Nigel Planer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nigel George Planer (born February 22, 1953 in London) is an English actor, novelist and playwright. He was educated at Westminster School, Sussex University and LAMDA. Nigel is 192 cm tall (6'3").
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[edit] Personal life
He has two sons from previous marriages - Stanley, with Anna Leigh, married from 19 August 1988 - 1995 and Harvey, with Frankie Park (April 1999-???).
[edit] Acting career
Nigel was one of the original cast of the The Comic Strip team, pioneers of the alternative comedy movement in the UK. Originally a nightclub stage show, he appeared with its creator Peter Richardson as part of the double act The Outer Limits. It was also Planer and Richardson that wrote the That's Life! parody on Not The Nine O'Clock News.
But it was as his solo character in that show, his hippie character Neil Pye, he was to achieve national fame in the legendary BBC sitcom The Young Ones. In the guise of Neil, Nigel wrote a book, Neil's Book of The Dead.
After working with Liza Goddard as a rock star in the mainstream ITV sitcom Roll Over Beethoven, he reunited with his Young Ones colleagues Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson as Ralph Filthy, theatrical gargoyle in the BBC2 sitcom Filthy, Rich and Catflap. Although slated by the press at the time, it has since grown a cult following, with many comedy fans regarding it as one of the finest of that decade. Its nihilistic view of show business has been appreciated more as the years go by.
His next big project was creating a definitive parody of the luvvie actor in Nicholas Craig. Originally a show on Radio 3, this echo also became a multi-media event. There has been a spin-off stage play, book I An Actor - Another Great Actor Explores Himself, and three series for BBC2.
Planer has also won acclaim as a straight actor, appearing in many programmes, including Dennis Potter's Blackeyes, Shine on Harvey Moon and Jonathan Creek.
For ITV, Nigel provided all the character voices for the TV version of Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids.
He has also performed the audiobooks for many of the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett, giving voice to the many characters and other anthropomorphic personifications. The voice he employed for Rincewind is reminiscent of his Neil Pye character on The Young Ones. He also featured as Mr. Sydeney in the 2006 live-action adaptation of Pratchett's Hogfather.
[edit] Stage career
His first break in the theatre was understudying David Essex as Che Guevara in the original West End run of Evita. Nigel was in the original London cast of Chicago, as Amos Hart. He was a member of the original West End cast of Ben Elton's Queen musical We Will Rock You. From 10-15 July 2006 he played the part of the Narrator in "The Rocky Horror Show" taking on the role in Manchester and Bromley. He is currently starring as The Wizard in the West-End production of Wicked at The Apollo Victoria Theatre. He recently appeared on a BBC 4 programme under the guise of 'Nicholas Craig' to be interviewed by Mark Lawson.
[edit] Music career
Nigel was one of the 4 members of the 1980s spoof rock band, Bad News, playing Den Dennis. As Neil from The Young Ones, Nigel gained a number two hit single in 1984 in the form of "Hole in My Shoe", (originally a hit for sixties band Traffic). A cover of Tomorrow's "My White Bicycle" was a less successful follow up, only reaching number seventeen in the charts. After that, an album was produced, entitled "Neil's Heavy Concept Album." Nigel also took Neil's stage act on the road in that year as Neil in the "Bad Karma in The UK" tour. This culminated in a month long run at St. Mary's Hall at the Edinburgh Fringe. The Young Ones also appeared on Cliff Richard's 1986 charity rerecording of 'Living Doll', which spent three weeks at number one in the UK.
[edit] Credits
He is arguably best known in Britain for his work in television comedy and satire, including:
- Boom Boom...Out Go The Lights (1980)
- Shine on Harvey Moon (1982)
- The Young Ones - on which he played Neil, the hippie (1982-1984)
- Roll Over Beethoven (1983-1984)
- The Comic Strip Presents... (1983-2000)
- King & Castle (1986-1988)
- Filthy, Rich & Catflap (1987)
- Blackeyes by Dennis Potter (1989)
- Frankenstein's Baby (1990)
- Nicholas Craig - The Naked Actor (1990)
- Nicholas Craig's Interview Masterclass (1990)
- Nicholas Craig's Masterpiece Theatre (1992)
- The Nicholas Craig Masterclass (1992)
- Carry On Columbus (1992)
- The Magic Roundabout (English adaptation and narrator on previously unseen episodes)
- Sherlock Holmes (1993)
- Let's Get Divorced (1994)
- Wake Up! With Libby And Jonathan (1994)
- Blackadder the Third
- Yellowbeard
- French & Saunders
- Jonathan Creek
- The Grimleys (1997-2001)
- Wicked (2006-????)
He has published several books including novels - The Right Man (2000) (ISBN 0-09-927227-X) and Faking It (2003) (ISBN 0-09-940986-0). , Nigel wrote A Good Enough Dad (1992) (ISBN 0-09-929661-6), after his first son was born, talking about coping with becoming a father.
[edit] External links
- Nigel Planer Filmography and mini-biography from the Internet Movie Database.
- Wicked Biography Full Biography from official Wicked site.
- The Times Article September 2006 article about Nigel.
