Aged twenty-five, dressed as Che Guevara, Nigel Planer answers an ad for a room and his life changes for ever.Both a memoir and a love story, Young Once follows his journey, from bell-ringer to gravedigger, from university dropout to long-term patient of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases and all the other bizarre events that shape him, until the day he meets Alexei Sayle, Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson in a former strip club and the 1980s Comedy Revoluti...

**'**Beautifully written, deliciously evocative, funny and touching'STEPHEN FRY'A thermometer up the Khyber Pass of Comedy, expertly administered'RICHARD E GRANTAged twenty-five, dressed as Che Guevara, Nigel Planer answers an ad for a room and his life changes for ever.Both a memoir and a love story, Young Once follows his journey, from bell-ringer to gravedig...

Nigel Planer has been writing poetry for over fifty years. Now he has corralled many of his poems into one volume, Making Other Plans – as in ‘poetry is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.’This collection forms a poetic memoir, richly articulating humorous and serious observations on life, love, ageing, society and the human condition, recounted with emotional tenderness and warranted vexation.“A unique piece of poetic time travel. Frequently funny, s...

As Jeremiah Bourne is swept from his crumbling home in Blackfriars in 2019 to the same house in 1910, he suddenly faces two questions: how did he get here, and how can he return to his own time?On his quest for answers, he encounters a cast of comic characters and situations: a coven of free-thinking spiritualists, a futuristic residents' association, warring street gangs, eugenic scientists, aggressive domestic servants and a nudist magistrate. As events unfold, Jeremiah begins to...

Stranded in the chaos of 1910, Jeremiah Bourne must outwit a bizarre cast of characters to find his way back to modern London. This fast-paced odyssey turns a temporal accident into a desperate quest to solve his mother's disappearance. 'Funny, perceptive and hugely readable' Ben Elton As Jeremiah Bourne is swept from his crumbling home in Blackfriars in 2019 to the same house in 1910, he suddenly faces two questions: how did he get here, and how can he return to his own time? On his quest...

Nigel’s new collection comes from years of travelling, talking to people and listening to their stories. People are invariably more interesting and multi-faceted than they might at first appear (if you are prepared to give them time and listen to their stories) – from stoic widows in Chicago or a tour guide in the Killing Fields of Cambodia, to a teacher in Cuba or a Minister of Information in India.A memoir and travelogue of personal, emotional, raw, and sometimes just plain silly...

At the heart of this explosive BBC Radio 4 comedy-drama are two morally opposed characters, both in love with the same woman, who has just - tragically - died. Originally broadcast as the 'Afternoon Play' on 22 March 2011, The Magnificent Andrea is the first original radio play by Nigel Planer ('The Young Ones', 'Hairspray'), in which two wonderful characters, Barry (Roger Allam) and Nigel (Nigel Planer), collide and wrestle over the memory of their shared inspirational warrior wo...

High up on the wooden scaffolding tower of the Sistine Chapel, two fresco plasterers get on with the day’s work preparing the ceiling for their boss Michelangelo who has not bothered to turn up for work again. As they do so, they bemoan the uselessness of the great master. Pope Julius and Cardinal Alidosi visit the chapel to inspect the progress of their commission. They are never very impressed, and the Pope is more concerned about getting Michelangelo to do his funeral monument at a knoc...

Four BBC radio dramatisations starring Michael Hordern as Tolkien – plus a special archive compilation exploring Tolkien’s life and workThe tales in this collection all reflect an aspect of what Tolkien himself called ‘the perilous realm of Faerie’. Adapted for radio by Brian Sibley, co-writer of the acclaimed BBC radio production of The Lord of the Rings, they are rich in myth, magic and adventure. Among the supporting cast are Brian Blessed, Nigel Planer...

'... one of the funniest, slyest, most naughtily inventive and brilliantly performed shows on the air' - Gillian Reynolds, The Daily Telegraph'A gloriously silly show' - The LadyMiriam Margolyes, Alison Steadman and Nigel Planer star in Sue Limb's wickedly funny comedy parodying the arty and adulterous adventures of the Bloomsbury Group, who dominated the English cultural scene in the early 20th Century.The series follows the fortunes of Vera Sackc...

A delightfully funny, fantastically inventive collection of twenty newly unearthed short stories by Sir Terry Pratchett, the award-winning and bestselling author of the phenomenally successful Discworld fantasy series. This special trove is a must-have for Pratchett fans of all ages. The audiobook is narrated by a stunning cast that includes David Tennant, Claire Foy, Paterson Joseph, Indira Varma, and more!These rediscovered tales were written by Terry Pratchett u...

The complete television soundtracks of all 12 episodes of the legendary BBC sitcomGround-breaking, satirical and anarchic, The Young Ones introduced alternative comedy to mainstream TV, and made household names of its writers and performers. It ran for two series on BBC Two between 1982 and 1984, winning a host of devoted fans and a BAFTA Award for its second series.A world away from the cosy suburban sitcoms that preceded it, the show centred arou...