The League of Gentlemen - History

History

The stage show began in late 1994, and it was not long before the team took as their name the title of a Jack Hawkins movie, The League of Gentlemen. In 1997 they were awarded the Perrier award for comedy at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and their radio series On the Town with The League of Gentlemen, debuted on BBC Radio 4. On the Town was set in the fictional town of Spent. They won a Sony Award for this six-episode run. In 1999 the show moved to television and quickly acquired a cult following. A total of three series have been produced, the first airing in 1999, the second in 2000 and the third in 2002. A Christmas Special was broadcast in December 2000, after the airing of the second series. Along with The Fast Show, the series is credited with the revival of the sketch show format in BBC comedy. Its influence can be seen on later series, particularly Little Britain (the first series of which was directed by Steve Bendelack, and script-edited by Gatiss).

Filming took place mainly on location in the north Derbyshire town of Hadfield and consequently had no live audience. A laugh track was added to the first and second series, by inviting a studio audience to watch a playback of the completed episodes as well as the filming of certain interior scenes, such as the Dentons'. The laughter track was dropped from the Christmas Special and Series 3 when shown in the United Kingdom.

The group took the show on tour for the first time in 2001, using a mixture of old and new material. In early 2005 a special one-off sketch was broadcast on the BBC for Comic Aid, a charity benefit for the tsunami disaster. In this, two of the most popular characters, Tubbs and Papa Lazarou, kidnapped Miranda Richardson. A feature-length film, The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, was released on 3 June 2005. Later in the same year, the League toured the UK with their new pantomime-themed show, The League of Gentlemen Are Behind You, which ran from October to mid-December.

The BBC has expressed interest in a fourth series, though the Radio Times has claimed that there is little chance of this. Shearsmith is more positive about the idea on the unofficial website, though he adds that any new series will not be set in Royston Vasey, as the group believes the village has exhausted its comedy potential. In any case, they have said that their decision would depend on critical reaction to the film and their second tour. It is unclear whether a fourth series would continue the style of the third series or return to the sketch-show format of the first two.

In September 2006, the unofficial website reported that The League of Gentlemen were to 'reunite' at the beginning of 2007, most likely to plan for the fourth series. Shearsmith and Pemberton appeared on The Russell Brand Show on December 22, 2006. When asked "Will there be any more of The League of Gentlemen?", Shearsmith simply replied "Yes", but was quick to change the subject and not reveal anything about a new series. On the official website, Shearsmith's blog entry for May 23, 2007 stated that the entire troupe had recently met up in London's West End: "We discussed our next project - it seems we have hit upon something. Early days - but exciting nevertheless."

In May 2008, Shearsmith confirmed that although he and Steve would be making Psychoville (broadcast in 2009) without the other members of the league, the League would re-unite in the future. Despite this claim, Gatiss appears in the show as an actor who is murdered by the characters played by Pemberton and Shearsmith.

In 2010, a one off radio show, The League of Gentlemen's Ghost Chase, was broadcast on 28 October for Halloween. Unlike other shows, this was not a scripted dark comedy but a documentary of the members spending a night at The Ancient Ram Inn, reputedly the most haunted hotel in the country.