The League of Gentlemen (comedy)

The League of Gentlemen is a troupe of British comedy performers, and the name of their stage, radio, and latterly television series. The show, which is a cross between a sitcom and sketch show, details the bizarre goings-on in a fictional Northern-English village, which in the radio series was called Spent, and on television Royston Vasey.

Related Topics:
British - Comedy - Radio - Television - Sitcom - Sketch show - English - Village - Royston Vasey

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The stage show began in late 1994, and soon the team adopted their name from the Jack Hawkins movie, The League of Gentlemen and took the Perrier award for comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1997. The same year the radio series On the Town with The League of Gentlemen, debuted on BBC Radio 4, and won a Sony Award for the first series. In 1998 the show transferred to television and quickly acquired a cult following. There has been one six-episode series on radio and three on television. Along with The Fast Show the series is credited with the revival of the sketch show format in BBC Comedy and its influence can be seen on the later series Little Britain.

Related Topics:
1994 - Jack Hawkins - The League of Gentlemen - Perrier award - Edinburgh Fringe Festival - 1997 - BBC Radio 4 - Sony Award - 1998 - The Fast Show - Little Britain

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Filming takes place mainly on location in the north Derbyshire town of Hadfield and consequently has no live audience. A laugh track was added to Series 1 and 2, but this was dropped from the Christmas Special and Series 3, when shown in the UK. The group also took the show to Drury Lane in 2001, comprised of old and new material. A further tour, this time nationwide, titled "The League of Gentlemen Are Behind You" is being performed in UK theatres in late 2005 and early 2006, consisting mostly of new material weaved around a traditional pantomime theme. In early 2005, a special one-off sketch was broadcast on the BBC for Comic Aid, a charity benefit for the Tsunami disaster. In it, 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. The programme is made in 16:9 widescreen, which means that some of the visual gags might be hard to spot in letterboxed 4:3 format.

Related Topics:
Derbyshire - Hadfield - Laugh track - UK - Papa Lazarou - Miranda Richardson - The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse - 3 June - 2005 - Widescreen - Letterbox

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