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| “ | Would you describe yourself as a fairly egregious person? | „ |
| ~ Ross's most famous quote when he humiliates Pauline. |
| “ | Beg me... | „ |
| ~ Ross spiting Pauline by using her own sadistic taunt against her. |
Ross Gaines is a major character in the League of Gentlemen franchise, appearing as the main antagonist in the Job Seeker's story arc overall.
He is a high ranking agent for the unemployment office who is tasked with watching the behaviour and effectiveness of Pauline Campbell-Jones by going under cover as a job seeker, almost immediately becoming her arch nemesis as a result. Although initially a heroic antagonist, overtime Ross's hatred for Pauline ends up bringing out the worst in him to the point of him becoming a genuine villain, before eventually relaxing his animosity with her and even becoming the closest friend to Pauline and Mickey Michaels (who was arguably his only friend beforehand anyway).
He was portrayed by Reece Shearsmith who also portrayed Edward Tattsyrup, Geoff Tipps, Papa Lazarou, Bernice Woodall, Cathy Carter-Smith and Father Halfhearte in the same series, Mr. Jelly and Maureen Sowerbutts in Psychoville, Ray, Hector,Dr. Maxwell, Mr. Warren, George, Dr. Jacob Tyler and Viktor in Inside No. 9 as well as one third of the Vogons in the 2005 film adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy.
Biography[]
Season One[]
During the course of the first season Ross works undercover for the job centre at Pauline's restart course, posing as a job-seeker. He is situated next to Mickey Michaels. Ross spies on the restart officer Pauline Campbell-Jones, and observes her mistreatment of other job-seekers and constantly belittling them. Ross gets as much of the abuse from Pauline due to standing his ground with her, and she even assaults him after he shows her up during a mock interview process. He also stands up for Mickey when Pauline prevents him from attending a job interview, although this falls on deaf ears as Pauline forces Mickey to stay by threatening to cut his benefits.
At the end of the six week course Ross reveals himself as a spy to Pauline, and that he has gotten enough evidence which will lead to her dismissal. Pauline is initially skeptical at Ross' claims, although she comes to realise he isn't bluffing and begs him not to file in the report. At a moment of desperation she attempts to accuse Ross of claiming benefits whilst working, although this doesn't work and the other job-seekers leave the room, and Ross himself leaves to file his report on Pauline.
Season Two[]
Pauline loses her job as a result of Ross' investigation, and she is ironically put on a restart course due to having to claim benefits. She gets into a confrontation with her replacement Cathy Carter-Smith, who is much worse and abusive than Pauline. This leads to Pauline being booted out of the restart course. She is given a job at a fast food outlet, which Ross drops by to get a burger. Pauline and Mickey (the latter whom also got work there) start to contaminate Ross' burger with Pauline's spit as a revenge plot. This leads to them both being fired as the act is caught on CCTV.
Ross brings Pauline in for an interview to the job centre to ask why she was suspended, although she doesn't mention messing with his burger and instead claims she "didn't cut the mustard". Ross informs Pauline that due to her sacking her benefits will be cut for a while, which panics her as she already has trouble living on what she is given. Ross says that he would put in a claim for her and asks Pauline to get on her knees and "beg him", using the same tactic she did with him during his initial investigation as a job seeker. An enraged Pauline later attacks Ross and gets Mickey to help tie him up, and keeps Ross captive at the office.
Pauline hopes to use Ross' capture to make demands such as getting her old job back and also a collection of pens. However, due to the rise of a nose bleed pandemic that spreads across Royston Vasey, the town is too preoccupied to take notice. As the weeks pass Pauline decides to venture out to get sandwiches to nourish them, and leaves Mickey in charge of watching Ross. Ross takes advantage of Mickey's simple mind by promising him a fire engine if he frees him. Mickey complies and Ross attacks him and flees to alert the authorities. When Pauline returns she finds Ross and Mickey gone, and is arrested when Ross turns up with the police. Ironically, Ross saves Pauline's life by arresting her before she can eat the sandwich she purchased from Eunice Evans, preventing her from being poisoned by the tainted Special Stuff and suffering from a nosebleed,
Season Three[]
During Pauline's imprisonment Ross is tasked with investigating Mickey's fraudulent benefit claims, which has been active in his family for generations, to the point he is even claiming for relatives long since passed. Needing to infiltrate Mickey's home Ross arranges to have Pauline released early, and asks her to work with him to spy on Mickey and to expose his illegal claiming, with the promise that her record will be wiped. Pauline reluctantly agrees and moves in with Mickey, who is delighted to have Pauline back. Pauline learns that Mickey's mother is dead and that he has been claiming her benefits, and reports the information to Ross.
Unfortunately for Ross Pauline's personality has softened up since the last time they have met, and she falls in love with Mickey. Her and Mickey end up getting married. Unable to go ahead with betraying Mickey, Pauline approaches Ross at his flat and tells him that the deal is off, and that she doesn't care if he sends her back to prison. The pair of them end up having sex, and afterwards Ross tells Pauline that he will be informing Mickey of their affair , as revenge for "making [him] hate [his] jobe". As he dials Mickey's number and waits for an answer, Pauline races back to the house to stop Mickey taking the call. On route she nearly gets run down by a van driven by Geoff Tipps, although is saved by local joke shop owner Lance Longthorne, who ends up dying after being struck by the van.
At the end of the series Pauline and Mickey's wedding goes ahead, showing that Ross decided against sending her to prison. He turns up during the ceremony and smiles and applauds the happy couple, showing that he has put his problems with Pauline behind him and allows her and Mickey to be happy.
Anniversary Specials[]
An older Ross appears in the first episode of the Anniversary Special, which takes place two decades following the events of the original series. When Pauline appears to suffer from a case of memory loss he teams up with Mickey and other people to reenact the old days in the job centre, hoping to trigger Pauline's memories. Ross poses in his original role as the job-seeker, and introduces himself to Pauline, who believes it is the first time they have met. During the process Pauline's old self eventually returns and she again assaults Ross, which makes Mickey happy.
2018 Live Tour[]
Ross and Mickey both attend Pauline's funeral, after she was killed by Geoff Tipps who mistook her for Mike's wife Cheryl in the Anniversary Specials. However, as Mickey reads the eulogy he had written for her, Pauline suddenly appears alive and well. She explains that she had faked her death as part of a life insurance scam, and now plans to move to France with Mickey. After Pauline sends Mickey off to pack their belongings, Ross reveals that he still clamping down on fraudsters and threatens to report her and her scheme; Pauline responds by throwing Ross into her empty coffin to be cremated.
Personality[]
Ross is a stoic, smart, snarky and smug man with a stubborn and protective mindset. He is shown to have little to no relationships outside of his profession; when Pauline looks through Ross's address book, she finds it empty other than "Work" and "Mother".
Over the course of the first three seasons he gradually becomes more vindictive towards Pauline, with him becoming downright malicious in season three as opposed to the well-meaning/understandably angry man he was before. This was due to his mistreatment and abuse at Pauline's hands, and also being kidnapped by her.
In the anniversary specials and live tour Ross seems far more melancholic and depressed than he previously did, feeling remorse over Pauline's dementia diagnosis and although doing his best to help her through memory sessions at the request of Mickey it's clear he's uncomfortable revisiting such a traumatic time in his life.
Appearance[]
Ross is a young, slender man with fair skin and brown floppy hair, he wears a pair of thin rimmed glasses and usually has a stoic expression. His attire in the first season consists of an inexpensive but formal blazer on top of preppy but casual clothing underneath. In season two he wears a dark grey business suit with a matching overcoat and continues this outfit in season three. In season three we also his bedwear which is that of a black dressing gown with red pinstripes.
In the Anniversary Specials, Ross is now balding although wears a toupee to cover it up during Pauline's memory sessions, as well as at her "funeral".
Trivia[]
- Ross began his life somewhat as an expy for Reece Shearsmith himself (hence their similar names) as the Job Centre sketches were loosely based on his time at a restart course which he hated and would often rant about towards Steve Pemberton and Mark Gattis who found it hilarious, leading to the creation of Pauline who Reece was initially supposed to portray before expressing discomfort towards the idea leading to he and Steve swapping the role of Papa Lazarou instead while Reece took on the character of Ross.
- This may be the reason why Shearsmith was bewildered and annoyed that audiences began to find Pauline sympathetic after the "egregious" sketch and turn against Ross, however he later seemed to embrace the idea by turning him into a more villainous character overtime.
- Additionally the "Egregious" sketch was also inspired by another miserable experience from Reece's time unemployed, this time from when he was rejected a job as an ASDA trolley pusher due to him being too intelligent and having too much of an "annoying" personality.
- This may be the reason why Shearsmith was bewildered and annoyed that audiences began to find Pauline sympathetic after the "egregious" sketch and turn against Ross, however he later seemed to embrace the idea by turning him into a more villainous character overtime.
- Ross's hair and glasses were added so he didn't look too similar to Reece Shearsmith's other character who was supposed to look close to his natural appearance Benjamin who is the only character he plays who doesn't have any extra makeup or hair added.
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 Villains
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League of Gentlemen Psychoville Inside No. 9 | ||