At the age of 19 Nigel Lythgoe began work as a dancer in
The Young Generation, a
BBC dance group. This was back in
1968 - so think
Pan's People with even worse hair. Here, he met his wife, Bonnie. I love the quote that
The Mirror published regarding this time in his life:
"I met my wife Bonnie when she auditioned for the Young Generation. We worked together for three years until I sacked her."
That's right. By
1971 Nigel was the
choreographer of the same group, and decided that working with your wife wouldn't work. So he fired her. They're still together though...
Between the mid-seventies and 1985 focused on choreography work for various TV shows including The Muppets. In 1985 he left choregraphy and got a job at LWT (London Weekend Television). His directing and production credits there are extensive; the most famous of which are Gladiators and Blind Date.
Although he has been successful behind the scenes, he recently came to the public's attention as a star of the hit UK Version of the TV show, Popstars. "Nasty Nigel" was one of the judges who whittled down 3000 applicants to form a manufactured 5-piece pop band (called Hear'Say).
Although he still works 'Controller of Entertainment and Comedy' at LWT, he has been seconded to the production company, Planet 24 where he has begun work as the executive producer for the UK version of Survivor.