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.
ACTING CAREER
Planer is perhaps best known for his role as Neil, the hippie housemate of Vyvyan (Adrian Edmonson), Rik (Rik Mayall) and Mike (Christopher Ryan) in the cult BBC comedy The Young Ones, which ran from 1982-1984. Planer 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.
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.
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). 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.
NOVELS
He has published several books including novels - The Right Man (2000) and Faking It (2003). Nigel wrote A Good Enough Dad (1992) after his first son was born, talking about coping with becoming a father.
Neil's Heavy Concept Album
Yellowbeard,
Brazil,
Carry on Columbus,
Clockwork Mice,
The Wind in the Willows,
The Land Girls,
Virgin Territory
Boom Boom...Out Go The Lights,
Shine on Harvey Moon,
The Young Ones,
Roll Over Beethoven,
The Comic Strip Presents,
King & Castle,
Filthy, Rich & Catflap,
Frankenstein's Baby,
Nicholas Craig,
The Magic Roundabout,
Sherlock Holmes,
Let's Get Divorced,
Wake Up! With Libby And Jonathan,
Blackadder the Third,
Blackeyes,
French & Saunders,
Jonathan Creek,
The Grimleys,
Mayo,
SpongeBob SquarePants,
Hogfather,
Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids
The Right Man,
Faking It,
On the Ceiling,
Neil's Book Of The Dead,
A Good Enough Dad: The True Confessions of an Infant Father,
Let's Get Divorced!: Growing apart together with TV's own Jonathan & Libby Hughes,
Therapy and How to Avoid It,
Unlike the Buddha,
Grizzly Tales Collection Two