A League of Their Own (UK game show)

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A League of Their Own
Aleagueoftheirown.png
Genre Comedy
Panel game
Presented by James Corden
Starring Freddie Flintoff
Jamie Redknapp
Georgie Thompson
John Bishop
Jack Whitehall
Romesh Ranganathan
Theme music composerWill Slater
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series13
No. of episodes156 (As of 18 October 2018)(list of episodes)
Production
Production location(s) Pinewood Studios (2010)
Elstree Studios (2011–)
Running time60 mins (episode 1, series 3–, Specials)
30 mins (series 1–2)
Release
Original network Sky One
Picture format 16:9 (1080i HDTV)
Original release11 March 2010 (2010-03-11) –
present
External links
Website

A League of Their Own is a British sports-based comedy panel game that was first broadcast on Sky One on 11 March 2010. It is hosted by James Corden and features Andrew Flintoff and Jamie Redknapp as team captains. John Bishop and Georgie Thompson were regular panellists for the first four series alongside two weekly guests. Jack Whitehall joined the cast as a regular panellist from the fifth to the twelfth series. [1] Romesh Ranganathan joined the show as a regular panellist from the thirteenth series. [2]

Sky One is a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky, a division of Comcast, available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

James Corden English actor, comedian, television host, and singer

James Kimberley Corden is an English actor, comedian, and television host. He hosts The Late Late Show with James Corden, a late-night television talk show on CBS.

Andrew Flintoff former English cricketer

Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff is an English presenter and former international cricketer. Playing primarily for Lancashire, Flintoff played all forms of the game and was one of the sport's leading all rounders, serving as a fast bowler, middle order batsman and slip fielder. He was consistently rated by the ICC as being among the top international all-rounders in both ODI and Test cricket. Later in his career he played for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, and Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League.

Contents

On 25 March 2019, it was announced that Corden would be replaced by guest presenters in some episodes for the foreseeable future, due to scheduling conflicts in the U.S.. [3]

Format

The show is a standard panel quiz show where two teams of three, the Red and Blue teams compete for points awarded in three rounds, to find the overall winning team by points total. [4]

Right Guard is a brand of deodorant and shower gel for men. It is manufactured by The Dial Corporation, a subsidiary of Henkel, which acquired the brand in 2006 as a condition for acquisition because Procter & Gamble already owned deodorant brands Sure and Old Spice.

Participants

The show is hosted by James Corden, a comedy writer best known for co-writing and starring in Gavin & Stacey . The Red Team is captained by retired footballer Jamie Redknapp, who was formerly joined by once regular panellist and stand-up comedian John Bishop. In series 5, John Bishop was absent for several episodes due to his Sport Relief challenge, eventually leaving the show altogether. The Blue Team is captained by retired England cricketer Andrew Flintoff, formerly joined by once regular panellist and Sky Sports F1 presenter Georgie Thompson. From series 5 to 12, comedian Jack Whitehall replaced Georgie Thompson as regular panellist on the blue team due to Georgie's F1 commitments. From series 13, after Jack Whitehall departed from the show, Redknapp’s team partner will be comedian Romesh Ranganathan. [2] Each week the teams are supplemented by special guests.

<i>Gavin & Stacey</i> television series

Gavin & Stacey is a British sitcom, written by James Corden and Ruth Jones, that follows the long-distance relationship of an Englishman and a Welsh woman. The merging of their quirky families forms the focus of the show. Mathew Horne and Joanna Page play the titular characters, while the writers co-star as Gavin and Stacey's friends, Smithy and Nessa. Other prominent cast members include Alison Steadman and Larry Lamb, who play Gavin's parents, Pam and Mick, and Melanie Walters and Rob Brydon, who portray Stacey's mother, Gwen, and her uncle, Bryn. The theme for the series was "Run" by Stephen Fretwell. The show was produced by Baby Cow Productions for BBC Wales. It ran for a total of 20 episodes; these were broadcast from 13 May 2007 to 1 January 2010, comprising three series and a Christmas special. Initially, the series was shown on BBC Three, but a growing following meant that it was subsequently moved to BBC Two, and finally BBC One. The last episodes of the final series formed a significant part of the prime time BBC seasonal programming, and were broadcast on Christmas Day 2009 and New Year's Day 2010.

Jamie Redknapp English footballer

Jamie Frank Redknapp is an English retired professional footballer who was active from 1989 until 2005. He is now a pundit at Sky Sports and an editorial sports columnist at the Daily Mail. A technically skilful and creative midfielder, who was also an accurate and powerful free-kick taker, Redknapp played for Bournemouth, Southampton, Liverpool, and Tottenham Hotspur, captaining the latter two. He also gained 17 England caps between 1995 and 1999. His 11 years at Liverpool were the most prolific, playing more than 237 league games for the club and being involved in winning the 1995 Football League Cup Final.

John Bishop English comedian and actor

John Joseph Bishop is an English comedian, presenter and actor, who is also known for his charity work, having raised £4.2m for Sport Relief 2012.

Neither Corden, Redknapp nor Thompson had been regular features on a television panel show before. Corden was non-committal about whether the show marked a new direction for him as a television host, stating "I spend most of my time sitting in a room with my mates talking about sport anyway. To get paid to do such a thing will be great. I hope it will be a fun show and people will enjoy watching it." [5] Redknapp said "I'm loving it, but it is nerve-wracking" and "the key is to try to have a bit of fun, but to remember that we're not comedians and can't compete with the professionals" referring to Bishop and Corden. [6] Thompson said of the show that it was "the fun factor that I've been looking for" and represented an "exciting opportunity" in her career. [7]

Production

The show was created by Paul Brassey, a development producer at CPL Productions. The show was recorded in Pinewood Studios (Elstree Studios from series 3 onwards), [8] being filmed on Mondays and Tuesdays in front of a live studio audience. The show was commissioned by Duncan Gray, with Gray, Danielle Lux and Murray Boland acting as Executive Producers. [9] It was announced on 20 October 2009 that the pilot for the show would be hosted by Corden alongside team captains Redknapp and England cricketer Stuart Broad, [10] although Broad was replaced in the line up by Flintoff by the time of the series 1 start. Executive producer Danielle Lux said it would be "an Olympic standard comedy show for anyone who loves their sport and a fun-filled half-hour for those who don't." [11] The pilot was recorded on 24 October, [9] and was due to be aired later in 2009. [11] Sky1's promotion for the show included a TV advert featuring Corden mis-kicking a football, spoofing contemporary serious sportswear advertising campaigns, accompanied by the tagline "the new panel show that doesn't take sport too seriously". [12]

Reception

Keith Watson of the Metro welcomed the show as a challenger to "Britain's No.1 TV sports spot-the-scripted-bits banter show", referring to the BBC's show A Question of Sport , hosted by Sue Barker. Watson, writing after the first episode, said "Team skippers Freddie Flintoff and Jamie Redknapp are just there as window-dressing/butts of jokes, for this is Corden's show and he takes to it like a puck to the ice rink. [Sue] Barker beware." [13] Sharon Lougher and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh also of the Metro went further, announcing the show as "basically, A Question of Sport for idiots ... the televisual equivalent of Nuts magazine". [14]

Writing after the first episode, Harry Venning of The Stage panned the show, summarising it as "Imagine A Question of Sport without the sports questions, combined with They Think It's All Over without the comedy". Criticising the length of the opening hour-long special, Venning said it contained some fine gags but not enough of them, and the format was "dull, unimaginative and painfully protracted", albeit praising Flintoff for being "surprisingly witty and charming". [15]

The British Comedy Guide said of the first episode that "the sportsman-dominated panel showed: very few laughs, and little charm" and were not convinced of the format, although conceding that not being sports fans they might not be the target audience. [4]

Guest appearances

Comedian Jimmy Carr has made sixteen guest appearances making him the most frequent guest on the programme. Jimmy Carr, 2015-04-13 3 (crop).jpg
Comedian Jimmy Carr has made sixteen guest appearances making him the most frequent guest on the programme.

The following have made more than one appearance on the show as a guest (up to and including series 13, episode 2):

16 appearances
8 appearances
7 appearances
5 appearances
4 appearances
3 appearances
2 appearances

Transmissions

Original series

SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
111 March 201013 May 201010
27 October 201011 November 201010
34 March 201129 April 20118
47 October 201118 November 20117
520 April 20128 June 20128
626 October 201214 December 20128
723 August 201311 October 20138
829 August 201417 October 20148
915 May 201517 July 20158
107 January 201610 March 201610
US10 May 201624 May 20163
1122 September 201624 November 201610
US 2.05 June 201726 June 20174
1214 September 201712 December 20179
1330 August 201818 October 20188

Specials

DateEntitle
20 May 2010The Best of Series 1
27 May 2010The Unseen Bits from Series 1
12 November 2010The Best of Series 2
19 December 2010The Unseen Bits from Series 2
23 December 2010Christmas Special
6 May 2011The Unseen Bits from Series 3 (Part 1)
13 May 2011The Best of Series 3 (Part 1)
20 May 2011The Best of Series 3 (Part 2)
27 May 2011The Unseen Bits from Series 3 (Part 2)
16 December 2011End of Year Special
6 January 2012The Unseen Bits from Series 4
13 January 2012The Best of Series 4
15 June 2012The Unseen Bits from Series 5 (Part 1)
22 June 2012The Unseen Bits from Series 5 (Part 2)
29 June 2012The Best of Series 5
21 December 2012The Unseen Bits from Series 6 (Part 1)
28 December 2012The Unseen Bits from Series 6 (Part 2)
18 October 2013The Unseen Bits from Series 7 (Part 1)
25 October 2013The Unseen Bits from Series 7 (Part 2)
1 November 2013The Best of the Rally Car Special
8 November 2013The Best of Series 7
17 October 2014The Unseen Bits from Series 8 (Part 1)
24 October 2014The Unseen Bits from Series 8 (Part 2)
31 October 2014The Unseen Bits from Series 8 (Part 3)
31 October 2014The Unseen Bits from Series 8 (Part 4)
24 December 2014Christmas Special
24 December 2016
21 December 2017

International versions

Australian version

An Australian version of A League of Their Own aired on Network Ten on 16 September 2013. It was presented by comedian Tommy Little and the captains were tennis star Pat Cash and swimmer Eamon Sullivan. The series had ten episodes. Nine episodes were broadcast with the tenth episode being viewed online after it was cancelled to immediate effect after posting a disappointing rating in the show's ninth week.

Danish version

A Danish version of A League of Their Own aired on Kanal 5 on 7 September 2015. The Danish title is "5. Halvleg", in English: "5th half". The show is presented by comedian Carsten Bang and the captains are former professional cyclist Jesper Skibby and comedian Jesper Juhl. In the first season there was 10 episodes, and the last aired on 5 November 2015.

The first season was very successful, with good ratings, and Kanal 5 decided to renew the show for a second season, with the premiere on 18 February 2016. The season contained 8 episodes, with the same host and captains as in season 1. The last episode of Season 2 aired on 14 April 2016.

Season 2 was another successful season for Kanal 5, and they decided to renew the show for a third season, with the same host and captains as in the first two seasons. The first episode in Season 3 aired on 4 September 2016.

Season 4 on 5 went on with the same host and captains. The first episode in Season 4 aired on 12 February and the last episode aired on 22 June. The first episode in Season 5 aired on 2 November 2017 and Season 5 is still running.

Awards

Host Carsten Bang was nominated for Best Host at Zulu Awards 2016.

German version

A German version of A League of Their Own called Eine Liga für sich - Buschis Sechserkette aired on German Sky 1 on 13 March 2017. It is presented by sports commentator Frank Buschmann. Comedian Matze Knop and television host and former professional handball player Panagiota Petridou serve as captains.

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References

  1. ↑ Jeffery, Morgan (15 March 2012). "Jack Whitehall joins Sky1's 'A League of Their Own' for fifth series". Digital Spy.
  2. 1 2 "Romesh Ranganathan replaces Jack Whitehall on A League Of Their Own". British Comedy Guide . Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  3. ↑ https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/news/5251/james_corden_to_miss_aloto/
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "A League of Their Own". The British Comedy Guide. n.d. Archived from the original on 11 March 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
  5. ↑ Natalie Jamieson (20 January 2010). "Corden wants David Beckham for a Sport Relief sketch". Newsbeat. BBC Radio 1. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
  6. ↑ Alex Fletcher, (10 March 2010). "Redknapp nervous about comedy show". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 11 March 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
  7. ↑ Alex Fletcher, (10 March 2010). "Thompson: 'I'm out of comfort zone'". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 13 March 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
  8. ↑ ""A League of Their Own"". comedy.co.uk. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  9. 1 2 "A League of Their Own – Production Details". The British Comedy Guide. n.d. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
  10. ↑ Dan French (20 October 2009). "Corden, Redknapp for Sky1's 'League'". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 2 April 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
  11. 1 2 "Corden to host sports quiz". Chortle.co.uk. 20 October 2009. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
  12. ↑ "Watch James Corden in A League of Their Own ad". The Guardian. London. 19 February 2010. Archived from the original on 5 April 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
  13. ↑ Keith Watson (12 March 2010). "James Corden steps into Sue Barker role for A League of Their Own". Metro. Archived from the original on 14 March 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
  14. ↑ Sharon Lougher, Larushka Ivan-Zadeh (11 March 2010). "Today's TV highlights". Metro. Archived from the original on 13 March 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
  15. ↑ Harry Venning (15 March 2010). "TV review". The Stage. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
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