Simon Nye (born 29 July 1958) is an English screenwriter, best known for television comedy. He wrote the hit

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

Men Behaving Badly ''Men Behaving Badly'' is a British sitcom that was created and written by Simon Nye. It follows the lives of Gary Strang ( Martin Clunes) and his flatmates Dermot Povey ( Harry Enfield; series 1 only) and Tony Smart ( Neil Morrissey; series ...

'', and all of the four ITV Pantos. He co-wrote the 2006 film ''

Flushed Away ''Flushed Away'' is a 2006 animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and Aardman Features. The film was directed by Sam Fell and David Bowers, from a screenplay by Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, Chris Lloyd, Joe Keen ...

'', created an adaptation of

Richmal Crompton Richmal Crompton Lamburn (15 November 1890 – 11 January 1969) was a popular English writer, best known for her ''Just William (book series), Just William'' series of books, humorous short stories, and to a lesser extent adult fiction books. L ...

's '' Just William'' books in 2010, and wrote the drama series '' The Durrells''.

Early life

Nye was born in

Burgess Hill Burgess Hill () is a town and civil parish in West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex, on the edge of the South Downs National Park, south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town, Chichester. ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

. Nye was educated at Collyer's School and

Bedford College, University of London Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for education of women, women in the United Kingdom. In 1900, it became a constituent of the University of London. Having played a leading role in the advanceme ...

, where he studied French and German. He started his writing career as a translator, publishing translations of books on

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

and

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( ; ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with ...

, before turning his hand to novel writing in 1989, with ''Men Behaving Badly''. This was followed in 1991 by ''Wideboy'', which he later adapted into the TV show '' Frank Stubbs Promotes''.

Career

''Men Behaving Badly''

Nye's TV writing career began in 1990 when he was persuaded by producer Beryl Vertue to adapt his first novel for the small screen. The first two series of ''Men Behaving Badly'' were broadcast on ITV in 1992. The show soon went on to achieve critical and commercial success, winning the

Writers' Guild of Great Britain The Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG). History The u ...

Award for Best Situation Comedy in 1995, and the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

Award for Best Situation Comedy/Comedy Drama in 1996. The show became the most-repeated comedy show in the 1990s. Nye also appeared in the show, briefly playing a prospective tenant in the episode " Gary and Tony". He also played one of Gary's friends, Clive, in the episode where Gary and Dorothy plan to get married.

Other work

Though best known for sitcoms – such as '' Is It Legal?'' (starring

Imelda Staunton Dame Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton (born 9 January 1956) is an English actress and singer. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Staunton began her career in repertory theatre in 1976 and appeared in various theatre pr ...

), '' How Do You Want Me?'' (starring Charlotte Coleman and Dylan Moran), '' Hardware'' (starring

Martin Freeman Martin John Christopher Freeman (born 8 September 1971) is an English actor. Among other accolades, he has won two Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Freeman's most ...

) and ''

Carrie and Barry ''Carrie & Barry'' is a British television sitcom first broadcast on BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is k ...

'' (a semi-sequel to Men Behaving Badly starring

Neil Morrissey Neil Anthony Morrissey (born 4 July 1962) is an English actor, businessman, narrator, and television presenter. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Rocky in ''Boon (TV series), Boon'', and Tony in ''Men Behaving Badly''. Other notable acti ...

as a matured Tony in all but name) – he has also written comedy dramas such as '' Frank Stubbs Promotes'' (1993–1994), as well as literary adaptations such as ''

The Railway Children ''The Railway Children'' is a children's book by E. Nesbit, Edith Nesbit, originally serialised in ''The London Magazine'' during 1905 and published in book form in the same year. It has been adapted for the screen several times, of which the ...

'' (2000). In addition, he has written a number of comic adaptations of

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

s including ''

Jack and the Beanstalk "Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale with ancient origins. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition :File:Round about our Coal Fire, or, Christmas Entertainments, 4th edn, 1734.pdf, On C ...

'' (25 December 1998), ''

Cinderella "Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...

'' (2 January 2000), ''

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; , , ATU 561, 'Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with '' One Thousand and One Nights'' (often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of the original ...

'' (25 December 2000), and ''

Dick Whittington Richard Whittington ( March 1423) of the parish of St Michael Paternoster Royal,Will of Richard Whittington: " I leave to my executors named below the entire tenement in which I live in the parish of St. Michael Paternoster Royal, Londo/ ...

'' (1 January 2002). He also wrote the short-lived 2001 sitcom '' The Savages'', and contributed an episode to the 2010 series of ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'', titled " Amy's Choice." Nye also continues to write translations, focusing in recent years on dramatic works. His translation of

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...

's ''

Don Juan Don Juan (), also known as Don Giovanni ( Italian), is a legendary fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women. The original version of the story of Don Juan appears in the 1630 play (''The Trickster of Seville and t ...

'' was first performed at the

Crucible Theatre The Crucible Theatre, or simply The Crucible, is a theatre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which opened in 1971. Its name refers to crucible steel, which was developed in Sheffield in 1740 and drove the industrialisation of the city. ...

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 ...

in 2001, and his translation of

Dario Fo Dario Luigi Angelo Fo (; 24 March 1926 – 13 October 2016) was an Italian playwright, actor, theatre director, stage designer, songwriter, political campaigner for the Italian left wing and the recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature. ...

's '' Accidental Death of an Anarchist'' premiered at the

Donmar Warehouse The Donmar Warehouse is a 251-seat, not-for-profit Off-West End theatre in Covent Garden, London, England. It first opened on 18 July 1977. Sam Mendes, Michael Grandage, Josie Rourke and Michael Longhurst have all served as artistic direc ...

in London in 2003. He also wrote a pilot episode ''Felix and Murdo'', which starred Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller. He wrote the screenplay for the 2005 BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) of ''

My Family And Other Animals ''My Family and Other Animals'' (1956) is an autobiography, autobiographical book by British naturalist Gerald Durrell. It tells in an exaggerated and sometimes fictionalised way of the years that he lived as a child with his siblings and wid ...

'' based on

Gerald Durrell Gerald Malcolm Durrell Order of the British Empire, OBE (7 January 1925 – 30 January 1995) was a British naturalist, writer, zookeeper, conservation movement, conservationist, and television presenter. He was born in Jamshedpur in British Ind ...

's Corfu Trilogy. In 2016, Nye wrote ITV's '' The Durrells'', another adaptation of the trilogy, starring Keeley Hawes as Louisa Durrell. Nye wrote a play, ''The Crown Jewels'', about the theft of the Crown Jewels by

Thomas Blood Thomas Blood (1618 – 24 August 1680) was an Anglo-Irish officer and self-styled colonel best known for his attempt to steal the Crown Jewels of England from the Tower of London in 1671. Described in an American source as a "noted br ...

, which was performed at the

Garrick Theatre The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, named after the stage actor David Garrick. It opened in 1889 with ''The Profligate'', a play by Arthur Wing Pinero, and another Pinero play, ...

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 ...

in 2023. The part of Blood was played by Aidan McArdle, and the cast included

Al Murray Alastair James Hay Murray (born 10 May 1968) is an English comedian. After graduating from the University of Oxford, Murray's comedy career began by working with Harry Hill for BBC Radio 4. He regularly performed at the Edinburgh Festival Frin ...

as King Charles II,

and

Mel Giedroyc Melanie Clare Sophie Giedroyc ( , ; born 5 June 1968) is an English actress, comedian and television presenter. With Sue Perkins, she has co-hosted series including ''Light Lunch'' for Channel 4, '' The Great British Bake Off'' for the BBC an ...

Filmography

Bibliography

Novels

* ''Wideboy'' (1991) * ''Men Behaving Badly'' (1989)

Translations

* '' Accidental Death of an Anarchist'' (2003) * ''

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

: The Graphic Work'' (1988) * ''

: Life and Work'' (1988) * ''Vienna Opera'' (1987)

References

External links

*
Simon Nye entry on the BBC Comedy Guide

(''

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unit ...

'' profile) {{DEFAULTSORT:Nye, Simon 1958 births Living people 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English screenwriters 20th-century English translators 21st-century English male writers 21st-century English novelists 21st-century English screenwriters 21st-century English translators Alumni of Bedford College, London English comedy writers English male dramatists and playwrights English male novelists English male television writers English science fiction writers People educated at The College of Richard Collyer People from Burgess Hill Writers from Sussex