Editing Peter Nichols (playwright) (section)

==Life and career==
Born in [[Bristol]], he was educated at [[Bristol Grammar School]], and served his compulsory National Service as a clerk in Calcutta and later in the [[British Army]]'s [[BFBS Live Events|Combined Services Entertainment Unit]] in Singapore<ref name="bl">{{cite web |title=Theatre Archive Project |url=http://sounds.bl.uk/View.aspx?item=024M-1CDR0028659X-0100V0.xml |publisher=[[British Library]] |access-date=4 June 2011}}</ref> where he entertained the troops alongside [[John Schlesinger]], [[Stanley Baxter]], [[Peter Vaughan]] and [[Kenneth Williams]],<ref name="Stevens">{{cite book |last=Stevens |first=Christopher |title=Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams |publisher=John Murray |year=2010 |page=351 |isbn=978-1-84854-195-5}}</ref> before going on to study acting at the [[Bristol Old Vic Theatre School]]. He later claimed to have studied acting because there were no dedicated courses for playwrights.<ref name="bl"/> While working as a teacher, he began to write television plays that achieved notice. His first play for the stage was ''The Hooded Terror'', part of a season of new plays at the Little Theatre in Bristol. He later wrote ''[[A Day in the Death of Joe Egg]]'' for the stage.<ref name="Stevens"/> An early film script was ''Catch Us If You Can'' directed by John Boorman.<ref name="three">{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|magazine=Filmink|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-british-moguls-nat-cohen-part-three-1962-68/|date=21 January 2025|access-date=21 January 2025|title=Forgotten British Moguls: Nat Cohen – Part Three (1962-68)}}</ref>

''A Day in the Death of Joe Egg'' is a one-set drama in [[music hall]] style. ''[[The National Health (play)|The National Health]]'' is a fantasy farce, also interrupted by [[vaudeville]]. ''[[Privates on Parade]]'' is a [[musical comedy]], partly inspired by Nichols's own experiences in the Combined Services Entertainments Unit.<ref name="Stevens"/> ''[[Poppy (1982 musical)|Poppy]]'' takes the form of a Christmas [[pantomime]].

Despite the comic style, Nichols' plays deal with the most serious of themes. In ''A Day in the Death of Joe Egg'' the burden of raising a hopelessly [[Disability|handicapped]] child shatters a couple's marriage. The patients of ''The National Health'' suffer and die, as do the singing soldiers of ''Privates on Parade''. In ''Poppy'', a pantomime take on the Chinese [[opium wars]], [[Dick Whittington]]'s girlfriend becomes a drug addict. ''[[Passion Play (Nichols play)|Passion Play]]'' (known as ''Passion'' in the United States) focuses on adultery and betrayal. In ''[[Blue Murder (Peter Nichols play)|Blue Murder]]'', a comic satire about play censorship, a constable investigates a death.

Nichols is often considered an especially autobiographical playwright, and chronicled much of the background to his plays in his published [[#Books|autobiography and diaries]]. ''Joe Egg'' is based on Nichols' own experiences of raising a handicapped child, ''The National Health'' draws on a hospital stay of his own, while ''Privates on Parade'' draws on his own military experiences.

Nichols was appointed Commander of the [[Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) in the [[2018 New Year Honours]] for services to drama.<ref>{{cite web |author=Entertainment & Arts team |title=In pictures: Entertainment stars recognised in New Year Honours |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-42503068 |publisher=BBC News |date=29 December 2017 |access-date=23 March 2017}}</ref>

He died on 7 September 2019 in Oxford, survived by his wife Thelma and three children.<ref name="GuardianDeath"/><ref>{{cite web |last=Quinn |first=Michael |title=Obituary: playwright Peter Nichols – 'Never afraid of tackling the thorniest of issues head-on' |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/obituaries/2019/obituary-peter-nichols/ |website=[[The Stage]] |date=10 September 2019 |access-date=1 October 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Nightingale |first=Benedict |author-link=Benedict Nightingale |title=Peter Nichols, Playwright Who Found Comedy in Desperation, Dies at 92 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/09/theater/peter-nichols-dead.html |website=The New York Times |date=9 September 2019 |access-date=1 October 2019}}</ref>