Simon Nye
Encyclopedia
Simon Nye is an English
comic television
writer
, best known for creating the hit sitcom
Men Behaving Badly
, writing all of the four ITV Panto
, co-writing the 2006 film Flushed Away
, co-writing Reggie Perrin and creating the latest adaption of William Brown (fictional boy) in the Just William
CBBC series.
and German
. He started his writing career as a translator, publishing translations of books on Richard Wagner
, Henri Matisse
and Georges Braque
before turning his hand to novel writing in 1989
with Men Behaving Badly. This was followed in 1991
by Wideboy, which he later adapted into the TV show Frank Stubbs Promotes.
to adapt his first novel for the small screen. The first series of Men Behaving Badly was broadcast on ITV
in 1991. The show soon went on to achieve critical and commercial success, winning the Writers' Guild of Great Britain
Award for Best Situation Comedy in 1995, and the Royal Television Society
Award for Best Situation Comedy/Comedy Drama in 1996. The show became the most-repeated comedy show in the 1990s.
Nye also appeared in the show, briefly playing a prospective tenant in the episode "Gary and Tony".
(starring Kate Isitt
), How Do You Want Me?
(starring Charlotte Coleman
and Dylan Moran
), Hardware
(starring Martin Freeman
) and Carrie and Barry
(a semi-sequel to Men Behaving Badly starring Neil Morrissey
as a matured Tony in all but name) – he has also written comedy dramas such as Frank Stubbs Promotes (1993–1994), as well as literary adaptations such as The Railway Children
(2000). In addition, he has written a number of comic adaptations of pantomime
s including Jack and the Beanstalk
(25 December 1998), Cinderella
(2 January 2000), Aladdin
(25 December 2000), and Dick Whittington (1 January 2002). He also wrote the short-lived 2001 sitcom The Savages
, and contributed an episode to the 2010 series of Doctor Who
, titled "Amy's Choice
."
Nye also continues to write translations, focusing in recent years on dramatic works. His translation of Molière
's Don Juan
was first performed at the Crucible Theatre
in Sheffield
in 2001, and his translation of Dario Fo
's Accidental Death of an Anarchist
premiered at the Donmar Warehouse
in London in 2003.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
comic television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, best known for creating the hit sitcom
British sitcom
A British sitcom tends, as it does in most other countries, to be based on a family, workplace or other institution, where the same group of contrasting characters is brought together in each episode. Unlike American sitcoms, where twenty or more episodes in a season is the norm, British sitcoms...
Men Behaving Badly
Men Behaving Badly
Men Behaving Badly is a British comedy that was created and written by Simon Nye. It follows the lives of Gary Strang and his flatmates, Dermot Povey and Tony Smart It was first broadcast on ITV in 1992...
, writing all of the four ITV Panto
ITV Panto
The ITV Panto was a series of pantomimes originally broadcast on ITV in 1998, 2000, and 2002. All written by Simon Nye, they included an array of celebrities playing the lead roles. There were only four shows recorded; Dick Whittington in 2002 having been the final in the series.The recordings are...
, co-writing the 2006 film Flushed Away
Flushed Away
Flushed Away is a 2006 computer animated British film directed by David Bowers and Sam Fell. It is a partnership between Aardman Animations of Wallace and Gromit fame, and DreamWorks Animation, and is Aardman's first completely computer-animated feature as opposed to the usual stop-motion.The film...
, co-writing Reggie Perrin and creating the latest adaption of William Brown (fictional boy) in the Just William
Just William (2010 TV serial)
Just William is a television serial first broadcast on BBC One in December 2010. The serial is based on the Just William series of books by Richmal Crompton. This latest adaptation is written by Simon Nye. It is the first adaption of the books since a children's television series in the 1990s. The...
CBBC series.
Career
Nye was born in 1958 in Burgess Hill, Sussex. Nye was educated at Bedford College, University of London, where he studied FrenchFrench language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. He started his writing career as a translator, publishing translations of books on Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
and Georges Braque
Georges Braque
Georges Braque[p] was a major 20th century French painter and sculptor who, along with Pablo Picasso, developed the art style known as Cubism.-Early Life:...
before turning his hand to novel writing in 1989
1989 in literature
The year 1989 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* February 24 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini places a US$3 million bounty for the death of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.-Literature:...
with Men Behaving Badly. This was followed in 1991
1991 in literature
The year 1991 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Douglas Coupland publishes the novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularizing the term Generation X as the name of the generation....
by Wideboy, which he later adapted into the TV show Frank Stubbs Promotes.
Men Behaving Badly
Nye's TV writing career began in 1990 when he was persuaded by producer Beryl VertueBeryl Vertue
Beryl Vertue is an English television producer and media executive. She is founder and chairman of the independent television production company Hartswood Films....
to adapt his first novel for the small screen. The first series of Men Behaving Badly was broadcast on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
in 1991. The show soon went on to achieve critical and commercial success, winning the Writers' Guild of Great Britain
Writers' Guild of Great Britain
The Writers' Guild of Great Britain, established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds .-Activities:...
Award for Best Situation Comedy in 1995, and the Royal Television Society
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
Award for Best Situation Comedy/Comedy Drama in 1996. The show became the most-repeated comedy show in the 1990s.
Nye also appeared in the show, briefly playing a prospective tenant in the episode "Gary and Tony".
Other work
Though best known for sitcoms – such as Is It Legal?Is It Legal?
Is It Legal? is a British television sitcom set in a solicitors office in Hounslow, west London, which ran from 1995 to 1998. It was produced by Hartswood Films and was shown on ITV for Series 1-2 and Channel 4 for Series 3...
(starring Kate Isitt
Kate Isitt
Kate Isitt is an English actress who is best known for her role as beauty therapist Sally Harper in the BBC television situation comedy Coupling....
), How Do You Want Me?
How Do You Want Me?
How Do You Want Me? is a British television sitcom, produced by Kensington Films & Television, written by Simon Nye, and directed by John Henderson....
(starring Charlotte Coleman
Charlotte Coleman
Charlotte Ninon Coleman was an English actress best known for playing Scarlett in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral , Jess in the television drama Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, and her childhood roles of Sue in Worzel Gummidge and the character Marmalade Atkins...
and Dylan Moran
Dylan Moran
Dylan Moran is an Irish stand-up comedian, writer, actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his sardonic observational comedy, the UK television sitcom Black Books , and his work with Simon Pegg in Shaun of the Dead and Run Fatboy Run...
), Hardware
Hardware (TV series)
Hardware is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 2003 to 2004. Starring Martin Freeman, it was written and created by Simon Nye, the creator of Men Behaving Badly.The show's opening theme was A Taste of Honey by Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass....
(starring Martin Freeman
Martin Freeman
Martin John C. Freeman is an English actor. He is known for his roles as John in Love Actually, Tim Canterbury in the BBC's Golden Globe-winning comedy The Office, Arthur Dent in the film adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dr. John Watson in Sherlock and Mr. Madden...
) and Carrie and Barry
Carrie and Barry
Carrie and Barry is a sitcom, shown 2004 - 2005 on BBC One, starring Neil Morrissey, Claire Rushbrook, Mark Williams and Michelle Gomez.Produced by Hartswood Films, it reunited Morrissey with personnel from Men Behaving Badly: specifically writer Simon Nye, executive producer Beryl Vertue and...
(a semi-sequel to Men Behaving Badly starring Neil Morrissey
Neil Morrissey
Neil Anthony Morrissey is an English actor, media personality and businessman. He is best known for his role as Tony in Men Behaving Badly....
as a matured Tony in all but name) – he has also written comedy dramas such as Frank Stubbs Promotes (1993–1994), as well as literary adaptations such as The Railway Children
The Railway Children
The Railway Children is a children's book by Edith Nesbit, originally serialised in The London Magazine during 1905 and first published in book form in 1906...
(2000). In addition, he has written a number of comic adaptations of pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
s including Jack and the Beanstalk
Jack and the Beanstalk
Jack and the Beanstalk is a folktale said by English historian Francis Palgrave to be an oral legend that arrived in England with the Vikings. The tale is closely associated with the tale of Jack the Giant-killer. It is known under a number of versions...
(25 December 1998), Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
(2 January 2000), Aladdin
Aladdin
Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....
(25 December 2000), and Dick Whittington (1 January 2002). He also wrote the short-lived 2001 sitcom The Savages
The Savages (TV series)
The Savages is a British sitcom that aired on BBC One in 2001. Starring Geoffrey Palmer and comedian Marcus Brigstocke, it was written by Simon Nye, the writer of Men Behaving Badly....
, and contributed an episode to the 2010 series of Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, titled "Amy's Choice
Amy's Choice (Doctor Who)
"Amy's Choice" is the seventh episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on BBC One on 15 May 2010...
."
Nye also continues to write translations, focusing in recent years on dramatic works. His translation of Molière
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
's Don Juan
Don Juan
Don Juan is a legendary, fictional libertine whose story has been told many times by many authors. El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra by Tirso de Molina is a play set in the fourteenth century that was published in Spain around 1630...
was first performed at the Crucible Theatre
Crucible Theatre
The Crucible Theatre is a theatre built in 1971 and located in the city centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. As well as theatrical performances, it is home to the most important event in professional snooker, the World Snooker Championship....
in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
in 2001, and his translation of Dario Fo
Dario Fo
Dario Fo is an Italian satirist, playwright, theater director, actor and composer. His dramatic work employs comedic methods of the ancient Italian commedia dell'arte, a theatrical style popular with the working classes. He currently owns and operates a theatre company with his wife, actress...
's Accidental Death of an Anarchist
Accidental Death of an Anarchist
Accidental Death of an Anarchist is perhaps the best-known play by the Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo.- About the play :...
premiered at the Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
in London in 2003.
Filmography
- Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
- Amy's ChoiceAmy's Choice (Doctor Who)"Amy's Choice" is the seventh episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on BBC One on 15 May 2010...
(2010) - Reggie Perrin (2009, with David NobbsDavid NobbsDavid Gordon Nobbs is an English comedy writer.Following an education at Marlborough College and Cambridge University, Nobbs wrote for many of Britain's comedy performers over the years, including Kenneth Williams, Frankie Howerd, Les Dawson and The Two Ronnies...
) - HardwareHardware (TV series)Hardware is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 2003 to 2004. Starring Martin Freeman, it was written and created by Simon Nye, the creator of Men Behaving Badly.The show's opening theme was A Taste of Honey by Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass....
(2003–2004) - Wild WestWild West (TV series)Wild West is a situation comedy screened from October 2002 until 2004 starring Dawn French and Catherine Tate. It was described as a dark comedy from the pen of Simon Nye and was filmed on location in Cornwall. Set in the hamlet of St Gweep, Wild West observes the strange goings-on in the local...
(2002–2004) - How Do You Want Me?How Do You Want Me?How Do You Want Me? is a British television sitcom, produced by Kensington Films & Television, written by Simon Nye, and directed by John Henderson....
(1998–1999) - Is It Legal?Is It Legal?Is It Legal? is a British television sitcom set in a solicitors office in Hounslow, west London, which ran from 1995 to 1998. It was produced by Hartswood Films and was shown on ITV for Series 1-2 and Channel 4 for Series 3...
(1995–1998) - Frank Stubbs Promotes (1993–1994)
- Men Behaving BadlyMen Behaving BadlyMen Behaving Badly is a British comedy that was created and written by Simon Nye. It follows the lives of Gary Strang and his flatmates, Dermot Povey and Tony Smart It was first broadcast on ITV in 1992...
(1992–1998)
Novels
- Wideboy (1991) ISBN 0-670-83254-5
- Men Behaving Badly (1989) ISBN 0-06-016069-1
Translations
- Accidental Death of an AnarchistAccidental Death of an AnarchistAccidental Death of an Anarchist is perhaps the best-known play by the Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo.- About the play :...
(2003) ISBN 0-413-77342-6 - Matisse: The Graphic Work (1988) ISBN 0-8478-0932-3
- Georges BraqueGeorges BraqueGeorges Braque[p] was a major 20th century French painter and sculptor who, along with Pablo Picasso, developed the art style known as Cubism.-Early Life:...
: Life and Work (1988) ISBN 0-8478-0986-2 - Vienna Opera (1987) ISBN 0-8478-0811-4
External links
- Simon Nye entry on the BBC Comedy Guide
- Interview with Simon Nye
- BBC Press Office biography
- Nobleman Behaving Badly (GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
profile)