Nicholas Pegg
playwright

2009’s production of Sleeping Beauty was the eleventh successive pantomime that Nicholas has written for the Queen’s Theatre, and he is delighted to be back in Hornchurch for Christmas. His other projects this year include the publication of an expanded and updated new edition of his reference book The Complete David Bowie, described by Uncut magazine as ‘the definitive read for Bowiephiles’.

After reading English Literature at Exeter University, Nick trained at the Guildford School of Acting, and he now divides his time between acting, writing and directing. His acting work has encompassed everything from Shakespeare, Rattigan and Molière to Oscar Wilde, Alan Bennett and Agatha Christie, in theatres as far afield as Plymouth, Glasgow, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Torquay, Birmingham, Exeter, Guildford and London.

Television has taken him to such exotic destinations as Walford (EastEnders), Cornwall (Doc Martin), and outer space (Doctor Who) – since 2005 he has played a Dalek in many episodes of the BBC series, and he has also acted, directed and written for the ongoing audio series of Doctor Who produced by Big Finish Productions, starring various of the original ‘Doctors’ in the title role. In addition to directing several of these productions and writing an episode called The Spectre of Lanyon Moor, Nick has crossed swords with the good Doctor in acting roles as diverse as a foppish sea captain from the eighteenth century, a robotic quiz contestant from the distant future, and a bisexual lizard-man from the planet Ursu. One of his favourite assignments was directing Shada, written by the late Douglas Adams and featuring an all-star cast including Paul McGann, James Fox, Andrew Sachs, Hannah Gordon and Susannah Harker, broadcast on BBC7 and now available on CD.

More recently Nick wrote the short stories Deep Water and Hold Your Horses for the 2008 and 2009 Doctor Who Storybooks, and has written several documentaries included on the DVD releases of the original Doctor Who television series.

Nick’s other directing work includes Peter Pan at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, Twelfth Night at the Shakespeare Globe Museum, Diary of a Somebody on the Edinburgh Fringe, Hamlet at the Brixton Shaw Theatre, and a stint as Artistic Director of the summer repertory season in Frinton, Essex.