Fantasy Football League
| Fantasy Football League | |
|---|---|
| Starring |
David Baddiel Frank Skinner Angus Loughran Jeff Astle |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Avalon Television |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Distributor | ITV Studios |
| Release | |
| Original network |
BBC2 ITV (1998 and 2004 specials) |
| Original release | January 1994 – May 1996 (specials in 1996, 1998 and 2004) |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned |
Fantasy Football League was a British television programme hosted by Frank Skinner and David Baddiel. The programme was inspired by the Fantasy Football phenomenon which started in the early 90s. It followed on from a BBC Radio 5 programme hosted by Dominik Diamond although the radio and TV versions overlapped by several months. Three series were broadcast from 14 January 1994 to 10 May 1996 (followed by episodes during Euro 1996). The show then moved to ITV for live specials on alternate nights throughout 1998 World Cup and then again through the 2004 European Championship.
It is not known if the show is ever likely to return. In its absence, Baddiel and Skinner instead went on to produce a series of podcasts for The Times, documenting their experiences while travelling across Germany at the 2006 World Cup. The success of these led to the duo being signed by Absolute Radio, where they hosted a similar show from South Africa during the 2010 World Cup.
The format was originally heavily reliant on an actual fantasy football league, made up of teams picked by regular guest celebrities at the point that the game became popular in the mid-1990s. Each week, one or more of the celebrities would appear on the show and chat about football and their fantasy line-ups. As the show progressed on television, however, the fantasy league was pushed to the background in favour of sketches and clips, and was eventually dropped altogether. The latter shows still had guest appearances, from the likes of Nick Hornby, Damon Albarn, Peter Cook etc., although the departure of the fantasy team format meant it was less essential the guests had a decent football knowledge than before.
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