The League of Gentlemen

Is Dave there? Dave? Daaaaave? Want to buy some pegs Dave? Welcome to the mysterious village of Royston Vasey. It's so dark, so grotesque, so bizarrely laugh-out-loud funny that you really won't want to leave. You can't anyway, so it's immaterial.

The League of Gentlemen, comprises of four eccentric talents: writer/performers Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, as well as writer Jeremy Dyson. The four met as drama students at Bretton Hall in Wakefield, West Yorkshire and all they really had in common was a shared taste for the more sinister things in life. Their creative work began on the London Fringe with a sketch-show first performed at the Cockpit Theatre in 1995. They then secured a weekly residency at the Canal Café Theatre, which led to their first visit to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1996. In 1997, they returned to the festival and scooped the Perrier Award for Comedy.

Following their live success they were quickly signed up by the BBC to record a radio series and LOG as we know it appeared first on BBC Radio 4, although the show was called On The Town. Set in the fictional town of Spent, all that differs from the subsequent TV show is the name and a few characters - some characters don't appear in Royston Vasey at all but do in Spent and vice versa. There are six episodes of On The Town and there are some scenes which were almost directly re-enacted for the TV show.

The League of Gentlemen wear many influences proudly on their sleeves, particularly those of old British Horror films, such as those produced by the House of Hammer in the 60s and 70's, and there is more than a little about Royston Vasey that recalls the unnerving happenings on Summerisle in cult classic The Wicker Man. This is especially evident in the now legendary one-off Christmas Special but watching any of these episodes is a real treat for film buffs, as there are so many lines and references put in there to pick up on. And of course, the carnival of grotesques on display here, as well as men dressed as old women has Python stamped all over it.