
Reece Shearsmith
- 55 years old
- English
- Actor and writer
Press clippings Page 71
The best comedy of the week was to be found over on CBBC, where series four of Horrible Histories made its debut (confusingly, BBC1 is currently showing series two).
Based on the cheerfully bloodthirsty books by Terry Deary and Martin Brown, it plays a bit like Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time, if you replaced the visiting professor of history from Queen's College, Oxford, with a talking rat making jokes about wee.
There have been plenty of bloody revolutions featured in Horrible Histories, but the team's most recent coup was to reunite The League of Gentlemen for the first time in a bronze age. Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith turned up as craven Hollywood execs keen to panel-beat the messy lives of historical figures into award-bait biopics, and while Gatiss's American accent was pretty duff, the bickering spark between the three gentlemen remained.
Recruiting the league should not distract from the tireless efforts of the core cast, particularly Jim Howick, who has matured from being an off-model David Mitchell into a gifted comic actor in his own right. But ultimately, the highlight of this first salvo of new shows was a prancing Charles Darwin explaining the ch-ch-changes of evolutionary theory via an exquisite David Bowie pastiche. Horribly good.
The Scotsman, 17th April 2012Interesting fact: in the late 1630s, as part of the war effort against the Scots, womens' urine was collected from church congregations for use in the production of gunpowder. This is grist to the mill for Horrible Histories, back on CBBC for a fourth series. And isn't that Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith, AKA The League Of Gentlemen, joining in the fun? Which just goes to show how much credibility HH enjoys these days.
Harry Venning, The Stage, 11th April 2012Why did The League of Gentlemen choose to reform on HH?
Find out why Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton and Mark Gatiss are working together on the popular kids show.
Gareth McLean, Radio Times, 9th April 2012Reece Shearsmith: I play psychopaths or the everyman
Often obscured from view as TV's most grotesque characters, Reece Shearsmith reluctantly takes off the masks.
Claire Allfree, Metro, 9th February 2012Radio Times review
The 37th best TV show of 2011 according to the Radio Times.
Manna for lovers of the macabre - a shudder one minute, a cackle the next. Series two had no qualms about meting out grisly ends to its lead personae, at a rate of roughly one bloodbath per episode. At least psycho-mum Maureen got to appal us all with her terrifying Tina Turner karaoke before carking it. Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton invested even their vilest creations with flashes of pathos; new to this run were extreme fag hag Hattie, shackling a gay Iranian man in her boudoir, and beyond-anal librarian Jeremy Goode, haunted by the Silent Singer. Add to the brew a glam Imelda Staunton, Eileen Atkins at her most severe and a cameo from cult horror director John Landis, and this show left you scared and scarred.
Patrick Mulkern, Radio Times, 13th December 2011Psychoville Halloween special - one and done :(
Two bits of greatness that you could always count on to grace the small screen during Halloween have been The Simpsons Halloween Special and, last year's classic newcomer, the brilliance of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton's Psychoville Halloween Special. While The Simpsons has remained a staple of Halloween viewing for the past 20+ years, there is no joy in Psychoville any longer as after only two short seasons, the series was cut down in its prime by the BBC and there will be no Halloween special this year.
Bill Young, Tellyspotting, 31st October 2011Psychoville killed off
Writer and star Reece Shearsmith has confirmed that horror-sitcom Psychoville will not return for a third series.
British Comedy Guide, 15th September 2011Experienced cast announced for The Function Room pilot
Reece Shearsmith, Kevin Eldon, James Fleet and Simon Day are amongst the cast for the new pub-based Comedy Showcase pilot The Function Room.
British Comedy Guide, 15th September 2011League Of Gentlemen reunite for Horrible Histories
The League Of Gentlemen's Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss and Steve Pemberton have signed up to appear in Horrible Histories.
British Comedy Guide, 9th September 2011Psychoville wasn't in a League of its own
The second series of Psychoville has just finished its run on BBC Two. It was deftly written, wonderfully performed and elegantly made. It was funny, it was engrossing, it was all-round impressive. And so its makers, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, are probably a bit hacked off that viewing figures fell away so sharply as the series went on.
Andy Murray, Chortle, 17th June 2011