England, with a travel group from Germany. He stays with a family in the town, and develops an attraction to their male teenage son Justin. Over the course of the second series, Lipp wishes to engage in many activities with Justin and clearly wants him for himself, although it is seemingly unnoticed by Justin himself.
Near the end of the trip, Lipp is upset that he has to return home and leave Justin behind. He reveals to Justin that he will be throwing a party, but when Justin arrives back home he finds the place empty, making it clear it is only a private occasion between the two of them. During a chat between the two of them, Lipp's wife Lotte arrives to interrupt the pair of them, which causes Lipp to make her leave. Lipp goes to make coffee for Justin and laces it with drugs in an attempt to drug him. An uncomfortable Justin reveals he is leaving to meet a friend and turns down Lipp's coffee despite his insistence. A frustrated Lipp throws the coffee in Justin's face and knocks him unconscious. Lotte arrives on the scene and is shocked by what is happening, and Lipp orders her to fetch him a spade. Lipp then buries Justin in the garden, and places a tube in the ground so he can breath and keep him alive.
After saying goodbye to Justin's mother, Lipp heads to the bottom of the garden where Justin is buried and says he will see him next year. Lipp and the students then leave the town in order to return home, and admire the local shop being burned down on the hill.
Christmas Special
In the Christmas Special, a flashback set in 1975 shows Herr Lipp as the proud leader of a church choir. He takes an interest in a young orphaned man named Matthew and takes him into his home where he and Lotte have many boys from the choir staying with them. Matthew suspects that Lipp is a vampire, after discovering bite marks on his neck and noticing Lipp's unsettling interest in him. During a choir session, Matthew attempts to out Lipp as a vampire, but discovers instead the choir boys and Lotte are the vampires and Lipp is innocent. Lipp is shocked by the revelation, and distracts the attacking vampires whilst Matthew escapes, only to end up being eaten.
The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse
Whilst hiking in the windy moors, Herr Lipp is taken hostage by Hilary Briss who has just escaped from custody. He is forced to act as an injured victim on the road in order for Hilary to steal a car. They get into a car driven by Geoff Tipps. Hilary takes the pair to the church to hideout, but end up stumbling into another dimension (the "real" world) and discover they are characters in a TV series. They are then tasked by fellow fictional characters Edward and Tubbs Tattsyrup and Papa Lazarou to track down their creators in London.
In London the trio infiltrate a BBC Headquarters where their creators are working on a new project. Setting off a fire alarm, Herr Lipp ends up posing as his portrayer Steve Pemberton when Steve stumbles upon the characters in the office and is knocked out by Geoff and later kidnapped. Herr Lipp takes responsibility for Steve's children and grows close to them. When searching through Steve's attic on his unused ideas for The League of Gentlemen, he is distraught when he comes across news clippings of him calling him the worst pun in the world, and realizes he was just written as a one-joke character.
Briss decides to lure the remaining creators to Royston Vasey, and informs Reece Sheersmith over the phone. Reece and other co-writer Mark Gatiss arrive at the Pemberton household and grab Herr Lipp and take him to Hadfield (where the series is shot) and they are taken to the fictional universe of Royston Vasey.
Herr Lipp remains in the church's underground passage, and is tasked by Briss to protect the doorway back to the real world whilst he battles with the creations of the League's new movie The King's Evil. When Mark Gatiss (now the only sole survivor of the creators) attempts escape, Lipp takes him hostage. After the town is saved, Lipp comes to the conclusion they will never have free will and plans to execute Gatiss, feeling it will spare him and all the other characters from pain. He is eventually talked out of it by Geoff, although he accidentally ends up killing Gatiss by accident. However everything is fixed and the characters are granted free will. Lipp then takes in two young children who have lost their parents during the apocalypse.
Personality
In the television series, Lipp is shown to be perverted and possibly pedophilic, as he has an interest in young men and boys. He often states sexually explicit remarks, which he covers up as being down to poor English. He takes a sexual interest in a young man named Justin, and goes as far as planning to drug him. When the plan doesn't go ahead, Lipp demonstrates a violent streak as he assaults Justin by throwing hot coffee in his face and knocking him out, before burying him in the garden.
In the 1975 flashback for the Christmas Special, a younger Herr Lipp is still seen as perverted and attracted a young orphan named Matthew (and even watches the lad undress through a peephole). Despite being perverted in the flashback, he does appear to show more concern and sympathy, and even sacrifices himself to save Matthew from the vampire choir and the expense of his own life.
The character's pedophile and rapist like characteristics is removed from The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse (apart from one scene at the beginning where he bothers a couple of male campers on the moors), and is instead depicted as more sympathetic character who is distraught at finding out he was a one note character in a television show and seen as repulsive. He shows care towards children (in a more paternal way and not sexual) and wishes for a family, and becomes a good father figure to his portrayer Steve Pemberton's children. At the conclusion of the film, he takes in two children who have lost their parents during the apocalypse, promising to take care of them.