Reece Shearsmith doesn’t think ‘The League of Gentlemen’ would be commissioned today.
The 48-year-old actor-and-comedian created the hit BBC TV and radio show along with Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and Jeremy Dyson and the cult comedy series will return to BBC Two for the first time since 2002 for three special episodes marking its 20-year anniversary
Reece believes the humour in the show – which began in 1997 on the airwaves – has a "question mark" all over it and is sure it would never get the green light these days with the spectre of political correctness hanging over the entertainment business.
Speaking to The I Paper, Reece said: "There’s a question mark over all of it, if you get into the grey areas of everyone’s particular taste. It’s hard now to have a singular voice … to write a drama without having it go through a process which tries to cater to everyone and ultimately caters for no one."
The ‘League of Gentlemen’ originally aired on BBC Radio 4 before moving to television on BBC Two.
The BAFTA-winning programme is based around the strange residents of the fictional Pennines town of Royston Vasey and ran for three series, each featuring six episodes, from 1999 to 2002, and was followed by a 2005 film.
Among the characters were transsexual taxi driver Babs – who has a gruff voice and a hairy chest – murderous local shop owners and married brother and sister Edward and Tubbs and depressed plastic mouldings salesman Geoff Tipps.
Most of the female comic creations were portrayed by Reece, Steve and Mark in drag but the trio never cross-dressed for laughs.
He said: "We were a three-man troupe [with Jeremy writing] and we just played all the parts. We didn’t try to do it like drag. I play Stella like a real northern woman. The funny thing isn’t that there is a man dressed as a woman – that’s not the joke. We always tried to imbue them with as much truth as possible."
‘The League of Gentlemen’ returns to TV screens on BBC Two from next Monday (18.12.17) at 10pm.
Reece Shearsmith: League of Gentlemen wouldn’t get made now
