1. The League Of Gentlemen (BBC2, 1999 - 2002)
The brainchild of Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, and Jeremy Dyson (the only one of the programme's creators who didn't appear in it), The League Of Gentlemen debuted on Radio 4 in 1997 and was revamped for television broadcast on BBC2 starting in 1999, quickly making its mark on comedy audiences thanks in part to its incredibly macabre content. Like Come Fly With Me, one of The League Of Gentlemens biggest strengths is that it is set in a single environment (in this case, the fictional village of Royston Vasey in Yorkshire) which provided opportunities for the various characters played by Gatiss, Pemberton, and Shearsmith to interact with each other occasionally, and allowed for ongoing themes and stories to be developed rather than the traditional sketch show approach of having no connection between different sketches. The story arc of each series is crucial to tying all of the episodes together and influences a lot of the sketches, giving the programme the feel of both a sitcom and a sketch show as well as stopping the sketches from being too repetitive. But the thing that really makes The League Of Gentlemen stand out is that its content is vastly different from conventional sketch shows. While you'll find crude humour in programmes like Little Britain, League really takes it up a notch, being replete with violence and dark humour as well doing the more standard jokes like class-based humour. On no other sketch show will you find such a large number of kidnappings, deaths, and a Frankenstein-esque mob armed with burning torches.
As well as the excellent writing and performances (which all comes from a close-knit group rather than a wide range of writers), the effort and care put into every episode is wonderfully clear. Not only is the location footage shot in Yorkshire absolutely gorgeous but theres an astounding amount of attention paid to the most minute details. Every episode has a unique opening sequence full of sight gags and the series is littered with both references to its earlier episodes and a huge amount of subtle nods to other works such as a pair of builders being named Wint and Kidd after Blofelds henchmen in Diamonds Are Forever, and posters parodying The Full Monty appearing over Royston Vasey in almost every episode. It was a dramatic change of both tone and pace for a sketch show, and the ongoing character and story arcs combined with the macabre humour made it markedly different from other sketch shows and kept up viewer interest rather than it just being something people dipped in and out of. And because of this it was a smash hit, running for three series, a Christmas special, a stage show, and a film adaptation that sadly wasn't nearly as well received as the programme it was based on. The League Of Gentlemen is one of the best sketch shows of recent years and fully deserves its place at the top of this list.
What Are Its Best Known Sketches? Murderous local shop owners Tubbs and Edward, inept vet Mr Chinnery who is unable to treat any animal without accidentally killing it, and nightmarish circus ringmaster Papa Lazarou who travels from town to town stealing wives.
Are there any sketch shows you think we should have put on this list? Leave a comment...