Jeremy Dyson

Comfort Classic: The League of Gentlemen

Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith look into the camera, peering from around a wall dressed as their characters Edward and Tubbs

British television comedy has always embraced the surreal, from Michael Bentine through to Monty Python, The Young Ones and beyond. But has any other show been quite so off-the-wall weird as The League of Gentlemen, which emerged in January 1999 to ambush unsuspecting BBC Two audiences? 

Was it a sketch show or a sitcom? Why was there so much cross-dressing? Did any of this matter? The League of Gentlemen’s startling originality and outrageous quirkiness quickly found an audience and the series developed a cult following.