The BBC appears open to the idea of a return for cult comedy The League of Gentlemen.

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Mark Gatiss, the Doctor Who and Sherlock writer who was a member of the troupe that brought us surreal sketches from the fictional town of Royston Vasey – with its "local shop" for "local people" – said last week that a revival was on the cards.

“We’re hoping to [do it again]," he said. "We’ve talked seriously about doing something, we’re not quite sure what it is yet but we’d love to do something, it is 10 years...

“I think increasingly, talking about prescience, we have become a local country for local people and I wonder if there is something Brexity in us that we can do.”

The good news is BBC insiders tell RadioTimes.com they would be “highly receptive” to a return of the pitch-black comedy, which finished on BBC2 in 2002 and was followed by a film in 2005, The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse.

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But it seems that a one-off special, not a series, is what Auntie is after.

"The door would be open to a special return but it's up to them," added a source.

The sketch show starred Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton alongside Gatiss – they wrote the series with Jeremy Dyson, who did not appear on screen.

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Memorable characters included butcher Hilary Briss (Gatiss), who served a "special" meat that appeared to make people bleed out of their noses. Another favourite was the sinister clown Papa Lazarou, who enjoyed kidnapping women with the phrase: “You’re my wife now!”

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