Alice Nutter (born Anne Holden; 10 July 1962) is an English retired musician, best known as part of the

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

music group

Chumbawamba Chumbawamba () was a British anarcho-punk band who formed in 1982 and disbanded in 2012. They are best known for their 1997 single "Tubthumping", which was nominated for Best British Single at the Brit Awards 1998. Other singles include "Amnes ...

, and writer for theatre, radio and television.

Early life

She was born in

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, and attended Towneley High School.

Musical career

Nutter joined

in 1982, not long after the band formed, and took up residence in their squat in

Armley Armley is a district in the west of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It starts less than from Leeds city centre. Like much of Leeds, Armley grew in the Industrial Revolution and had several mills, one of which now houses the Leeds Industrial ...

.; Steve Bottoms, 'Struggling to be Human', in the programme for the 2013 West Yorkshire Playhouse production ''My Generation''. With her music and politics closely integrated, Nutter picketed during the 1984-85 miners' strike and the 1986

Wapping dispute The Wapping dispute was a lengthy failed strike by print workers in London in 1986. Print unions tried to block distribution of ''The Sunday Times'', along with other newspapers in Rupert Murdoch's News International group, after production wa ...

. In 1997, the band had an international hit with their song "

Tubthumping "Tubthumping" is a song by British rock band Chumbawamba, released in August 1997 by EMI, Universal Records (1995), Universal and Republic Records as the first single from their eighth studio album, ''Tubthumper'' (1997). It is the band's most ...

", on which Nutter was a vocalist. She performed with the band on numerous international television shows and at the 1998 BRIT Awards. Nutter left Chumbawamba in 2006 to start a new career as a playwright. In 2012, she returned to the band for their final live performance at the Leeds City Varieties, recorded on the live DVD '' Going, Going – Live at Leeds City Varieties''.

Writing career

Her theatre work includes ''Foxes'' (2006) at the

West Yorkshire Playhouse Leeds Playhouse is a theatre in the city centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1990 in the Quarry Hill area of the city as the West Yorkshire Playhouse, successor to the original Leeds Playhouse, and was rebranded in June 2018 ...

and ''Where's Vietnam?'' (2008) for Red Ladder Theatre Company at West Yorkshire Playhouse. Her radio work includes the afternoon play ''Snow In July'' (2008) for Radio 4 and the play ''My Generation'' (2012) for Radio 3. In 2013, ''My Generation'' was brought to the West Yorkshire Playhouse by its artistic director James Brining in the first full-scale, main-stage production of Nutter's work.Steve Bottoms, 'Struggling to be Human', in the programme for the West Yorkshire Playhouse productio
''My Generation''
. Staged October 5–26, 2013 In 2016, the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds staged Nutter's play the Barnbow Canaries about women munition workers in Barnbow, Leeds, during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The factory the women were working in exploded one day in December 1915 and killed 35 and injured many more. For television, Nutter has written an episode of

Jimmy McGovern James Stanley McGovern (born September 1949) is an English screenwriter and producer. He is best known for creating the drama series '' Cracker'' (1993–1995), for which he received two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. He als ...

's series '' The Street'' (2007) and an episode of the BBC medical drama ''

Casualty Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster **Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...

'' (2009). She has also written an episode of '' Moving On'', Jimmy McGovern's series, '' Accused'' and period drama '' The Mill''. Nutter wrote a biographical drama based on the life of the Mancunian comedian

Bernard Manning Bernard John Manning (13 August 1930 – 18 June 2007) was an English comedian and nightclub owner. He gained a high profile on British television during the 1970s, appearing on shows such as '' The Comedians'' and '' The Wheeltappers and Shun ...

, but cuts to the

BBC4 BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

budget led to the piece never being filmed. In March 2014,

Spanner Films Spanner Films is a small London-based documentary company founded by film director Franny Armstrong in 1997. Productions The company's earliest production was '' McLibel'' (1997/2005), a documentary film about David Morris and Helen Steel, a postm ...

announced that Nutter would be one of the writers for ''Undercovers'', a television drama series about the undercover police officers who infiltrated the British activist scene for 50 years, and the women who unknowingly had long-term relationships and even children with the spies. The series was also written by

Simon Beaufoy Simon Beaufoy (; born 26 December 1966) is a British screenwriter. Born in Keighley, West Riding of Yorkshire, he was educated at Malsis School in Glusburn, Ermysted's Grammar School and Sedbergh School, he read English at St Peter's College ...

, and was to be produced by

Tony Garnett Anthony Garnett (3 April 1936 – 12 January 2020) was a British film and television producer, and actor. Best known for his thirteen-year association with director Ken Loach, his work as a producer continued into the 21st century. Early life ...

. The project did not come to fruition, but she later worked on the FX series ''

Trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust (law), a legal relationship in which one person holds property for another's benefit * Trust (bu ...

'' with Beaufoy about the

Getty family The Getty family of the United States began with George Getty, George Franklin Getty and his son J. Paul Getty, Jean Paul Getty as their patriarchs. In the 20th century, they were heavily involved in the petroleum industry and in mass media. T ...

and the

kidnapping of John Paul Getty III John Paul Getty III (; born Eugene Paul Getty II; November 4, 1956February 5, 2011) was the grandson of American oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, who was once the richest man in the world. While living in Rome in 1973, he was kidnapped by the 'Ndranghe ...

, broadcast on BBC2 in 2018. With Beaufoy, she wrote the sequel television series to the 1997 film ''

The Full Monty ''The Full Monty'' is a 1997 comedy film directed by Peter Cattaneo, starring Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber and Hugo Speer. The screenplay was written by Simon Beaufoy. The film is set ...

'', produced by

FX on Hulu FX Networks, LLC, commonly known as FX Networks, is an American media company built around FX, FXX, and FX Movie Channel, plus their associated production company, FX Productions, and is a subsidiary of Disney General Entertainment Content, th ...

and

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

Personal life

She changed her name by

deed poll A deed poll (plural: deeds poll) is a legal document binding on a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an intention or create an obligation. It is a deed, and not a contract, because it binds only one party. Etymology Th ...

, feeling "an affinity" to the woman accused and hanged as a result of the 17th-century Pendle witch hunt. Nutter is an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

."Singer and atheist Alice Nutter, a Jewish student and an Anglican businessman each join a Muslim family in Bradford to experience Ramadan first hand, and through some hard conversations get a unique view of what it's like to be a Muslim in contemporary Britain.
TRILT
'Fast Friends, BBC1, Sunday 14 Nov 04, 23:45 (35 mins)' (accessed May 22, 2008).

Writing credits

Awards and nominations

References

External links

MBA Literary and Script Agents: Alice Nutter

Alice Nutter interview
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nutter, Alice Living people 1962 births People from Burnley Chumbawamba members English dramatists and playwrights English television writers English screenwriters English women television writers English atheists English anarchists 21st-century anarchists