Nigel Planer

Nigel Planer was born in London and educated at the prestigious
Westminster School. He then went to Sussex University to study African
and Asian Studies. However, he left after a year and decided to pursue
his love of theatre. He trained as an actor at the London Academy of
Music and Dramatic Art.Planer performed at The Comedy Store in a double-act with
Peter Richardson, which led to
him becoming known to television audiences as Neil in
The Young Ones (1982), the
dim, unclean but lovable hippie with a fondness for
Hawkwind, Marillion
and Steve Hillage. The role's popularity
even led to Planer releasing a cover of
Traffic's 1967 single "Hole In My Shoe"
in character as Neil. His cover, released in July 1984, reached number
two on the UK singles chart and led to Planer making appearances on
Top of the Pops (1964) and
Australia's Countdown (1974).
Planer also recorded an album called "Neil's Heavy Concept Album",
although this failed to chart. In November 1984, Planer even made an
appearance as Neil at the recording of
Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?",
where he was able to perform an impromptu acoustic version of "Rocking
All Over The World" with Rick Parfitt and
address Phil Collins as "Joan",
which was captured by cameras recording behind-the-scenes footage for a
documentary.Since the 1980s, Planer has established himself as one of Britain's
most sought-after comedy and character actors. In 1985, he appeared in
Terry Gilliam's acclaimed and influential
science-fiction film Brazil (1985). His
other appearances have included Shine on Harvey Moon (1982), various roles in The Comic Strip Presents (1982),
Filthy Rich & Catflap (1987),
Blackadder the Third (1987)
and starring as the title role of
Nicholas Craig, the Naked Actor (1990).
Planer has also been a successful theatre actor. He has been nominated
for Olivier, Theatrical Management Association, What's On Stage and
BAFTA awards.