''A League of Their Own'' is a British sports-based comedy panel game that was first broadcast on

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

(now Sky Max) on 11 March 2010. The show is currently hosted by

Romesh Ranganathan Jonathan Romesh Ranganathan (born 27 March 1978), is an English actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan and often self-deprecating comedy. Ranganathan has made numerous appearances on television comedy panel shows, and in 2016 he co-p ...

and features Jamie Redknapp as a team captain and Micah Richards as a regular panellist.

Format

The show is a standard panel quiz show where two teams of three, the Red and Blue teams compete for points awarded in three rounds, to find the overall winning team by points total. *Round 1 involves both teams having to rank three different sportspersons according to a specific criterion. *Round 2, ''Guest List'', involves both teams having to guess the answers given by a sportsperson about his or her sport. *Round 3, ''The Final Challenge, formerly known as the Right Guard Challenge'', sees two members of each team have to answer questions for as long as the third team member can sustain a physical challenge in the studio.

Participants

The show was hosted for the first 13 series by

James Corden James Kimberley Corden (born 22 August 1978) is an English television host, actor, comedian, and singer. In the United Kingdom, he is best known for co-writing and starring in the critically acclaimed BBC sitcom ''Gavin & Stacey''. In the Un ...

. The Red Team is captained by former

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

footballer Jamie Redknapp, who was formerly joined by once regular panellist and stand-up comedian

John Bishop John Marcus Bishop (born 30 November 1966) is an English comedian, presenter, actor and former footballer. Bishop formerly played football as a midfielder for Winsford United F.C., Crewe Alexandra F.C., Runcorn F.C., Rhyl F.C., Witton Albion ...

. In series 5, Bishop was absent for several episodes due to his Sport Relief challenge, eventually leaving the show as a regular. Redknapp was joined on the red team by comedian

for series 13 and 14. The Blue Team was captained by retired

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

and

cricketer

Freddie Flintoff Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff (born 6 December 1977) is an English television and radio presenter and former international cricketer. Flintoff played all forms of the game and was one of the sport's leading all-rounders, a fast bowler, middle-orde ...

for the first 16 series. Flintoff was replaced by a series of guest captains starting from series 17. For the first four series Flintoff was joined by then Sky Sports F1 presenter Georgie Thompson. From series 5, comedian

Jack Whitehall Jack Peter Benedict Whitehall (born 7 July 1988) is an English comedian, actor, presenter and writer. He is known for starring as JP in the series ''Fresh Meat (TV series), Fresh Meat'' (2011–2016) and Alfie Wickers in the series ''Bad Educat ...

replaced Thompson as regular panellist on the blue team due to her F1 commitments. Whitehall himself left the show after series 12. Micah Richards became the blue team's regular panellist from series 17. Each episode the teams are supplemented by special guests. Neither Corden, Redknapp nor Thompson had been regular features on a television panel show before. Corden was non-committal about whether the show marked a new direction for him as a television host, stating "I spend most of my time sitting in a room with my mates talking about sport anyway. To get paid to do such a thing will be great. I hope it will be a fun show and people will enjoy watching it." Redknapp said "I'm loving it, but it is nerve-wracking" and "the key is to try to have a bit of fun, but to remember that we're not comedians and can't compete with the professionals" referring to Bishop and Corden. Thompson said of the show that it was "the fun factor that I've been looking for" and represented an "exciting opportunity" in her career. Due to Corden's commitments to his U.S. talk show '' The Late Late Show'', the 14th series was presented, in part, by guest hosts. Corden's absence was extended into the 15th series due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. This series was hosted mainly by Ranganathan with Flintoff and Redknapp hosting one episode apiece. Ranganathan was confirmed as the show's new permanent host starting from series 16.

Production

The show was created by Paul Brassey, a development producer at CPL Productions. The show was recorded in

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to te ...

( BBC Elstree Centre from series 3, and

Elstree Film Studios Elstree Studios on Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire is a British film and television production centre operated by Elstree Film Studios Limited. One of several facilities historically referred to as Elstree Studios, the Shenley Road st ...

from series 12), being filmed on Mondays and Tuesdays in front of a live studio audience. The show was commissioned by Duncan Gray, with Gray, Danielle Lux and Murray Boland acting as Executive Producers. It was announced on 20 October 2009 that the pilot for the show would be hosted by Corden alongside team captains Redknapp and England cricketer Stuart Broad, although Broad was replaced in the line up by Flintoff by the time of the series 1 start. Executive producer Danielle Lux said it would be "an Olympic standard comedy show for anyone who loves their sport and a fun-filled half-hour for those who don't." The pilot was recorded on 24 October, and was due to be aired later in 2009. Sky One's promotion for the show included a TV advert featuring Corden mis-kicking a football, spoofing contemporary serious sportswear advertising campaigns, accompanied by the tagline "the new panel show that doesn't take sport too seriously".

Reception

Keith Watson of the ''Metro'' welcomed the show as a challenger to "Britain's No.1 TV sports spot-the-scripted-bits banter show", referring to the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

's show '' A Question of Sport'', hosted by

Sue Barker Sue or SUE may refer to: Music * Sue Records, an American record label * ''Sue'' (album), an album by Frazier Chorus * "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)", a song by David Bowie Places * Sue Islet (Queensland), one of the Torres Straits island ...

. Watson, writing after the first episode, said "Team skippers Freddie Flintoff and Jamie Redknapp are just there as window-dressing/butts of jokes, for this is Corden's show and he takes to it like a puck to the ice rink. ueBarker beware." Sharon Lougher and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh also of the ''Metro'' went further, announcing the show as "basically, ''A Question of Sport'' for idiots ... the televisual equivalent of ''Nuts'' magazine". Writing after the first episode, Harry Venning of ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...

'' panned the show, summarising it as "Imagine ''A Question of Sport'' without the sports questions, combined with ''They Think It's All Over'' without the comedy". Criticising the length of the opening hour-long special, Venning said it contained some fine gags but not enough of them, and the format was "dull, unimaginative and painfully protracted", albeit praising Flintoff for being "surprisingly witty and charming". The

British Comedy Guide British Comedy Guide or BCG (formerly the British Sitcom Guide or BSG) is a British website covering all forms of British comedy, across all media. At the time of writing, BCG has published guides to more than 7,000 individual British comedies ...

said of the first episode that "the sportsman-dominated panel showed: very few laughs, and little charm" and were not convinced of the format, although conceding that not being sports fans they might not be the target audience.

Guest appearances

The following have made more than one appearance on the show as a guest ''(up to and including series 17, episode 8)'': ;23 appearances * Jimmy Carr ;12 appearances * Rob Beckett *

David Walliams David Edward Williams (born 20 August 1971), known professionally as David Walliams, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little B ...

;8 appearances *

Gabby Logan Gabrielle Nicole Logan (''née'' Yorath; born 24 April 1973) is a Welsh presenter and a former international rhythmic gymnast who represented Wales and Great Britain. She hosted ''Final Score'' for BBC Sport from 2009 until 2013. She has also p ...

;7 appearances *

* Josh Widdicombe ;6 appearances * Tom Davis ;5 appearances *

Kevin Bridges Kevin Andrew Bridges (born 13 November 1986) is a Scottish stand-up comedian. His 2012 television series '' Kevin Bridges: What's the Story?'' was based on his stand-up routines. He has appeared on many television panel shows including '' Would ...

* Joel Dommett * Micky Flanagan *

;4 appearances *

Maisie Adam Maisie Adam (born 24 January 1994) is an English stand-up comedian, writer and actress. Early life Maisie Adam grew up in Pannal, North Yorkshire, with her parents Phillip and Jill Adam, and her younger brother Daniel. At 14, she was diagnosed ...

Clare Balding Clare Victoria Balding (born 29 January 1971) is an English broadcaster, journalist, and author. She currently presents for BBC Sport, Channel 4, BT Sport, is the current president of the Rugby Football League (RFL) and formerly presented the ...

* Tony Bellew * Alex Brooker * Alan Carr * Roisin Conaty *

Jessica Ennis-Hill Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill (born 28 January 1986) is a British retired track and field athlete from England, specialising in multi-eventing disciplines and 100 metres hurdles. As a competitor in heptathlon, she is the 2012 Olympic champion, ...

* Mo Farah *

Anthony Joshua Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua (born 15 October 1989) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time former unified world heavyweight champion, having held the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles twice between 2016 and 2021. At r ...

* Lee Mack * Dara Ó Briain *

Jonathan Ross Jonathan Stephen Ross (born 17 November 1960) is an English broadcaster, film critic, comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He presented the BBC One chat show ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' during the 2000s, hosted his own radio show on ...

* Helen Skelton *

Claudia Winkleman Claudia Anne Irena Winkleman (born 15 January 1972) is an English television presenter, radio personality, film critic and journalist. Between 2004 and 2010, she presented '' Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two'' on weeknights on BBC Two. Since ...

;3 appearances * Tom Allen *

Dina Asher-Smith Geraldina "Dina" Rachel Asher-Smith, (; born 4 December 1995) is a British sprinter. She is the fastest British woman on record. She won a gold medal in the 200 metres, silver in the 100 metres and another silver in the 4×100 m relay a ...

Richard Ayoade Richard Ellef Ayoade ( ; born 23 May 1977) is a British actor, comedian, broadcaster and filmmaker. He is best known for his role as socially awkward IT technician Maurice Moss in Channel 4 sitcom ''The IT Crowd'' (2006–2013), for which he ...

* Aisling Bea *

Ashley Cole Ashley Cole (born 20 December 1980) is an English football coach and former player who is currently a first-team coach at Premier League club Everton. As a player, he played as a left-back, most notably for Arsenal and Chelsea. Cole is consi ...

Kerry Godliman Kerry Anna Godliman (born November 1973) is an English actor and comedian best known for her roles in ''Derek'', '' Bad Move'' and '' After Life''. Early life Godliman was born in Perivale, West London, and trained at Rose Bruford College in ...

* Amanda Holden *

Jenny Jones Jenny Jones may refer to: People *Jenny Jones (presenter) (born 1946), United States television personality and host of ''The Jenny Jones Show'' *Jenny Jones, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (born 1949), British Green Party politician, member of the ...

Frank Lampard Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Everton. He is widely regarded as one of Chelsea’s greatest ever players, and one of the greatest midfielder ...

Jason Manford Jason John Manford (born 26 May 1981) is an English comedian, presenter, actor and singer. Manford was a team captain on the Channel 4 panel show ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' from 2007 until 2010 and has presented numerous television shows for the BBC an ...

Judy Murray Judith Mary Murray, OBE (née Erskine; born 8 September 1959) is a Scottish tennis coach. She is the mother of professional tennis players Jamie and Sir Andy Murray. Life and career Murray was born on 8 September 1959 in Bridge of Allan, Sti ...

* Sam Quek *

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In his ...

* Micah Richards * Katherine Ryan * Laura Woods ;2 appearances *

Nicola Adams Nicola Virginia Adams (born 26 October 1982) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2017 to 2019. She retired with an undefeated record and held the WBO female flyweight title in 2019. As an amateur, she became the first fe ...

* James Anderson *

Christine Bleakley Christine Louise Lampard (''née'' Bleakley, born 2 February 1979) is a Northern Irish broadcaster. She has presented various television programmes with Adrian Chiles, such as ''The One Show'' (2007–2010) and '' Daybreak'' (2010–11), while w ...

Jo Brand Josephine Grace Brand (born 23 July 1957) is an English comedian, writer, presenter and actress. Starting her entertainment career with a move from psychiatric nursing to the alternative comedy stand-up scene and early performances on '' Saturd ...

* Peter Crouch *

Sara Cox Sara Joanne Cyzer (née Cox; born 13 December 1974) is an English broadcaster. She presented ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' on BBC Radio 1 from 3 April 2000 until 19 December 2003. Since January 2019 she now hosts the BBC Radio 2 drivetime show, Monday ...

* Tom Daley * Patrice Evra *

Noel Fielding Noel Fielding (; (born 21 May 1973) is an English actor and comedian. He is best known for his work with The Mighty Boosh comedy troupe alongside Julian Barratt in the 2000s, and more recently as a co-presenter of ''The Great British Bake Off'' ...

Robbie Fowler Robert Bernard Fowler (born 9 April 1975) is an English football manager and former player, who most recently managed East Bengal in the Indian Super League. As a player, he was a striker, and is the eighth-highest goalscorer in the history ...

* Joe Hart *

Niall Horan Niall James Horan ( ; born 13 September 1993) is an Irish singer-songwriter. He rose to prominence as a member of the boy band One Direction, formed in 2010 on the singing competition ''The X Factor''. The group released five albums and went ...

* Russell Howard *

Chris Hoy Sir Christopher Andrew Hoy MBE (born 23 March 1976) is a former track cyclist and Racing driver from Scotland who represented Great Britain at the Olympic and World Championships and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. Hoy is eleven-times a wor ...

* Katarina Johnson-Thompson * Jade Jones * Ruth Jones * Laura Kenny *

Guz Khan Ghulam Dustgir "Guz" Khan (born 1986) is a British comedian, impressionist, and actor best known for his work in the TV show '' Man Like Mobeen'' and stand up appearances in '' Live at the Apollo''. Early life Guz has two sisters who are ten ...

* Nish Kumar *

Denise Lewis Denise Lewis (born 27 August 1972) is a British sports presenter and former track and field athlete, who specialised in the heptathlon. She won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, was twice Commonwealth Games champion, ...

* Stephen Mangan *

Neil Morrissey Neil Anthony Morrissey (born 4 July 1962) is an English actor. He is known for his role as Tony in ''Men Behaving Badly''. Other notable acting roles include Deputy Head Eddie Lawson in the BBC One school-based drama series '' Waterloo Road'', ...

Andy Murray Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray h ...

Gary Neville Gary Alexander Neville (born 18 February 1975) is an English football pundit and former player. He is also a co-owner of English Football League club Salford City. After retiring from football in 2011, Neville went into punditry and was a comm ...

* Dermot O'Leary *

Adam Peaty Adam George Peaty (born 28 December 1994) is an English competitive swimmer who specialises in the breaststroke. He won the gold medal in the 100 metre breaststroke at the 2016 Summer Olympics, the first by a male British swimmer in 24 years, ...

Kevin Pietersen Kevin Peter Pietersen (born 27 June 1980) is a cricket commentator, conservationist, and former England international cricket player. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who played in all three formats for England betw ...

Jon Richardson Jon Joel Richardson (born 26 September 1982) is an English comedian. He is known for his appearances on ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' and ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' and his work as co-host with Russell Howard on BBC 6 Music. He is the presente ...

* Alex Scott * Johnny Vegas *

Heather Watson Heather Miriam Watson (born 19 May 1992) is a British professional tennis player. A former British No. 1, Watson has won nine titles over her career, including the mixed-doubles title at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships partnering Henri K ...

Amy Williams Amy Joy Williams, (born 29 September 1982) is a British former skeleton racer and Olympic gold medallist. Originally a runner, she began training in skeleton in 2002 after trying the sport on a push-start track at the University of Bath. Altho ...

*a. One of their appearances was as a guest team captain. *b. Appearances made after series 5, when Bishop was no longer a regular panellist. *c. Appearances made before Whitehall became a regular panellist. *d. Appearances made before Ranganathan became a regular panellist or permanent host. *e. Includes one appearance as host *f. Two of their appearances were as a guest team captain. *g. Appearances made before Richards became a regular panellist.

Transmissions

Original

Series

Specials

''Road Trip''

Series

*g. Series titled '' Loch Ness to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

''. *h. Series titled '' Dingle to

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

''.

Specials

International versions

Australian version

An Australian version of '' A League of Their Own'' aired on

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

on 16 September 2013. It was presented by comedian Tommy Little and the captains were tennis star

Pat Cash Patrick Hart Cash (born 27 May 1965) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 4 in May 1988 and a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 6 in August 1988. Upon winning ...

and swimmer

Eamon Sullivan Eamon Wade Sullivan (born 30 August 1985) is an Australian former sprint swimmer, three-time Olympic medallist, and former world record-holder in two events. He was also the winner of the first season of '' Celebrity MasterChef Australia'', a ...

. The series had ten episodes. Nine episodes were broadcast with the tenth episode being viewed online after it was cancelled to immediate effect after posting a disappointing rating in the show's ninth week.

Danish version

A Danish version of ''A League of Their Own'' aired on Kanal 5 on 7 September 2015. The Danish title is "''5. Halvleg''", in English: "''5th half''". The show is presented by comedian Carsten Bang and the captains are former professional cyclist Jesper Skibby and comedian Jesper Juhl. In the first series, there was 10 episodes, and the last aired on 5 November 2015. The first series was very successful, with good ratings, and Kanal 5 decided to renew the show for a second series, with the premiere on 18 February 2016. The series contained 8 episodes, with the same host and captains as in series 1. The last episode of series 2 aired on 14 April 2016. Series 2 was another successful series for Kanal 5, and they decided to renew the show for a third series, with the same host and captains as in the first two series. The first episode of series 3 aired on 4 September 2016. Series 4 on 5 went on with the same host and captains. The first episode of series 4 aired on 12 February 2017 and the last episode aired on 22 June 2017. The first episode of series 5 aired on 2 November 2017. Awards Host Carsten Bang was nominated for Best Host at Zulu Awards 2016.

German version

A German version of ''A League of Their Own'' called ''Eine Liga für sich - Buschis Sechserkette'', in English: ''A League of its Own - Buschi's Chain of Six'' aired on German TV channel Sky 1 on 13 March 2017. It is presented by sports commentator and former basketball player Frank Buschmann. Comedian Matze Knop and television host and former professional handball player Panagiota Petridou serve as captains.

American version

An American version of ''A League of Their Own'' called '' Game On!'' aired on CBS on 27 May 2020 until 22 July 2020. The show was hosted by Keegan-Michael Key with tennis champion Venus Williams and three-time

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

champion Rob Gronkowski as team captains. James Corden (who hosts '' The Late Late Show'' for the network and was the presenter of the original British version) served as executive producer of the show. At the time, this version was going to be aired on 20 May before the change to 27 May.

References

External links

* * * * *
''A League of Their Own'' Online Game
{{DEFAULTSORT:League Of Their Own, A 2010 British television series debuts 2010s British sports television series 2010s British game shows 2020s British sports television series 2020s British game shows British panel games British sports television series Sky UK original programming Television series by Sony Pictures Television English-language television shows Television shows set in England Television shows shot at BBC Elstree Centre Television shows shot at Elstree Film Studios