Reece Shearsmih has told Richard Herring about the time he met Sir Christopher Lee and what Bernie Clifton thought of Inside No 9 episode Bernie Clifton's Dressing Room in the latest Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre podcast just released.
Shearsmith was speaking to promote the new movie See How They Run, a murder mystery which is currently number one at the box office.
During the interview Shearsmith recalled his friend, film director John Landis, arranging a lunch with Lee. Shearsmith brought along a piece of wood that had been sent to him during a League of Gentlemen tour which was claimed to be a genuine remnant of the left leg of the the original giant wicker man from the classic British horror film starring Lee as Lord Summerisle.
Shearsmith showed Lee the wood and he kindly signed it, writing on the back of it that "Dear Reece, this is genuine".
Shearsmith also revealed that comedian Bernie Clifton was delighted with the episode named after him after initially saying he was "trepidatious at first about what you were going to do in my dressing room". But after seeing it he was very nice about it. The idea had come about after Jim Davidson had been on Celebrity Big Brother and kept mentioning to one of the Nolan sisters that something had happened in veteran Irish stand-up Frank Carson's dressing room, but he never revealed what had happened.
He also explained that it was great to have Mark Gatiss in the Merrily, Merrily episode as there really had been a reunion of former Bretton Hall students where the League of Gentlemen had studied. "It was great to have him. It was absolutely fitting that it should be Mark and he was free and he wanted to do it. So that was great. "
The star also confirmed that all the polaroids taken of his penis by Steve Pemberton's character during the recent episode Mr King had been returned to him after the shoot had finished.
Shearsmith also talked about the early days of The League of Gentlemen and recalled how at one point there was talk of it being a studio-based sketch show. Instead they opted for location filming and the rest is history.
See How They Run is in cinemas now.
Listen to Richard Herring's podcast here.
