 The day after leaving <unk> in 1987 , Nesbitt got a bit part in <unk> , a BBC Two Screen Two television play about the life of John Ogdon . He worked for two days on the play , earning £ 250 per day . His first professional stage appearance came in the same year , when he played Keith in Up on the Roof . The musical ran at the Theatre Royal , Plymouth , before transferring to the London West End . Nesbitt reprised the role when the production returned to Plymouth in early 1989 . Roger Malone in The Stage and Television Today wrote that Nesbitt " steals the show with the best lines and best delivery as he <unk> squares up to life with an easy contentment " . Nesbitt appeared in two other plays in 1989 ; in June , he played Dukes Frederick and Senior in Paul <unk> 's As You Like It at the Rose Theatre Club , and then appeared in <unk> <unk> 's version of Hamlet . Hamlet had been translated back to English from Boris <unk> 's Russian translation . It ran at the Haymarket Theatre , Leicester for a month before a transfer to the Old Vic and then a nine @-@ month world tour . Nesbitt played Guildenstern , <unk> and the second <unk> . He recalled that the play received " shocking " reviews , but was exciting . 
