Neil Dudgeon

Neil Dudgeon is a British actor best known for his many television appearances, most often in crime drama.

Early life

Dudgeon was born 1 January 1961 in Doncaster, Yorkshire, and attended Danum Grammar School among others. He established himself as an actor in school plays and went on to study drama at the University of Bristol (1979-82). He made his first screen appearance in 1987. The following year, he appeared as a World War II pilot in Piece of Cake, alongside Tim Woodward, Jeremy Northam and Nathaniel Parker.

Career

As well as occasional appearances in long-running series such as Casualty, London's Burning and Lovejoy, he appeared in 1994 as Detective Constable Costello, a one-episode sidekick to Detective Inspector William Edward "Jack" Frost (played by David Jason), in the TV series A Touch of Frost, in 1998-99 as George the Chauffeur in The Mrs Bradley Mysteries (alongside Dame Diana Rigg), in Inspector Morse (episode "The Way Through The Woods"), Between The Lines, Common As Muck (in 1994 & 1997) , Out of the Blue, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking, The Street and all four series of Messiah with Ken Stott.

In 2007, Dudgeon appeared in the eponymous role of self-made millionaire Roman Pretty in the BBC2 sitcom Roman's Empire. In 2009 he played a main character in BBC's Life of Riley. This series was recommissioned and aired in April 2011, the same month that Dudgeon played the role of one time Football League secretary Alan Hardaker in the TV drama United, which was centred on the events of the 1958 Munich air disaster involving Manchester United.

In 2010, Dudgeon appeared in an episode of the long-running ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders, called "The Sword of Guillaume". He was introduced in the episode as the cousin of Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby, played by John Nettles, who has now retired from the role. Dudgeon, also cast as a senior detective, took over as the lead character in Midsomer Murders after the last episodes featuring John Nettles were screened in 2011. Dudgeon's character name is DCI John Barnaby, which has been suggested may be a vehicle for continued sales to territories where the show is known as "Inspector Barnaby". Dudgeon had first appeared in Midsomer Murders in the opening episode of the fourth series ("Garden of Death"), playing a secondary character.

In 2012, Dudgeon starred as "Norman Birkett, KC" on BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Play series in four plays written by Caroline and David Stafford based on Birkett's cases.

Personal life

Neil is married to BBC Radio producer Mary Peate. They have two children.

External links

• Neil Dudgeon at the Internet Movie Database
• http://www.neil-dudgeon.net a website on actor Neil Dudgeon