The programme is set in Royston Vasey, a fictional town in northern England, originally based on Alston, Cumbria,[1][2] and follows the lives of bizarre characters, most of whom are played by three of the show's four writers – Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, and Reece Shearsmith – who, along with Jeremy Dyson, formed the League of Gentlemen comedy troupe in 1995.

[5] Three of the four members of the League of Gentlemen (Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith) met at Bretton Hall College of Education.

The stage show began in late 1994, and it was not long before the team took as their name the title of a 1960 Jack Hawkins film, The League of Gentlemen.

[5] A laugh track was added to the first and second series, by inviting a studio audience to watch a playback of the completed episodes as well as the filming of certain interior scenes, such as the Dentons'.

In early 2005 a special one-off sketch was broadcast on the BBC for Comic Aid, a charity benefit for the tsunami disaster.

On the official website, Shearsmith's blog entry for 23 May 2007 stated that the troupe had recently met up in London's West End: "We discussed our next project – it seems we have hit upon something.

[9] Unlike other shows, this was not a scripted dark comedy but a documentary of the members spending a night at the Ancient Ram Inn, reputedly the most haunted hotel in the country.

[13][14][15] The majority of the inhabitants of the village – male and female – are played by Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton, and Mark Gatiss, and the script was written by these three, along with Jeremy Dyson.

Exceptions include Papa Lazarou facing the Reverend Bernice in the Christmas Special (both Reece Shearsmith), Les McQueen buying a magazine from Pop's son (both Mark Gatiss), and Alvin Steele buying food from Iris at a supermarket checkout in Series 2 (again, both Mark Gatiss).

Royston Vasey is a fictional English town featured in the BBC television comedy series The League of Gentlemen.

Royston Vasey draws on the upbringing of all the League of Gentlemen's members – Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith and Jeremy Dyson – all of whom were raised in the north of England.

[19] The project is first delayed when a monster (later revealed to be parts of a goat, a pig and a chimp crudely stitched together by Edward Tattsyrup) is unearthed on the construction site and comes to an end in the final episode when the owner of PQ Construction, David Tattsyrup, is revealed to be the son of Edward and Tubbs who convince him to "live locally".

The cause of the nosebleeds can be traced to a substance known only as the "Special Stuff", a highly addictive and mysterious foodstuff served by demonic butcher Hilary Briss, which becomes deadly when cut with sandwich paste.

In the third and final series, several of the residents of Royston Vasey are involved in a traffic collision which leaves Lance Longthorne and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen dead while Geoff Tipps is facially disfigured.

The destruction of Royston Vasey can only be prevented when all four of the writers are killed, but it transpires that the entire ordeal was conceived by Dyson while unconscious in a hospital.

The fight to save the community from administrative annihilation comes from unexpected and surprising directions, all of them local, as the crisis reaches its earth-shattering climax.

Other locations include Glossop, Gamesley, and Hope Valley in Derbyshire; Marsden and Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire; and Mottram in Greater Manchester.

[17] The League of Gentlemen have played in total nearly a hundred characters, many created in the early stage shows, others during the span of the television series and some especially for the team's film.

[22] In June 2020, during the George Floyd protests, the show was withdrawn from distribution on Netflix due to the character Papa Lazarou's makeup resembling blackface.