On The Town With The League Of Gentlemen is the predecessor to the League Of Gentlemen TV programme, and the successor to the stage play of the same name. Released in 1997, the radio show is set in the town of Spent, which would eventually become Royston Vasey (Spent would go on to be a neighbouring town of Vasey, mentioned heavily in The Local Book)
Much like the television series, On The Town starred Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss, and Reece Shearsmith in almost every role. Many sketches in the radio drama eventually became sketches in TLoG episodes (most of the Denton sketches, The Job Centre sketches, Barbara dialogue, et cetera). Sally Phillips guests in the last episode.
Series One[]
On The Town marked the first apperances of many beloved League of Gentlemen characters and locations.
Episode one, A Guest At The Dentons, Which starts off by introducing us to Benjamin Denton in a similar fashion to the series, with him on a train in the cold open. However, his ticket back home is stolen by a nun, and is the reason why he is stuck in Spent for the next six episodes.
Jeremy Dyson then introduces Mark, Steve, and Reece, in a voiceover, and the episode begins.
The next character we meet is Bernice Woodall, an Agony Aunt on Spent FM. She gets a call from someone who’s son has an interview at The Plant, which is the driving force of the episode.
We then have a Jobseekers sketch where we meet Pauline, Ross, and Mickey, who are older than the name ‘League Of Gentlemen’ itself, having been around since the stage play. The sketch is Pauline’s workshop on confidence, she brings Mickey to the front and compares himself to her, asking Ross what she has, that he doesn’t, (his responce is ‘A moustache’, although what she meant was confidence.) She tells him to imagine being filled with confidence, which she describes as an ‘orange liquid spilling over [his] body’ the sketch ends with Mickey pissing himself as Pauline scolds him.
Next, we have another sketch reused in the show, where Barbara drives Benjamin to Swanmills Estate, and we learn that Benjamin has a job interview at The Plant, which was mentioned earlier. Apparently Barbara had a job at The Plant but got laid off after starting zer transition. Evntually Barbara asks Benjamin to touch zer breasts, presumably taking hold of his hand, which causes the cab to swerve and nearly knock Dr. Chinnery, who’s driving past, off his bike. Barbara then tells Benjamin about zer upcoming operation.
The next characters we meet are Geoff, Mike, and Brian, who work at The Plant. Mike is apparently doing the interviews later that night. We have the classic ‘Bummers are deaf’ sketch. Mike then goes to Mr. Ingleby to get some fags, Mr. Ingleby’s bird is injured and he has rang Dr. Chinnery. We have a joke about Mr. Ingleby being short, before returning to the Benjamin arc.
Here we meet Aunty Val and Uncle Harvey for the first time, and learn about some of the house rules and Harvey’s restrictions on Benjamin’s masturbatory habits.
From there on we have the ‘Big Woman’ sketch, our first introduction to Dr. Chinnery (with the ‘Whiskey!’ scene), another Jobseekers sketch, in which Mickey has an interview at The Plant, which he misses due to Pauline. Chinnery returns to look at Mr. Ingleby’s bird, accidentally snapping his neck. More Denton house rules as it becomes clearer that Ben is certain to miss his interview at The Plant. This is the case as Harvey forces him to read to the toads, refusing to let him sleep. The episode ends with another ‘Big Woman’ call, before once again, Jeremy Dyson gives us a voiceover.
This is just one of six episodes that represent the first series. Other characters such as Legz Akimbo, Mrs. Levenson, Iris, Stella, Charlie and several more are introduced.
One major difference between On The Town, and the Stage Show/The Television Series is that The Local Shop and it’s Local Owners don’t make an appearance, presumably because the jokes didn’t translate without visuals.
Episodes 1-6 are available on vinyl, as an audiobook, casette, or CD.