Nigel George Planer (born 22 February 1953) is a British actor, writer and musician. His television credits include playing Neil in the sitcom '' The Young Ones'' and Ralph Filthy in the sitcom '' Filthy Rich & Catflap'', as well as narrating the children's animated series '' Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids''. He has appeared in many West End musicals, including original casts of '' Evita'', ''

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

'', ''

We Will Rock You "We Will Rock You" is a song by the British rock band Queen from their 1977 album '' News of the World'', written by guitarist Brian May. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 330 of " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and the RIAA it p ...

'', '' Wicked'', and '' Charlie and the Chocolate Factory''. He has also appeared in '' Hairspray''. He won a BRIT award in 1984 and has been nominated for Olivier, TMA,

WhatsOnStage WhatsOnStage is a UK-based theatre website providing news, reviews, interviews, and a comprehensive listings database of performances across the country. The platform claims to list over 5,000 performances at any given time and also operates a tick ...

, and

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

awards.

Early life

Nigel Planer is the son of Dr George and Lesley Planer and was brought up in

Mortlake Mortlake is a suburban district of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the south bank of the River Thames between Kew and Barnes, London, Barnes. Historically it was part of Surrey and until 1965 was in the Municipal Borough of Barnes ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He has two brothers, Geoffrey and Roger, (a businessman and a musician) His father George (d 2016) established a company which pioneered technology in controlled-rate freezers, IVF and stem cell research. His mother, Lesley (d 2000) was a speech therapist. Nigel attended

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as do ...

in central London, where he wrote a satirical play about the school with fellow pupil

Stephen Poliakoff Stephen Poliakoff (born 1 December 1952) is a British playwright, Film director, director and screenwriter. In 2006 Gerard Gilbert of ''The Independent'' described him as the UK's "pre-eminent TV dramatist" and that he had "inherited Dennis Po ...

. He began a degree course in African and Asian Studies at the University of Sussex, but dropped out to study acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Career

Planer was a founding member of the London Comedy Store and

The Comic Strip The Comic Strip are a group of British comedians who came to prominence in the 1980s. They are known for their television series ''The Comic Strip Presents...'', which was labelled as a pioneering example of the alternative comedy scene. The c ...

– pioneers of the

alternative comedy Alternative comedy is a term coined in the 1980s for a style of comedy that makes a conscious break with the mainstream comedic style of an era. The phrase has had different connotations in different contexts: in the UK, it was used to describe ...

movement in the United Kingdom. Planer appeared with Peter Richardson as part of the double act "The Outer Limits". Planer and Richardson also wrote the '' That's Life!'' parody on ''

Not the Nine O'Clock News ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' is a British television sketch comedy show that was broadcast on BBC2 from 16 October 1979 to 8 March 1982. Originally shown as a comedy alternative to the '' Nine O'Clock News'' on BBC1, the show features satirical ...

''. With Christopher Douglas, he created the spoof actor character "Nicholas Craig", who appears in book, radio, TV and articles as well as live; including, in 2011, in Stewart Lee's ''At Last! The 1981 Show'' at the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...

, London, and in 2022 in ''Nicholas Craig's Podcom''. Planer is also the author of several books, plays, radio plays and TV scripts as well as a small volume of poetry. He was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Arts The Doctor of Arts (D.A.; occasionally D.Arts or Art.D. from the Latin language, Latin ''artium doctor'') is a List of academic disciplines, discipline-based terminal degree, terminal doctorate, doctoral academic degree, degree that was originall ...

degree by

Edinburgh Napier University Edinburgh Napier University () is a public university in Edinburgh, Scotland. Napier Technical College, the predecessor of the university, was founded in 1964, taking its name from 16th-century Scottish mathematician and philosopher John Napie ...

in June 2011.

Television

Planer is best known for his role as Neil, the

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

housemate in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

comedy '' The Young Ones'', which ran for two series broadcast in 1982 and 1984. He has starred in '' The Comic Strip Presents...'', a series of short films broadcast from 1982 onwards, on Channel 4. In 2003, Planer played Professor Dumbledore in a Harry Potter parody, ''Harry Potter and the Secret Chamber Pot of Azerbaijan''. He appeared on a BBC Four programme in the guise of Nicholas Craig in 2007, in which he was interviewed by Mark Lawson. Planer guest-starred in " The Pale Horse", a 2010 episode of ''

Agatha Christie's Marple ''Agatha Christie's Marple'' (or simply ''Marple'') is a British ITV television programme loosely based on books and short stories by British crime novelist Agatha Christie. The title character was played by Geraldine McEwan from the first t ...

''. In 2011's '' The Hunt for Tony Blair'', he played

Peter Mandelson Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson, (born 21 October 1953) is a British politician, lobbyist and diplomat who has served as British Ambassador to the United States since February 2025. A member of the Labour Party, Mandelson serve ...

. Leading roles on television include '' Shine on Harvey Moon'', '' The Young Ones'', '' Filthy Rich and Catflap'', '' The Grimleys'', '' King and Castle'', '' Bonjour La Classe'' and '' Roll Over, Beethoven''. He also starred in

Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. He received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knig ...

's ''Number 27'', Simon Gray's ''Two Lumps of Ice'',

Emma Tennant Emma Christina Tennant FRSL (20 October 1937 – 21 January 2017) was an English novelist and editor of Scottish extraction, known for a post-modern approach to her fiction, often imbued with fantasy or magic. Several of her novels give a femi ...

's ''Frankenstein's Baby'', '' Blackeyes'' by Dennis Potter, '' Marcella'', ''Cockroaches'', '' Ratburger'', and ''Loaded''. Planer's guest appearances include ''Lockwood & Co'', ''

Inside No. 9 ''Inside No. 9'' is a British black comedy Anthology series, anthology television programme written and created by Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith. It aired on BBC Two from 5 February 2014 to 12 June 2024, running for 9 series and 55 episo ...

'', ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

'', '' French and Saunders'', ''

Jonathan Creek ''Jonathan Creek'' is a long-running British mystery fiction, mystery crime drama series produced by the BBC and written by David Renwick. It stars Alan Davies as the title character, who works as a creative consultant to a stage magician whi ...

'', '' Blackadder III'', '' The Last Detective'', ''The Paul Merton Show'', '' The Lenny Henry Show'', '' Death in Paradise'', ''Songs from the Shows'', '' This is Jinsy'', '' Boomers'', ''

Father Brown Father Brown is a fictional Roman Catholic priest and amateur detective. He is featured in 53 short stories by English author G. K. Chesterton, published between 1910 and 1936. Father Brown solves mysteries and crimes using his intuition and ...

'', ''

M.I. High ''M.I. High'' is a British action television series produced by Kudos for CBBC and created by Keith Brumpton. The series focused on a team of undercover teenage spies working for the fictional British secret intelligence agency MI9 who had to ...

'', ''

Grantchester Grantchester () is a village and civil parish on the River Cam or Granta (river), Granta in South Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about south of Cambridge. Name The village of Grantchester is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book as ''Granteset ...

'', and '' There She Goes''. He played

Matt LeBlanc Matthew Steven LeBlanc (; born July 25, 1967) is an American actor. He garnered global recognition with his portrayal of Joey Tribbiani in the NBC sitcom ''Friends'' and in its spin-off series, '' Joey''. For his work on ''Friends'', LeBlanc ...

's lawyer in the TV series ''

Episodes Episodes may refer to: * Episode, a part of a dramatic work * Episodes (TV series), ''Episodes'' (TV series), a British/American television sitcom which premiered in 2011 * Episodes (journal), ''Episodes'' (journal), a geological science journal ...

''.

Theatre

His first break in the theatre was understudying

David Essex David Essex (born David Albert Cook; 23 July 1947) is an English singer-songwriter and actor. From 1973 to 1994, he attained 19 Top 40 singles in the UK (including two number ones) and 16 Top 40 albums. Internationally, Essex had the most suc ...

Che Guevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...

in the original West End run of '' Evita''. In 1990, he replaced

Michael Gambon Sir Michael John Gambon (; 19 October 1940 – 27 September 2023) was an Irish-English actor. Gambon started his acting career with Laurence Olivier as one of the original members of the Royal National Theatre. Over his six-decade-long career ...

in Alan Ayckbourn's '' Man of the Moment'' in the West End. Leading roles followed in other productions at the

Bush Theatre The Bush Theatre is located in the Passmore Edwards Public Library, Shepherd's Bush, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was established in 1972 as a showcase for the work of new writers. Artistic Directors * Brian McDermott ...

, the Lyric Theatre, the Traverse, the

Young Vic The Young Vic Theatre is a performing arts venue located on The Cut, near the South Bank, in the London Borough of Lambeth. The Young Vic was established by Frank Dunlop in 1970. Nadia Fall has been artistic director since 2025, succeeding ...

, the West Yorkshire Playhouse,

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, Borough of Camden (and historical ...

Open-Air Theatre,

Chichester Festival Theatre Chichester Festival Theatre is a theatre and Grade II* listed building situated in Oaklands Park in the city of Chichester, West Sussex, England. Designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, it was opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Mart ...

, Plymouth Drum and the

Hampstead Theatre Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in South Hampstead, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. History The original ''Hampstead Theatre Clu ...

. Planer was in the original cast for the 1997 London revival of ''

'' as Amos Hart. He was a member of the original West End cast of his co-star

Ben Elton Benjamin Charles Elton is a British comedian, actor, author, playwright, lyricist and director. One of the major figures in the alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, his early stand-up style was Left-wing politics, left-wing political satire ...

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

musical, ''

'' as Pop. In 2006, he played the part of the narrator in ''

The Rocky Horror Show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music, lyrics and book by Richard O'Brien. A humorous tribute to various B movies associated with the Science fiction film, science fiction and Horror film, horror genres from the 193 ...

.'' He then starred as The Wizard in the original West End production of '' Wicked'' alongside

Idina Menzel Idina Kim Menzel ( ; ; born May 30, 1971) is an American actress and singer. Particularly known for her work in Musical theatre, musicals on Broadway theatre, Broadway, she has been Honorific nicknames in popular music, nicknamed the "Queen of ...

. The show opened at the Apollo Victoria Theatre on 27 September 2006. He took over the role of Wilbur, opposite Michael Ball, in the West End production of '' Hairspray'' on 2 February 2009. He featured in ''Doctor Who: Live'' touring the UK, as Vorgenson The Inter-Galactic Showman, before appearing in pantomime as

Captain Hook Captain James Hook is the main antagonist of J. M. Barrie's 1904 play ''Peter and Wendy, Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up'' and its various adaptations, in which he is Peter Pan's archenemy. The character is a pirate captain of the br ...

at the Lyceum Theatre in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

. Planer went on to star as Grandpa Joe in the original production of '' Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'', which opened in London's West End in 2013 for which he was nominated for an

Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply The Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognize excellence in professional theatre in London. The awards were originally known as the Society of West End Theatre Aw ...

for best supporting actor in a musical. From September 2018 to November 2018, Planer toured with Ade Edmondson in a play that they wrote together called ''Vulcan 7''. In 2020 he took on the role of Grandpa in the arena tour of

David Walliams David Edward Williams (born 20 August 1971), known professionally as David Walliams (), is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little ...

' '' Grandpa's Great Escape''.

Film

Planer has appeared in films, including ''

Flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

'', '' Virgin Territory'', '' Bright Young Things'', ''

Hogfather ''Hogfather'' is the 20th '' Discworld'' novel by Terry Pratchett, and a 1997 British Fantasy Award nominee. It was first released in 1996 and published by Victor Gollancz. It came in 137th place in The Big Read, a BBC survey of the most loved ...

'', ''

The Colour of Magic ''The Colour of Magic'' is a 1983 fantasy comedy novel by Terry Pratchett, and is the first book of the ''Discworld'' series. The first printing of the British edition consisted of only 506 copies. Pratchett has described it as "an attempt to ...

'', ''

The Wind in the Willows ''The Wind in the Willows'' is a children's novel by the British novelist Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It details the story of Mole, Ratty, and Badger as they try to help Mr. Toad, after he becomes obsessed with motorcars and get ...

'', '' The Land Girls'', '' Clockwork Mice'', '' Carry On Columbus'', ''

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

'', '' The Supergrass'', ''

I Give It a Year ''I Give It a Year'' is a 2013 romantic comedy film, written and directed by Dan Mazer in his directorial debut. It stars Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall, Anna Faris and Simon Baker. Set and filmed in London, it was released on 8 February 2013. Mazer w ...

'', '' Burn, Burn, Burn,'' ''The List'' and ''

Yellowbeard ''Yellowbeard'' is a 1983 comedy film directed by Mel Damski and written by Graham Chapman, Peter Cook, Bernard McKenna (writer), Bernard McKenna, and David Sherlock, with an ensemble cast featuring Chapman, Cook, Peter Boyle, Cheech & Chong, M ...

''.

Music

Planer played Den Dennis, one of the four members of the 1980s spoof rock band '' Bad News'', which made two albums produced by

Brian May Sir Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, animal welfare activist and astrophysics, astrophysicist. He achieved global fame as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the rock band Queen ...

. The band performed at the

Hammersmith Apollo The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly and still commonly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Pa ...

as well as the Donington and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

Rock Festivals. As Neil from '' The Young Ones'', Planer gained a number two hit single in 1984 with " Hole in My Shoe" (originally a hit for 1960s band

Traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...

) winning him a Brit Award. After that, an album was produced by Dave Stewart, entitled '' Neil's Heavy Concept Album''. Planer 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 the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

and a night at The Hammersmith Apollo, London. ''The Young Ones'' also appeared on

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

's 1986 charity rerecording of " Living Doll", which spent three weeks at number one in the UK. He has a silver and a gold disc and a Brit award from his musical career. In 2015 he started a new music project called Rainsmoke with Chris Wade and Roger Planer. In 2021, Planer released several of his own musical projects. "Five Songs Left" and "Four Songs More", collaborations with Chris Wade, are Nick Drake-inspired folk songs that he wrote in 1971, when he was eighteen. He also released two singles written more recently, "City in the Summer", a jazz song about the hot summer of COVID-19, and "Love Strikes". He has written lyrics for "Commit No Nuisance", a music collaboration with Neil Avery ("Talk it Out", one of the songs from the album, aims to encourage male mental health awareness,) and for Swedish rocker Matts Lindblom.

Voice acting

Planer was the reader of the first unabridged

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

editions of many of

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...

's ''

Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a fl ...

'' novels. He also appeared in the television adaptations of '' Terry Pratchett's Hogfather'' and ''The Colour of Magic'', and performed as a voice artist in the games '' Discworld 2'' and ''

Discworld Noir ''Discworld Noir'' is a 1999 adventure game developed by Perfect Entertainment and published by GT Interactive. The game is set in Terry Pratchett's satirical ''Discworld'' universe, and follows its first and only private investigator as he is ...

''. Discworld Audiobooks narrated by Planer include (with number in parentheses indicating order of the book in the Discworld series): * ''

'' (1) * '' The Light Fantastic'' (2) * '' Mort'' (4) * '' Sourcery'' (5) * '' Wyrd Sisters'' (6) * ''

Pyramids A pyramid () is a Nonbuilding structure, structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a Pyramid (geometry), pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid ca ...

'' (7) * ''

Guards! Guards! ''Guards! Guards!'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the eighth in the ''Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, ...

'' (8) * '' Moving Pictures'' (10) * '' Reaper Man'' (11) * ''

Witches Abroad ''Witches Abroad'' is the twelfth '' Discworld'' novel by Terry Pratchett, originally published in 1991.Fantastic FictioWitches Abroad (Discworld, book 12) Terry PratchettRetrieved 2009-05-9 Plot Following the death of the witch Desiderata Holl ...

'' (12) * '' Small Gods'' (13) * '' Lords and Ladies'' (14) * '' Men at Arms'' (15) * ''

Soul Music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps ...

'' (16) * '' Interesting Times'' (17) * ''

Maskerade ''Maskerade'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the eighteenth book in the ''Discworld'' series. The witches Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg visit the Ankh-Morpork Opera House to find Agnes Nitt, a girl from Lancre, and ...

'' (18) * '' Feet of Clay'' (19) * ''

'' (20) * '' Jingo'' (21) * '' The Last Continent'' (22) * '' Carpe Jugulum'' (23) Other voice roles include the narrator of '' Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids'' (and the audiobook narrator for '' Fearsome Tales for Fiendish Kids''), for which he received a BAFTA nomination, the title character in 2 series of '' Romuald the Reindeer'', and Dr. Marmalade in an episode of ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...

'' (alongside ''Young Ones'' co-stars

Christopher Ryan Christopher Papazoglou (born 25 January 1950), known professionally as Christopher Ryan, is a British actor. He is best known for his roles as Mike The Cool Person in the BBC comedy series '' The Young Ones'', Dave Hedgehog in the BBC comedy se ...

and Rik Mayall). Planer has also been the narrator of many of

BBC Four 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

's ''Britannia'' series of documentaries, including '' Prog Rock Britannia'', '' Blues Britannia'' and '' Heavy Metal Britannia''. He voiced Frodo in '' The Adventures of Tom Bombadil'' from the 1992 radio series '' Tales from the Perilous Realm''. He was a narrator in a direct-to-video version of Val Biro's '' Gumdrop'' book series in 1994. He narrated as a thirty-something Adrian Mole in the radio adaptation of ''Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years''. In 2018, he voiced the character of Henry Davenant Hythe in the

Big Finish Productions Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and radio drama, audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on science fiction properties. These include ''Doctor Who'' ...

original production ''Jeremiah Bourne in Time'', which he also wrote. In the 1990s, he also narrated an audiobook version of '' Roger and the Rottentrolls'', by Tim Firth and Gordon Firth, before the television series premiered.

Writing

Planer has written books, stage plays, TV shows, radio plays and newspaper articles as well as 105 episodes of ''The New Magic Roundabout''.

Books

* ''Neil’s Book of the Dead'' 1984 (with Terence Blacker) * ''I an actor: Nicholas Craig'' 1988 (with Christopher Douglas) * ''A Good Enough Dad'' 1992 * ''Let’s Get Divorced'' 1994 (with Terence Blacker) * ''Therapy and How to Avoid it'' 1996 (with Robert Llewellyn) * ''Unlike The Buddha'' 1997 * ''The Right Man'' 2000 * ''Faking It'' 2003 * ''Jeremiah Bourne in Time'' 2023 * ''Making Other Plans'' 2023

Plays

* ''On the Ceiling'' 2008 * ''Death of Long Pig'' 2009 * ''The Magnificent Andrea'' 2011 * ''Game of Love and Chai'' 2018 * ''Vulcan 7'' 2018 (with Adrian Edmondson) * ''She Devil!'' (Workshop production) 2019 * ''All Above Board'' 2021

Credits

His television comedy and satire work includes: * ''Boom Boom...Out Go The Lights'' (1981, TV Special) as Self * '' Shine on Harvey Moon'' (1982–1995, TV Series) as Lou Lewis * '' The Young Ones'' (1982–1984, TV Series) as Neil / E.T. Fairfax / Famine / Dino / Fly #2 * ''

'' (1983) as Mansell * '' The Comic Strip Presents…'' (1983–2012, TV Series) * ''

Roll Over Beethoven "Roll Over Beethoven" is a 1956 song written by Chuck Berry, originally released on Chess Records, with "Drifting Heart" as the A-side and B-side, B-side. The lyrics of the song mention rock and roll and the desire for rhythm and blues to be a ...

'' (1985, TV Series) as Nigel Cochrane * ''

'' (1985) as Charlie – Dept. of Works * '' King and Castle'' (1986–1988, TV Series) as David Castle * '' Filthy Rich & Catflap'' (1987, TV Series) as Ralph Filthy * '' Eat the Rich'' (1987) as DHSS Manager * ''

Blackadder the Third ''Blackadder the Third'' is the third series of the BBC sitcom ''Blackadder'', written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired on BBC1 from 17 September to 22 October 1987. The series is set during the Georgian Era, and sees the principal ch ...

'' (1987) as Lord Smedley, fop * '' Blackeyes'' (1989, TV Mini-Series, by Dennis Potter) as Jeff * '' French & Saunders'' (1990, TV Series) as Andy * ''Frankenstein's Baby'' (1990, TV Series) as Paul Hocking * ''Nicholas Craig – The Naked Actor'' (1990–1992, TV Series) as Nicholas Craig * ''Nicholas Craig's Interview Masterclass'' (1990, TV Series) as Nicholas Craig * '' Oh, No! Not THEM!'' (1990, TV Movie) as Neil * ''Nicholas Craig's Masterpiece Theatre'' (1992) as Nicholas Craig * ''The Nicholas Craig Masterclass'' (1992) as Nicholas Craig * '' Carry On Columbus'' (1992) as The Wazir * ''

The Magic Roundabout ''The Magic Roundabout'' is an English-language children's programme that ran on BBC Television from 1965 to 1977. It used the footage of the French stop motion animation show '' Le Manège enchanté'' but with completely different scripts a ...

'' (1992, English adaptation and narrator on previously unseen episodes) * '' Bonjour la Classe'' (1993, TV Series) as Laurence Didcott * ''

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...

'' (1993, TV Mini-Series) as Inspector Hopkins * ''Let's Get Divorced'' (1994) * ''Wake Up! With Libby And Jonathan'' (1994, TV Special short) as Jonathan Hughes * '' Clockwork Mice'' (1995) as Parkey * '' Diana & Me'' (1997) as Taxi Driver * '' The Grimleys'' (1997–2001, TV Series) as Baz Grimley * ''

'' (1997–2013, TV Series) as Franklin Tartikoff / Shelford * '' The Land Girls'' (1998) as Gerald * '' Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids'' (2000–2007, TV Series) as Narrator (voice) * '' Bright Young Things'' (2003) as Taxi Driver * '' Wicked'' (2006–2008, West End Musical) * ''

'' (2006) – Dr. Marmalade (voice) * '' Terry Pratchett's Hogfather'' (2006, TV Movie) as Mr. Sideney * ''

'' (2007) as Keith Hopkins * '' Virgin Territory'' (2007) as Uncle Bruno * '' Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic'' (2008, TV Mini-Series) as Arch Astronomer * '' Hairspray'' (2009) * '' M.I.High'' (2009, TV Series) as Prime Minister * ''

'' (2012–2015, TV Series) as Sanford Shamiro * ''

'' (2013) as Brian * ''The List'' (2013) as Ted Rove * ''

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (musical) ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' is a musical based on the 1964 children's novel by Roald Dahl, with book by David Greig, music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman. Directed by Sam Mendes, the musical premiered in ...

'' (2013) * '' Boomers'' (2014–2016, TV Series) as Mick * ''Cockroaches'' (2015, TV Series) as Stevie * '' Burn Burn Burn'' (2015) as Henry * ''

'' (2016, TV Series) as Giles Montgomery * ''Seven Days in Never'' (2017) (voice) * '' Ratburger'' (2017, TV Movie) as Headmaster * '' Loaded'' (2017, TV Series) as Mr. Young * '' Death in Paradise'' (2018, TV Series) as Eugene Sutton * ''

'' (2018, TV Series) as Frank * '' Marcella'' (2018, TV Series) as Reg Reynolds * ''Vulcan 7'' (2018) * '' There She Goes'' (2018–2020, TV Series) as Gandalf * ''

'' (2019, TV Series) as Ronnie Grunion * ''Grandpa’s Great Escape Arena Tour'' (2019) * '' Lockwood & Co.'' (2023, TV Series) as Sir John Fairfax

Discography

* ''Evita'' (Original London Cast Recording) 1978 * "'' Hole in My Shoe"'' (1984) * '' Neil's Heavy Concept Album'' (1984) * ''Rollover Beethoven.'' (Songs from the original TV series) 1985 * " Living Doll" (1986) * ''Rough with the Smooth''( 1986) * '' Bad News'' (1987) * Bad News '' Bootleg'' (1988) * Bad News ''The Cash in Compilation'' (1992) * ''The Last Night'' (1993) * ''

'' cast recording (1995) * ''The Dreaded Lurgie'' (1998) * ''Three Men in a Boat'' (1999) * ''Adrian Mole the Cappuccino Years'' (2000) * There was also a soundtrack to '' The Grimleys'' (2000), Planer's character appearing on the album. * '' We Will Rock You (The Original London Cast Recording)'' (2002) * ''Cabaret'' (2005) * ''The Robe of Skulls'' (2008) * ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (The Original London Cast Recording)'' (2013) * ''Five Songs Left'' (2020) * ''City in the Summer'' (2020) – single * ''Four Songs More'' (2021) * ''Love Strikes'' (2021) – single * ''Phoning Home From Away'' (2021) – single * ''The Last Ten Yards'' (2021) – single

References

External links

* * * September 2006 article about Planer * * as Neil {{DEFAULTSORT:Planer, Nigel 1953 births Living people 20th-century English comedians 20th-century English male actors 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English comedians 21st-century English male actors 21st-century English male writers 21st-century English novelists Actors from the City of Westminster Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art Alumni of the University of Sussex Audiobook narrators English dramatists and playwrights English male comedians English male dramatists and playwrights English male film actors English male novelists English male singers English male stage actors English male television actors English male voice actors Fathers' rights activists Actors educated at Westminster School, London Male actors from London People from Westminster The Comic Strip members English people of Hungarian descent Comedians from the City of Westminster Singers from the City of Westminster Writers from the City of Westminster Bad News (band) members English comedy musicians