Are Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith. They met when they were flung together by fate the latter three all attended Bretton Hall, Wakefield. Steve and Mark met in 1986, and Reece attended the following year. It was Mark who introduced the others to Jeremy who was studying Philosophy at Leeds University (Mark and Jeremy brought together by a combined desire to discover the name of a relatively obscure John Inman sitcom!).
Once graduated and relocating to London after several restart courses and the 606 Theatre company, The League of Gentlemen started life as 'This is It!' at the rear end of 1994. They changed the name, (unfortunately not to The Porn Dwarfs which we rather like!) and went on to have a residency at the Canal Café Theatre (as seen in series 3!). They made their first appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1996, their second in 1997,which won them The prestigious Perrier Award, following in the footsteps of the likes of Steve Coogan, Harry Hill etc..and the first time it had been won by a sketch show since 1981 and The Cambridge Footlights.
With such success under their belts they went on to produce the Radio 4 series, On the Town with the League of Gentlemen airing Nov/Dec 1997(produced by Sarah Smith who went on to produce the first TV series) which won them the Sony Silver Award.
Thes first television series was first aired in January 1999 on BBC2,another barnstorming award winning effort, netting them Golden Rose of Montreux and a Royal Television Society Award. The second series of The League of Gentlemen first aired in January 2000,winning the BAFTA television award for comedy and being nominated in a category for innovation. Going on to produce A Local book for Local People, the superb Christmas special ,where the laughter track was dropped paving the way for future series, and of course the live tour which ran from 2000 to 2001,with the Drury Lane performances being committed to tape. The superb third series, radically different from those preceding it first aired September 2002 to general acclaim, which has won them 'The Southbank Show' Award for Best Comedy in January 2003. This has been followed by their roles in the last West end cast version of Art in 2002/03, which was a huge success and a real good treat for their fans! um!
2005, will see their release first screenplay this April .In between 2003/04 writing/filming the gents individually found time to squeeze in roles in the shows Channel 4 Shameless and BBC's Little Britain and Catterick, as well as various film roles in Churchill The Hollywood Years, Peter Sellers and Sex Lives of the Potato Men . This really does go to show their versatility as comic actors!
