Brian Pettifer (born 1 January 1953) is a Scottish actor who has appeared in many television shows, and also on stage and in film. He is the younger brother of folk musician Linda Thompson.

Biography

He intended to become a photographer, but pursued a career as an actor. He appeared as a child in the BBC's ''

This Man Craig ''This Man Craig'' is a TV drama series produced by BBC Scotland and screened over 52 episodes in 1966 and 1967. It was set in a secondary school in the fictional Scottish town of Strathaird. Episodes were filmed at Glasgow’s Bellahouston Acad ...

'' and '' Dr Finlay's Casebook'', and ''Madame Bovary'' (with his friend Alex Norton) which gave him an avid interest in acting on television. His first film role was in

Lindsay Anderson Lindsay Gordon Anderson (17 April 1923 – 30 August 1994) was a British feature-film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and of the British New Wave. He is most widely remembered fo ...

's film '' if....'' (1968). He also appeared in Anderson's ''

O Lucky Man! ''O Lucky Man!'' is a 1973 British comedy-drama fantasy film directed by Lindsay Anderson and starring Malcolm McDowell as Mick Travis, whom McDowell had first played as a disaffected public schoolboy in his first film performance in Anderso ...

'' (1973) and '' Britannia Hospital'' (1982) playing the same character in all three Anderson films, that of Biles. His other film credits include roles in '' Amadeus'' (1984), ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...

'' (1984), ''

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

'' (1985), '' Heavenly Pursuits'' (1986), ''

Little Dorrit ''Little Dorrit'' is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, originally published in Serial (literature), serial form between 1855 and 1857. The story features Amy Dorrit, youngest child of her family, born and raised in the Marshalsea pris ...

'' (1987), '' The Great Escape II: The Untold Story'' (1988), ''

Loch Ness Loch Ness (; ) is a large freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands. It takes its name from the River Ness, which flows from the northern end. Loch Ness is best known for claimed sightings of the cryptozoology, cryptozoological Loch Ness Mons ...

'' (1996), '' The House of Mirth'' (2000), '' Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' (2002), '' The Rocket Post'' (2004), '' Vanity Fair'' (2004) and ''

Lassie Lassie is a fictional female Rough Collie dog and is featured in a 1938 short story by Eric Knight that was later expanded to a 1940 full-length novel, '' Lassie Come-Home''. Knight's portrayal of Lassie bears some features in common with anot ...

'' (2005). Pettifer was a regular in '' Rab C. Nesbitt'' mainly propping up a bar, but was also known as aircraftman Bruce Leckie in ''

Get Some In! ''Get Some In!'' is a British television sitcom about National Service life in the Royal Air Force, broadcast between 1975 and 1978 by Thames Television. Scripts were by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, the team behind sitcoms such as '' The Good ...

'', where he was constantly the butt of jokes directed at him by

Corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

Marsh. He also played cousin Hughie in the long running Liverpool based 70s sitcom '' The Liver Birds''. He also played Alfred Meyer in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

film ''

Conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

'' and the part of Dr. Cameron in the Radio 4 series entitled '' Adventures of a Black Bag'', after appearing in several episodes of ''

Dr. Finlay's Casebook ''Dr. Finlay's Casebook'' is a television drama series that was produced and broadcast by the BBC from 1962 until 1971. Based on A. J. Cronin's 1935 novella ''Country Doctor'', the storylines centred on a general medical practice in the fiction ...

''. He appeared in ''

Hamish Macbeth Hamish Macbeth is the police constable of the fictional Scottish Highlands, Scottish Highland town of Lochdubh, in a series of murder mystery novels created by M. C. Beaton (Marion Chesney). Considered by many to be a useless, lazy moocher, M ...

'', as well as guest starring in ''

Still Game ''Still Game'' is a Scotland, Scottish sitcom produced by Effingee Productions, The Comedy Unit and BBC Scotland. It was created by Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill, who played the lead characters, Jack Jarvis (Still Game character), Jack Jarvis, ...

''. In 2005, he also appeared in the first episode of the BBC drama ''

Bleak House ''Bleak House'' is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, first published as a 20-episode Serial (literature), serial between 12 March 1852 and 12 September 1853. The novel has many characters and several subplots, and is told partly by th ...

''. In 2011 and 2013, he played Father Richards in '' The Field of Blood''. He had the role of Poupart in the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

series ''

The Musketeers ''The Musketeers'' is a British period action-drama TV series based on the characters from Alexandre Dumas's 1844 novel ''The Three Musketeers'' and co-produced by BBC America and BBC Worldwide. The series follows the musketeers Athos, Aramis ...

.'' In 2012, Brian Pettifer appeared as Archie Milgrow in the episode ''Old School Ties'' in the series ''

New Tricks ''New Tricks'' is a British television police procedural comedy drama, created by Nigel McCrery and Roy Mitchell, produced primarily by Wall to Wall (until its final year, when it was handled by Headstrong Pictures), and broadcast on BBC On ...

.'' He has worked extensively in the theatre: writing, directing and acting. He has been in a production of ''

The Fairy-Queen ''The Fairy-Queen'' (1692; Purcell catalogue number Z.629) is a semi-opera by Henry Purcell; a "Restoration spectacular". The libretto is an anonymous adaptation of William Shakespeare's comedy ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. First performed in ...

'' at Glyndebourne, which went to Paris and New York in 2010. In 2015, Pettifer appeared in the crime comedy '' The Legend of Barney Thomson'' along with his ''Hamish Macbeth'' co-star

Robert Carlyle Robert Carlyle (born 14 April 1961) is a Scottish actor. His film work includes: '' Trainspotting'' (1996), '' The Full Monty'' (1997), '' Ravenous'' and ''The World Is Not Enough'' (both 1999), '' There's Only One Jimmy Grimble'' (2000), '' ...

. In 2019, he appeared in an episode of ''

Holby City ''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a Spin-off (media), spin-off from the established BBC medical drama '' ...

'' playing patient Laurie Stocks.

Theatre

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pettifer, Brian 1953 births South African male television actors South African male film actors South African male child actors Living people Thompson family