The League Of Gentlemen

''The League of Gentlemen'' is a surreal British comedy horror sitcom that premiered on BBC Two in 1999. The programme is set in Royston Vasey, a fictional town in northern England, originally based on Alston, Cumbria, and follows the lives of bizarre characters, most of whom are played by three of the show's four writers – Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, and Reece Shearsmith – who, along with Jeremy Dyson, formed the League of Gentlemen comedy troupe in 1995. The series originally aired for three series from 1999 until 2002, and was followed by a film '' The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse'' and a stage production '' The League of Gentlemen Are Behind You!'', both in 2005.

The BBC announced in August 2017 that three new episodes would be produced to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the group's first appearance on BBC Radio 4. Those aired on BBC2 on 18–20 December 2017.

The series was filmed mainly in Hadfield, Derbyshire; other locations include Bacup Lancashire, Glossop, Gamesley, and Hope Valley in Derbyshire; Marsden and Todmorden in West Yorkshire; and Mottram in Greater Manchester.

History

Three of the four members of the League of Gentlemen (Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith) met at Bretton Hall Theatre School. They met their final member – Jeremy Dyson – later in their comedy career. He does not act as such in the franchise but does have a few small/ cameo roles throughout the series. The stage show began in late 1994, and it was not long before the team took as their name the title of a 1960 Jack Hawkins film, ''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; three series were 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. For television, Spent was renamed Royston Vasey – the given name of comedian Roy Chubby Brown, who appears in the series, notably as the Mayor of Royston Vasey in series 2. 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.

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 22 December 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 23 May 2007 stated that the 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."

Shearsmith and Pemberton later collaborated to create another dark comedy series, ''Psychoville'' (2009); Gatiss appeared in one episode. In May 2008, Shearsmith confirmed that although he and Pemberton would be making ''Psychoville'' without the other members of the League, the League would reunite in the future. The three also performed together in the fourth series of ''Horrible Histories'', in which they play American film producers who hear film pitches from historical figures. Shearsmith and Pemberton also wrote and starred in the black comedy anthology series ''Inside No. 9'', which premiered on BBC Two in 2014. In 2022, Gatiss appeared in one episode.

A one-off radio show, ''The League of Gentlemen's Ghost Chase'', was broadcast on 28 October 2010 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.

Speaking to BBC Radio 6 in October 2016, Mark Gatiss spoke about the desire of the creators to revive the programme in some form with Brexit forming a suitable background to revive it.

In April 2017, both Gatiss and Shearsmith confirmed that the programme would be returning for an anniversary special. The BBC announced in August 2017 that three special new episodes were to be produced, to be aired in December 2017.

Writing and inspiration

It is widely believed that a lot of the characters and indeed the town are based on Pemberton's home town of Chorley, with Royston Vasey based on Adlington, a village within Chorley Borough. A second source of inspiration is the town of Alston in Cumbria. The character of Herr Lipp is believed to be based on a hospital chaplain Steve Pemberton encountered after suffering a heart attack in Germany and Pauline is primarily based on a restart officer of Reece Shearsmith's. Similarly, Ollie Plimsolls is based on a community theatre actor that Shearsmith had worked with. Gatiss has said in interview that the local shop was inspired by a shop in the village of Rottingdean and that he was influenced growing up around the former Winterton Hospital asylum near Sedgefield.

The majority of the inhabitants of the village – male and female – are played by Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton, and Mark Gatiss, and the script was written by these three, along with Jeremy Dyson. Dyson, not an actor like the others, appears only in cameo roles. As there are usually only three actors on screen at any one time, the different characters mostly play out their own stories in several serialised sketches, rarely crossing into each other's storylines. Only rarely do actors "meet themselves". Exceptions include Papa Lazarou facing the Reverend Bernice in the Christmas Special (both Reece Shearsmith), Les McQueen buying a magazine from Pop's son (both Mark Gatiss), and Alvin Steele buying food from Iris at a supermarket checkout in Series 2 (again, both Mark Gatiss). The idea is taken further in '' The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse'', when the characters meet the actors (especially when Herr Lipp meets his creator, Steve Pemberton). In the live shows, when Pam Doove was auditioning for a part in the Christmas Nativity Play, directed by Ollie Plimsolls, Pam had to audition in front of Ollie's Legz Akimbo colleague Dave (Pemberton), who said that Ollie couldn't make it "for obvious reasons" (Shearsmith plays both Pam and Ollie in the television series).

Royston Vasey

Royston Vasey is a fictional English town featured in the BBC
...