The UK Sci-Fi TV Book Guide: The League of Gentlemen: Scripts and That

Scripts and That contains the scripts to every television episode of The League of Gentlemen.

Television Details
11/01/99 — 15/02/99
Season 1
6 × 30 Minutes / BBC Two / Colour
Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton

14/01/00 — 18/02/00
Season 2
6 × 30 Minutes / BBC Two / Colour
Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton

27/12/00
Special
60 Minutes / BBC Two / Colour
Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton

26/09/02 — 31/10/02
Season 3
6 × 30 Minutes / BBC Two / Colour
Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton

Archive Details / DVD Releases
All episodes of The League of Gentlemen have been released on Region 2 DVD in the UK (amazon.co.uk), and on Region 1 DVD in the United States (amazon.com).

The League of Gentlemen: Scripts and That

Publisher BBC Books Format Hardback Publication Date 2003 ISBN 0-563-48775-5 Original Price £25 Country UK

In the Press

TV Zone
Issue 170 — Review (10/10)

General Notes

Doctor Who: St Anthony's Fire by Mark Gatiss

The League of Gentlemen television series is probably the most bizarre, twisted and black comedy ever to emerge from the UK.

Set in the fictional town of Royston Vasey, the series includes a vast array of characters ranging from the odd to the seriously deranged — all of whom are played by Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith. Popular characters included Edward and Tubbs Tattsyrup, an in-bred couple whose 'local shop for local people' was an extremely dangerous place to visit; the unfortunate vet Dr Chinnery, whose patients were better off without his help; and Hillary Briss, the butcher whose 'special stuff' wasn't the sort of meat you'd generally have for your Sunday roast...

The highlight for many people, however, was the Christmas Special in 2000 which mixed the League of Gentlemen's own brand of dark comedy with the sort of creepy tale produced by the BBC for the festive season back in the 1970s. For anyone that doesn't remember what happens, it involves three seperate stories that touch on Royston Vasey's own brand of voodoo, vampirism and a curse that was placed on the grandfather of Dr Chinnery. The linking story featured the town's vicar, Bernice (named after Bernice Summerfield — the character introduced in the Doctor Who novel Love and War), and also saw a return for Papa Lazarou.

More recently some of the characters have been seen on the big screen in The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse.
The League of Gentlemen are Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton.

Of the four writers, Jeremy Dyson is the one that generally doesn't appear on screen. Recently he has co-written Funland for BBC Three, in which Mark Gatiss made an appearance as Ashley Chapfel, and in 2001 co-wrote the episode Two Can Play at That Game with Gatiss for Season 2 of Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased).

Mark Gatiss has written four Doctor Who novels: Nightshade, St Anthony's Fire, The Roundheads and Last of the Gadarene. More recently he has written three episodes for the Doctor Who television series, including the popular The Unquiet Dead, the script to which was included in Doctor Who: The Shooting Scripts in October 2005. As well as co-writing the final episode of Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) in 2001 with Jeremy Dyson, he also appeared in the first episode of Season 1, Drop Dead, as Inspector Large.

Reece Shearsmith's other telefantasy connections include appearing in the Gatiss and Dyson episode of Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) as Helium Harry, and he also appeared in the Doctor Who spin-off drama Auton. More recently he has teamed up with Steve Pemberton for the BBC Two comedy Psychoville.

Steve Pemberton has gone on to appear in numerous other series in straight acting roles, including appearances in BBC Two's big-budget adaptation of Gormenghast in which he played Professor Mule, and Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) in which he played Sergeant Liddel in the very first episode alongside Mark Gatiss.