Royston Vasey signs up for auction

A collection of signs from the original  League of Gentlemen TV series is going under the hammer next week.

The lot includes signs for the local shop, Babs’ Cabs, and for a ‘toad in transit’ - and even a ‘Welcome to Royston Vasey: You’ll never leave’… but not the one mainly used on the show.

They are being sold by the widow of David Hill, a set designer and signwriter who worked on the show, and died in 2010 at the age of 71.

Also included in the sale are two original pencil sketches as well as photographs of other signage, a signed photograph of the cast and ‘thank you’ notes from the stars.

Mr Hill’s widow, Wendy Hall, told Staffordshire Live about the provenance of one of the signs, explaining: ‘The pink for the Babs Cabs sign came about because we’d just redecorated our bedroom in a paint called Raspberry Ripple. It was a horrendous sickly pink. When the BBC sign remit came through and they were unsure about the colour, David said, "I have just the thing!’

The signs are to be sold as a job lot by  Hansons Auctioneers  on June 23,  with an estimate of £1,500 to £2,000.

Hansons valuer Claire Howell said: ‘As soon as we shared this find on social media, the interest was phenomenal. It drummed up major excitement among fans of the show and we immediately started getting emails from people keen to buy. This is a phenomenal one-off opportunity for any League of Gentlemen fan to own something very special.

‘The signs were such an integral part of The League of Gentlemen. They helped to capture the strange and quirky nature of what became a hugely successful cult comedy. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see them exceed their estimate.’

Published: 16 Jun 2021