Brian Pettifer
Acting • Born 1953-01-01
Biography
Brian Pettifer (born January 1, 1953) is a South African 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. 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 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's film if.... (1968). He also appeared in Anderson's O Lucky Man! (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 (1984), Gulag (1985), Heavenly Pursuits (1986), Little Dorrit (1987), The Great Escape II: The Untold Story (1988), Loch Ness (1996), The House of Mirth (2000), Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (2002), The Rocket Post (2004), Vanity Fair (2004) and Lassie (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!, where he was constantly the butt of jokes directed at him by Corporal 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/HBO film Conspiracy 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. He appeared in Hamish Macbeth, as well as guest starring in Still Game. In 2005, he also appeared in the first episode of the BBC drama Bleak House. In 2011 and 2013, he played Father Richards in The Field of Blood. He had the role of Poupart in the BBC One series The Musketeers. In 2012, Brian Pettifer appeared as Archie Milgrow in the episode Old School Ties in the series New Tricks. He has worked extensively in the theatre: writing, directing and acting. He has been in a production of The Fairy-Queen 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. In 2019, he appeared in an episode of Holby City playing patient Laurie Stocks.
Filmography
71 credits
Britannia Hospital
Movie • 1982
Biles
Little Dorrit
Movie • 1987
Clarence Barnacle
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Movie • 2003
Poole
The Great Escape II: The Untold Story
Movie • 1988
Kirby-Green
Donkeys
Movie • 2010
Brian Colburn
Lucky Sunil
Movie • 1988
Cyril
The Rocket Post
Movie • 2004
Reverend Shand
A Risk Worth Taking
Movie • 2008
Maxwell Borthwick
Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution
Movie • 2009
Couthon
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc
Movie • 1999
the executioner / the torturer of the trial
The Legend of Barney Thomson
Movie • 2015
Charlie
The Last Bus
Movie • 2021
Billy (Drunk)
Lassie
Movie • 2005
O'Donnell
Damaged
Movie • 2024
Village Man
Conspiracy
Movie • 2001
Alfred Meyer
Warm Feet, Warm Heart
Movie • 1970
Nigel Purvis
Is That Your Body, Boy
Movie • 1970
Spratt
The Key
Movie • 2003
Whisky Galore
Movie • 2016
Angus
In Dreams
Movie • 1992
Journalist/Dave
Amadeus
Movie • 1984
Hospital Attendant
A Christmas Carol
Movie • 1984
Ben
if....
Movie • 1968
Biles
The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes & Arthur Conan Doyle
Movie • 2005
Harry How
One Last Chance
Movie • 2004
Macgregor
Eleven Men Against Eleven
Movie • 1995
Cliff Tutley
In the Bleak Midwinter
Movie • 1995
Ventriloquist
Heavenly Pursuits
Movie • 1986
Father Cobb
Darkest Hour
Movie • 2017
Lord Kingsley Wood
Loch Ness
Movie • 1996
Repairman
Hattie
Movie • 2011
Ron
Vigo
Movie • 1998
Fatman
The House of Mirth
Movie • 2000
Mr. Bry
Gulag
Movie • 1985
Vlasov
Just Your Luck
Movie • 1972
Youth at Wedding
Get Duked!
Movie • 2019
PC Dougie
Is That All There Is?
Movie • 1992
Self
The Flu That Killed 50 Million
Movie • 2018
Victor Vaughan
Memories of Lindsay Anderson
Movie • 2019
Self
The Right Prospectus
Movie • 1970
Boy in Grounds
The James Gang
Movie • 1997
Spanner
Let There Be Light
Movie • 1970
Pupil Teacher
Go Home
Movie • 2021
Mike
Vanity Fair
Movie • 2004
Mr. Raggles
Happy the Man
Movie • 1986
Andy
The History of Tom Jones: A Foundling
TV • 1997
Parson Supple
Get Some In!
TV • 1975
Bruce Leckie
Hamish Macbeth
TV • 1995
Rory Campbell
Grace
TV • 2021
Hector Hegarty
This Man Craig
TV • 1966
To the Ends of the Earth
TV • 2005
Wheeler
Lovejoy
TV • 1986
Willy Kinross
Hustle
TV • 2004
Tip Jones
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
TV • 2015
Honeyfoot
Last of the Summer Wine
TV • 1973
The Best Man
Garrow's Law
TV • 2009
Robert Boycott
New Tricks
TV • 2004
Archie Milgrow
City Lights
TV • 1986
Alisdair
Snoddy
TV • 2002
Professor Baxter
Return of the Saint
TV • 1978
Bartender
Outlander
TV • 2014
Old Charlie
The Field of Blood
TV • 2011
Father Richards
Black Mirror
TV • 2011
William Grange, Dentist
Heartbeat
TV • 1992
Andrew McIntyre
Play for Today
TV • 1970
Boy in Grounds
Endeavour
TV • 2013
Jephthah Claypole
Cloud Howe
TV • 1982
Dite Peat
Clayhanger
TV • 1976
Stifford
Monarch of the Glen
TV • 2000
Eric Morton
Life Support
TV • 1999
Gordon Travers
Farrington of the F.O.
TV • 1986
Billy Murdoch