"Making Plans for Nigel" is a song by English rock band XTC, released by Virgin Records as the lead single from their 1979 album Drums and Wires.

The lyrics are told from the point of view of overbearing parents who are certain that their son Nigel is "happy in his world", affirming that his future, to be spent working for British Steel, "is as good as sealed", and that he "likes to speak and loves to be spoken to".

"[8] In the XTC biography Chalkhills and Children, it is stated that the song's drum pattern was discovered by accident after a miscommunication between guitarist Andy Partridge and drummer Terry Chambers.

[10] He explained that Moulding introduced the song to the rest of the band on a nylon-string guitar at a slow tempo and did not have an idea of how the arrangement should be fleshed out, "so we said [to Colin], 'Do you fancy trying something like [Devo] for this?"

[12] Partridge said that once the drum pattern was established, the band decided that Moulding should duplicate the tom rhythm on his bass guitar.

He continued: [Our second guitarist] Dave [Gregory] began to chop away, doing a much more syncopated version of the basic chords, on electric guitar.

This was adapted to feature key points in Nigel’s "miserable life", including buying a moped, going for job interviews, vacationing in Spain and getting engaged to "a very nice girl".

As credited on the back cover, the illustrator was Steve Shotter and sleeve design was by Cooke Key.

[14] The video, directed by Russell Mulcahy, was shot in London on 10 July 1979, together with another put together very quickly for "Life Begins at the Hop".

According to Dave Gregory: Despite glowing press reviews [of Drums and Wires], we were still struggling to fill small theatres in the UK and the brief tour was disappointing.

But then, the unthinkable happened – Nigel got playlisted at the BBC and in early October, XTC were back in the charts!

[12] Biographer Chris Twomey wrote that although the single is reported to have reached number 17, it was "later learned that a computer error by the chart compilers had forced the record downwards when it had in fact gone up.

[16] After the song's release, 100,000 steel workers went on strike and contacted Moulding for a statement on their issues, but he offered no comment.