The day after leaving CSSD in 1987, Nesbitt got a bit part in "Virtuoso", 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 laconically 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 Jepson's "As You Like It" at the Rose Theatre Club, and then appeared in Yuri Lyubimov's version of "Hamlet". "Hamlet" had been translated back to English from Boris Pasternak'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, Barnardo and the second gravedigger. He recalled that the play received "shocking" reviews, but was exciting.