A Brief League History
     
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How The League Began
The League of Gentlemen met at Bretton Drama College. Mark and Steve were in the same year at college and had already begun writing together before they met either Jeremy or Reece.


Mark and Steve were in the year above Reece and they met him because they went to look at the photographs of the new first years and they laughed at him. Mark was then introduced to Jeremy through a mutual friend and they new they had something special when they stayed up all night trying to remember the name of some old T.V show. They still can't think of the name 6 year`s later!!!
They got together a began writing sketches under the name `The League of Gentlemen`. All of their characters come from real life experiences. For example, Pauline was Reece`s restart officer, Reece was supposed to play her but found they character too distressing! Edward and Tubbs came from their first two night tour in Brighton, She was a mad lady in a shop who thought they were trying to steal things, they only wanted to look at trilobites!
Well in 1996 they secured a regular show at `The Canal Cafe` in London. They saved the money they got from these shows and a friend suggested that they go to the Edinburgh Festival with their show. So off they went. And what a successfull trip is was! Their show was a sell out after some fantasic reviews and they secured a contract with BBC to produce their show as a 6 part radio show and then they went back the following year to scoop the perrier award which has been won by others including Eddie Izzard and Rick Hall.
After the success of the Radio 4 series they moved to BBC two after winning the Sony Silver award. They then produced a 6 part TV series which first aired in January 1999. The BBC will try to tell you their show was an overnight success. The League, on the otherhand, will tell you different. They think the public took a few shows to get used to their humour, however, I've been a fan since the radio episode `Go to Joan Glover`
Series two aired in January 2000 and left the series with a cliff hanger of any ending. Is that it Royston Vasey? Will they do a series three?
The Christmas Special was set in Royston Vasey and was a series of three horror stories featuring new and old characters and it saw the return of the much loved Papa Lazarou. They have also completed a two month tour around the UK that was completely sold out! It was a fantastic show and I was lucky enough to see it twice but I still wish it was more times!!!

What about the Future?
What does the future hold for the Gents? Well in March they are going off on another mini tour of a week and then settling in Londons Drury Lane theatre for a rumoured 1 month run. So far, the first 3 weeks tickets are on sale and it appears that the first week is sold out, the second week is nearly gone, the third week is half out and the fourth week is yet to be confirmed!
The league have also been nominated for a BAFTA again and yet again are up against `The Royle Family`



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