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Reece Shearsmith

Date of birth: 27-08-1969

Hull-born Reece Shearsmith is a quarter of The League Of Gentlemen alongside Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Jeremy Dyson (who writes, but does not perform)

They net at Bretton Hall drama school in their late teens, and began performing a sketch show at London’s Cockpit Theatre in 1995, soon afterwards landing a residency at the Canal Café pub theatre, which compelled them to create new material at a fast pace.

In 1997 they won the Perrier, and their subsequent radio series On the Town with The League of Gentlemen, set in the fictional town of Spent, won a Sony Award.

In 1999 the League moved to television – and Royston Vasey – with subsequent series in 2000 (including a typically sinister Christnmas special) and 2002; plus a feature-length film, The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, in 2005.

On stage, they toured large regional theatres in 2000, had a six-week run at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in spring 2003, and toured a pantomime-themed show The League of Gentlemen Are Behind You in 2005.

Outside of the League, Shearsmith played the insane villain Tony in the Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer comedy Catterick; Robot-Wars obsessed TA soldier Dexter in Spaced; and neurotic Dr Flynn in BBC Two hospital sitcom TLC.

On the West End, he appeared in Art in 2003, alongside his League Of Gentlemen costars, in As You Like It at the Wyndhams in 2005, and in The Producers as Leo Bloom in 2006.

Inside No 9: The Trolley Problem

Spoiler-free preview of the next episode

After last week’s ensemble of great comedy actors, this episode of Inside No 9 pares everything down to a tight, claustrophobic two-hander between creators Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith.

We open on a dark and stormy night. Pemberton is Blake, a Good Samaritan who has saved Shearsmith’s character Drew from leaping to his death from a bridge and brought him back to his remote house to dry off, have a cup of tea and get his head together. And as a therapist, perhaps he can offer some help…

As they chat, they seem to form a connection, though an attempt to use ‘laugher yoga’ to ease the tensions backfires when Drew’s chuckles become troubling. For his delicate state of mind also brings a a sense of menace, especially when he reacts badly to the gently affable Blake’s attempts to analyse him.

Given that ‘things are not all that they seem’ is the byword of this compelling series, viewers can be sure of more surprises as the pair test each other, revealing more about their darker sides.

The titular Trolly Problem is a well-known moral thought experiment – especially if you watched The Good Place, where it was a notable plot point – but while it’s relevant to the plot, knowing what it is will not prepare you for the twists of this ominous tale. But as always, to reveal more would risk spoilers.

It’s enough to say this is one of the pair’s more darkly dramatic pieces. There’s very little comic relief to relieve the ratcheting tension – an absurdly out-of-place reference to a certain national treasure notwithstanding – which will have you guessing till the end, certain only that this pressurised encounter is not likely to end well.

• Inside No 9: The Trolly Problem is on BBC Two at 10pm tonight.

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Published: 15 May 2024

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