Planer was a founding member of the
London Comedy Store and
The Comic Strip – pioneers of the
alternative comedy movement in the United Kingdom. Planer appeared with
Peter Richardson as part of the double act "The Outer Limits". Planer and Richardson also wrote the ''
That's Life! parody on Not the Nine O'Clock News''. With
Christopher Douglas, he created the spoof actor character Nicholas Craig, who appears in book, radio, TV and article form as well as live; including, in 2011, in
Stewart Lee's
At Last! The 1981 Show at the
Royal Festival Hall, London, and in 2022 in ''Nicholas Craig's Podcom''. Planer is also the author of several books, plays, radio plays and TV scripts as well as a small volume of poetry. He was awarded an honorary
Doctor of Arts degree by
Edinburgh Napier University in June 2011.
Television Planer is best known for his role as Neil, the
hippie housemate in the
BBC comedy
The Young Ones, In 2003, Planer played
Professor Dumbledore in a
Harry Potter parody,
Harry Potter and the Secret Chamber Pot of Azerbaijan. He appeared on a BBC Four programme in the guise of Nicholas Craig in 2007, in which he was interviewed by
Mark Lawson. Planer guest-starred in "
The Pale Horse", a 2010 episode of ''
Agatha Christie's Marple''. In 1990, he replaced
Michael Gambon in
Alan Ayckbourn's
Man of the Moment in the
West End. Leading roles followed in other productions at the
Bush Theatre, the
Lyric Theatre, the
Traverse, the
Young Vic, the
West Yorkshire Playhouse,
Regent's Park Open-Air Theatre,
Chichester Festival Theatre,
Plymouth Drum and the
Hampstead Theatre. Planer was in the original cast playing Amos Hart for the 1997 London revival of
Chicago. He featured in
Doctor Who: Live touring the UK, as Vorgenson The Inter-Galactic Showman, before appearing in pantomime as
Captain Hook at the
Lyceum Theatre in
Sheffield. Planer went on to star as Grandpa Joe in the original production of
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which opened in London's
West End in 2013 for which he was nominated for an
Olivier Award for best supporting actor in a musical. From September 2018 to November 2018, Planer toured with
Ade Edmondson in a play that they wrote together called
Vulcan 7. In 2020 he took on the role of Grandpa in the arena tour of
David Walliams' ''
Grandpa's Great Escape''.
Music Planer played Den Dennis, one of the four members of the 1980s spoof rock band
Bad News, which made two albums produced by
Brian May. The band performed at the
Hammersmith Apollo and the
Donington and
Reading rock festivals. As Neil from
The Young Ones, Planer gained a number-two hit single in 1984 with "
Hole in My Shoe" (originally a hit for 1960s band
Traffic), which won him a Brit Award. After that, an album was produced by Dave Stewart, ''
Neil's Heavy Concept Album''. Planer 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 the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe and a night at The Hammersmith Apollo, London. 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. He has a silver and a gold disc from his musical career. In 2015 he started a new music project, Rainsmoke, with Chris Wade and Roger Planer. In 2021 Planer released several of his own musical projects. "Five Songs Left" and "Four Songs More", collaborations with Chris Wade, are Nick Drake-inspired folk songs he wrote in 1971, when he was 18. He also released two singles written more recently: "City in the Summer", a jazz song about the hot summer of Covid-19, and "Love Strikes". He has written lyrics for "Commit No Nuisance", a music collaboration with Neil Avery ("Talk it Out", one of the songs from the album, aims to encourage male mental-health awareness), and for Swedish rocker Matts Lindblom.
Voice acting Planer was the reader of the first unabridged
audiobook editions of many of
Terry Pratchett's
Discworld novels. He also appeared in the television adaptations of ''
Terry Pratchett's Hogfather and The Colour of Magic
, and performed as a voice artist in the games Discworld 2 and Discworld Noir''. Discworld Audiobooks narrated by Planer include (with number in parentheses indicating order of the book in the Discworld series): •
The Colour of Magic (1) •
The Light Fantastic (2) •
Mort (4) •
Sourcery (5) •
Wyrd Sisters (6) •
Pyramids (7) •
Guards! Guards! (8) •
Moving Pictures (10) •
Reaper Man (11) •
Witches Abroad (12) •
Small Gods (13) •
Lords and Ladies (14) •
Men at Arms (15) •
Soul Music (16) •
Interesting Times (17) •
Maskerade (18) •
Feet of Clay (19) •
Hogfather (20) •
Jingo (21) •
The Last Continent (22) •
Carpe Jugulum (23) Other voice roles include the narrator of
Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids (and the audiobook narrator for
Fearsome Tales for Fiendish Kids), for which he received a BAFTA nomination, the title character in 2 series of
Romuald the Reindeer, and Dr. Marmalade in an episode of
SpongeBob SquarePants (alongside
Young Ones co-stars
Christopher Ryan and
Rik Mayall). Planer has also been the narrator of many of
BBC Four's
Britannia series of documentaries, including
Prog Rock Britannia,
Blues Britannia and
Heavy Metal Britannia. He voiced Frodo in
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil from the 1992 radio series
Tales from the Perilous Realm. He was a narrator in a direct-to-video version of
Val Biro's
Gumdrop book series in 1994. He narrated as a thirty-something Adrian Mole in the radio adaptation of
Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years. In 2018, he voiced the character of Henry Davenant Hythe in the
Big Finish Productions original production
Jeremiah Bourne in Time, which he also wrote. In the 1990s, he also narrated an audiobook version of
Roger and the Rottentrolls, by Tim Firth and Gordon Firth, before the television series premiered. ==Writing==