The League of Gentlemen is a surreal, British sitcom that premiered on BBC Two in 1999. The programme is set in Royston Vasey, a fictional town in Northern England, 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. The series originally aired for three series from 1999 until 2002 with a Christmas Special (Yule Never Leave!) in 2000. A movie was made called The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse in 2005. A three-part revival mini-series was broadcast in December 2017 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the group's first appearance on BBC Radio 4. Three live shows were made: The League of Gentlemen: Live at Drury Lane/A Local Show for Local People in 2001, The League of Gentlemen are Behind You! in 2006, and The League of Gentlemen: Live Again! in 2018.
The series was filmed mainly in Hadfield, Derbyshire; other locations include Bacup Lancashire, Glossop, Gamesley, and Hope Valley in Derbyshire; Marsden and Todmorden in West Yorkshire; and Mottram in Greater Manchester.
Two of the writers, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton later collaborated to create another dark comedy series, Psychoville (2009 - 2014 with some characters appearing in Inside No. 9); Mark Gatiss appeared in one episode. The three also performed together in the fourth series of Horrible Histories (2009 - 2014), in which they play American film producers who hear film pitches from historical figures. Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton also wrote and starred in the black comedy anthology series Inside No. 9, which premiered on BBC Two in 2014.