**'**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...

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...

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...

When Shadeys Bank loses another C.E.O. to a scandal, they are desperate to show they’ve reformed. Who better to present their redemption than a country vicar?Reverend Tom Goodman is ousted from his job as a country vicar for allowing a homeless family to stay in the church hall. Meanwhile, a major bank is trying to rescue its image after the latest in a long string of financial scandals. It seems like the perfect match and Goodman is hastily appointed as the bank’s new C.E.O. All t...

Rose Well Holiday Park needs a hero. This once shining icon of the Great British Holiday Camp is dying, and the last residents are more interested in preparing for a zombie apocalypse or fighting off imaginary UFOs than playing Crazy Golf or Bingo. In addition, a foreign bottled water company is attempting to force a sale so they can seize the last asset of Rose Well Park, the Rose Well Spring. What Rose Well Park could probably do without, is a hero whose belief in a better tomorrow far o...

The language of Poetry is an art that most of us attempt at some point in our lives. Although its commonplace exposure has been somewhat marginalised in today’s often fast-paced lives we all recognise good verse that can empathise with our thoughts or open us up to experience new things in new ways, to better understand and to enjoy the many strands of our lives.But finding a starting point can be overwhelming, even off-putting, so in this series we offer up our Top 10 classic poet...

Alison Steadman, Morwenna Banks and Nigel Planer star in this tale of two sisters - and a mysterious stranger.Not long after their mother's death, sisters Maureen and Lesley are packing up their family home. It's a painful duty, with Maureen trying to control the worst of Lesley's projectile lamenting. Then a strange man knocks at the door and introduces himself as David Johnson, a friend of Maureen's neighbour. He'd like to view the house if they are thinking of s...

The Decameron is a fourteenth-century Italian collection of 100 novellas which heavily influenced the style and content of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales with its bawdy tales of love, adventure and religion.These complete and unabridged stories are performed for audio by various British actors including Nigel Planer, Rupert Friend, Coral Beed and James Rawlings.

On first thought an Ode should be simple to describe, to define. A definition would most probably put it as; a lyric poem, usually addressed to a particular subject, with lines of varying lengths and complex rhythm. And within that, of course, we have its depth, beauty and poetic form. It’s evolvement over time and through the minds of our revered poets continues so perhaps the best description would be the Odes themselves.

The language of Poetry is an art that most of us attempt at some point in our lives. Although its commonplace exposure has been somewhat marginalised in today’s often fast-paced lives we all recognise good verse that can empathise with our thoughts or open us up to experience new things in new ways, to better understand and to enjoy the many strands of our lives.But finding a starting point can be overwhelming, even off-putting, so in this series we offer up our Top 10 classic poet...

Silence is rare in Nature.When we really listen, Nature is conducting symphonies of sound as her world goes about the day and night. Her invisible heartbeat is everywhere, for everyone.Our eyes are constantly bathed in the wonder of her ways, the soft drizzle of rain from soft grey clouds, the bleached harsh desert sand of a noon day, a wave caressing the shore, to the ravenous colours of a departing sunset.Indeed, whenever we look and listen to the vastness of our ...

'... 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...