The Gents
Reece Shearsmith/Steve Pemberton/Mark Gatiss/Jeremy Dyson
Reece Shearsmith
Reece Shearsmith was born in Hull on August 27th, 1969. His obsession with horror films started early on in his teens, and was expressed by shrines in his bedroom which he used to dedicate to Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Vincent Price to name but a few. Horror has an obvious influence on his writing and portrayal of characters in LoG, with Edward's voice being based directly on Lord Summerisle, played by Christopher Lee in "The Wicker Man". Reece has not always been interested in acting. Special effects and make-up were amongst his first loves, along with conjuring. However, after graduating from bretton Hall College, he made the decision to move to London to find work as an actor, and formed the League of Gentlemen with Steve and Mark in the early 90s. Years of hard work at the Canal Cafe in London payed off, and his big break came with the gents when they played at the Edinburgh Fringe. A Radio Four series, "On The Town With The League of Gentlemen" soon followed. Apart from LoG, he has appeared in "In the Red", "Alexei Sayle's Merry Go Round", "Lenny Henry", "London's Burning", and "Spaced". His previous theatre work includes "The Honest Whore" and "The Traitor". Reece married in February 2001 to Jane. His favourite LoG character to play is Geoff, presumably because he gets to shout a lot!
Steve Pemberton
Born in Blackburn on 1st September, Steve Pemberton also studied drama at Bretton Hall College, where he Co-wrote and starred in "Damage your Childrem" and "Death warmed up" with Mark. He has a huge amount of theatre work under his belt, including "A Slight Ache", "Macbeth" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream". His TV work apart from LoG includes "Gormenghast" (in which he played Professor Mule), "Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)" and "In the Red". Steve has obvious writing talents, as he has written for Variety newspaper, and was assistant editor of the International Film Guide from 1991 to 1998. With this base in writing, it seems only natural that he would go on to co-write something as successful, original and totally un-egregious as LoG! Steve's favourite character to play is Pauline, and most fans agree that he makes a fantastic and convincing woman!
Mark Gatiss
Born in Darlington and known by the other Gents as the "BFG" because of his height, Mark is probably the most literary member of the group (with the exception of Jeremy). Not only has he written for The Guardian, but his published work includes Dr Who books (fuelled by his love of the programme, which has been further expressed by occasional appearances as a Dalek!), The Essex Files, and a biography. His repetoire also includes much writing for television, portrayed not only in his irreplaceable input into LoG, but also a science fiction quartet entitled "P.R.O.B.E" (which, incidentally, features none other than Reece Shearsmith!) He trained at Bretton Hall along with the other guys in Theatre Arts, and appearances on television include "Spaced", "Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)" and "In the Red". He has recently finished writing a Halloween ghost story with Jeremy for Radio Four, and he has also written an episode in the second series of "Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)". His most well-known characters include Dr Chinnery and Mickey, although he has come up against some difficulty as Dr Chinnery-the scene from series 2 in which he is treating a bloated dog ended up with a trip to hospital for Mark. At the point where the dog explodes, Mark is showered with putrid and disgusting-looking liquid. Unfortunately, the force of firing was obviously too strong, and Mark grazed his cornea. Luckily, the effects could have been much worse.
Jeremy Dyson
As the only non-actor in LoG (however, he has appeared in "Love Comes to Royston Vasey" as the man who will buy three lighters for a pound, and also in the Christmas Special as one of Edmund Chinnery's spectators), Jeremy was introduced to the rest of the group by Mark, as the amount of writing that the pair had already done together had enhanced their relationship. Jeremy says that, although he gets on with all of the guys, it is Mark who he works most closely with. Unlike the rest of the Gents, Jeremy didn't study Theatre Arts. In fact, he went to Leeds university, and has a degree in philosophy (which is also helpful in the writing of LoG!). His previous literary work includes a book entitled "Bright Darkness: The Lost Art of the Supernatural Horror Film". His influences on LoG come from many horror films (as do the influences of the rest of the boys), but strangely enough, his favourite films aren't of that genre. He mentions "The Godfather", "Withnail and I" and "Jason and the Argonauts" to have a great influence on his writing. Success with LoG has made him a lot happier as a person, and his near-obsession with his creation can be found in aspects of his everyday life. Apparently, he and the others often spend time figuring out pointless background stories on the characters that are never even going to be revealed on the show. He claims, "Me and Reece once spent a whole night determining Bernice's home life, right down to the fact that she's very fond of canned fruit and sometimes she just sits for hours with the lights off doing nothing." Madness. He feels that there are many similarities between himself and veteran rocker Les McQueen, as he has much experience of the rock-and-roll lifestyle from the work with his band, Rudolf Rocker. As the keyboardist and co-writer of the songs, Jeremy has used the band's musical influence in LoG, with Crème Brulée's near-hit "Voodoo Lady" actually a song of Rudolf Rocker's. Jeremy's involvement with LoG extends beyond mere writing. He has played the role of assistant producer for many of the episodes (particularly in series two), which he claims can include any duties from making cups of tea to casting. He has a similarity to Reece in that he too enjoys magic tricks. His literary work has many influences, and he sites his favourite authors as Raymond Carver and John Fowles, amongst others.
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