About "The League of Gentlemen"

Some say it's terrifying, others think it's as harmless as Beatrix Potter. Whatever your opinion of The League of Gentlemen, there is no doubt this British quartet put the 'black' back into comedy.

The show – which uses sketches within a sitcom narrative format – focuses on the bizarre and somewhat macabre inhabitants of Royston Vasey, a fictional northern town, where strangers are definitely not welcome.

Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith and (non-performing) Jeremy Dyson met while at university. Their shared love of classic horror films like 'The Wicker Man', 'Don't Look Now' and 'Dead of Night' brought them together; a clear influence in their writing today.

The stage version of the Gents was created in 1994. Regular shows at the Canal Café Theatre followed and, in 1997, they won the prestigious Perrier award for comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

In the same year, they debuted on BBC Radio 4 with the series 'On The Town With The League Of Gentlemen'. It was within these six episodes Royston Vasey was first conceived, but under the name of Spent.

Characters such as Pauline Campbell-Jones, the bitter re-start officer and Barbara, the transsexual taxi driver appeared, winning the Gents a Sony Award.

Two years later, it transferred to TV, taking the characters with it and adding more, such as Tubbs and Edward Tattsyrup, the stranger-hating owners of the Local Shop.

It soon won a cult following on BBC 2, and fans turned to the internet to meet and talk. Since then, there have been three series (in 1999, 2000 and 2002), each consisting of six 30-minute episodes. A Christmas special was aired in December 2000, a comic masterpiece drawing even more deeply on the Gents' gothic influences.

The third series was a departure from the format of the previous two series. Each episode focused on a particular character, with all six leading up to one moment in time. It received a mixed reception from fans and critics.

Since the League hit our screens, it's influence on comedy shows – particularly BBC - is apparent in Little Britain (Gatiss was script editor for the first series) and the darkly comic Nighty Night (again, Gatiss stars in this alongside creator Julia Davis).

In 2005, the Gents created and starred in their first feature-length film, The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse.

Theatre tours included 'A Local Show For Local People' in 2001, followed by 'The League of Gentlemen Are Behind You', a warped pantomime, from October to December 2005.

The latest press reports suggests that The League will soon be on our screens again. They're working on new comedy series together however their new programme won't be based around Royston Vasey or its inhabitants.