 |
Neil Pigot (born 28 December 1961) is an Australian actor who is perhaps best known in Australia for his role as Inspector Falcon Price in the highly successful television series Blue Heelers . Pigot has appeared in over 100 episodes of television, a number of feature films and has presented several documentaries on his pet subject Australian military history. A highly regarded and award-winning stage actor, he is also the author of several works of non-fiction.
Pigot began life in Melbourne, the eldest son of a butcher turned commercial pilot and his wife who would become one of Australia's pioneering female car sales people. At age 8, his family moved to Darwin and then South East Asia. He completed his schooling in Sydney. Pigot has claimed he was always interested in the Arts but for the first two years after finishing high school he drifted between jobs as a sales clerk, freight clerk, sales canvasser and finally as the manager of a flying school before "falling into acting" at the age of 20.
Pigot began work with the semi professional Lieder Southern Regional Theatre in Goulburn NSW in the early 1980s first appearing as Meriman the butler in Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest . He then worked in community theatre and on drama programmes with long term institutionalised adults at Kenmore Psychiatric Hospital before joining Theatre ACT in 1984. After a time as a contract actor in Canberra he established the Black Inc theatre company with Paul Corcoran, Tim Ferguson and Ian Hagan and The Katt Klub, a late night cabaret where he performed with many artists including the Doug Anthony Allstars. His work in theatre has continued and he has played leading roles for all of Australia's major companies including the Melbourne and Sydney Theatre Companies, Belvoir, Playbox/Malthouse, Queensland Theatre Company and State Theatre Company of South Australia and also leading independent companies Brink, Back to Back and Kickhouse most often appearing in new works.
Pigot's television credits include leading guest roles in over twenty television series and several telemovies beginning with GP in the 1980s up until recent appearances in The Kettering Incident for Foxtel. Notable series include The Man from Snowy River , The Games , The Adventures of Lano and Woodley , The Secret Life of Us , Laid , Marshal Law, Wicked Science , Stingers , Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries , Neighbours , Society Murders and The Doctor Blake Mysteries . For nine years he performed the role of Inspector Falcon Price on the drama series Blue Heelers for which he is best known. Australian films Pigot has been featured in include Head On , Lucky Country , The Condemned , Stepsister from Planet Weird , Red Dog , The Dish , Oranges and Sunshine and Blessed .
Pigot is also a documentary writer and presenter who specialises in Australian military history and has fronted 2 series and three stand alone feature documentaries for Fox History on the subject.
In 1994, he completed his first work of non-fiction The Changi Diary. He also recorded an album The Changi Songbook, a compilation of original songs written by an Australian POW in a Changi POW Camp with the remaining members of the Changi Concert Party in that same year. A live album of the songs, recorded during two concerts at the Melbourne Recital Centre in 2013, is to be released in the future.
Pigot lived and worked in many Australian cities and in the UK before returning to the place of his birth in 1995. In 2001 he married his longtime partner Rachel Mackie, an academic. He has a step daughter, Keone Dodd. The couple divorced in 2016. He is lifelong collector of stamps and contemporary Australian Art and is an avid cook and gardener which has led to active involvement with both the Slow Food Movement and Gardening Australia.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202? | Stringybark | John Kelly | |
| 2022 | Slant | Martin | |
| 2021 | Some Happy Day | Radio Announcer | |
| Total Control (TV series) | Stephen | 1 episode | |
| 2020 | Strangers to The World | Bishop | |
| 2018 | Back In Very Small Business | Radio Talkback Host | 1 episode |
| 2017 | Australia Day | Michael Bester | |
| 2017 | Mrs McCutcheon | Parncut | Short |
| 2017 | Pillars | Richard | Short |
| 2016 | The Kettering Incident [1] [2] [3] | Dominic Harrold | 8 episodes |
| Secret City (TV series) | Brian Huxley | 3 episodes | |
| 2013 | Breaker Morant [4] | Narrator | Documentary |
| 2013-16 | The Doctor Blake Mysteries | Derek Alderton | 5 episodes |
| 2012 | Laid | Hilary | 1 episode |
| Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries | Ted Coglan | 1 episode | |
| 2011 | Red Dog (film) | Vet | |
| The Digger [5] | Narrator | Documentary | |
| 2010 | Oranges and Sunshine | James | |
| 2009 | For Valour [6] | Narrator | Documentary |
| Rush | Eddie | 1 episode | |
| Blessed | Sergeant Kerrick | ||
| Dark Frontier | Carver | ||
| 2007 | Neighbours | Christian Johnson | 7 episodes |
| The Condemned | Wade | ||
| 2006 | The Society Murders | DS Steve Waddell | TV Movie |
| 1997-06 | Blue Heelers [7] | Russell Falcon-Price | 42 episodes |
| 2005 | Wicked Science | Earl | 1 episode |
| 2003 | Stingers (TV series) | Barry Hunter | 1 episode |
| 2002 | Marshall Law | Brett | 1 episode |
| 2001 | Like It Is | Narrator | Short |
| The Secret Life of Us | Mad Dog Martin | 2 episodes | |
| 2000 | The Dish | Journo | |
| 2000 | Stepsister from Planet Weird | Fred Larson | TV Movie |
| 1997-99 | The Adventures of Lano and Woodley | Sgt Pearce | 3 episodes |
| 1999 | Redball | Bingo Wright | |
| 1998 | The Games | David Pigot | 1 episode |
| Head On | Senior Constable | ||
| 1997 | State Coroner | Senior Constable | 1 episode |
| The Last of the Ryans | Speed | TV Movie | |
| 1996 | Snowy River: The Mcgregor Saga | Ambrose Wylie | 1 episode |
| 1994 | GP | Dave | 1 episode |
| 1991 | The Girl From Tomorrow | Cameraman | |
| 1990 | Home and Away | Electrician | 1 episode |
Geoff Morrell is an Australian actor.
Tasma Walton is an Australian television and film actress.
John Wood is an Australian television Gold Logie Award-winning actor and scriptwriter.
Marg Downey is an Australian comedian and actress best known for her roles in The D Generation, Fast Forward and Full Frontal
Kevin Harrington is an Australian stage, television and film actor and comedian who is perhaps best known for his roles as Kevin Findlay on the Australian drama SeaChange in the 1990s and as David Bishop on the soap opera Neighbours.
Lisa McCune is an Australian actress, known for her role in TV series Blue Heelers as Senior Constable Maggie Doyle, and in Sea Patrol as Lieutenant Kate McGregor RAN. She has won four Gold Logie Awards.
Neil Melville is an Australian actor. He was born in Sydney, but spent most of his childhood in Apollo Bay, Victoria. In the early 1970s he was lead singer of Geelong rock band "The Iliad". Melville graduated from Adelaide's Flinders University with a Bachelor of Arts in Drama, and performed in a number of university productions, including, most notably, the world premiere of Jack Hibberd's The Les Darcy Show (1974).
Kris McQuade is an Australian actress who has had many film, television and theatre roles.
Damian Walshe-Howling is an Australian actor, well known for his role as Andrew "Benji" Veniamin in the Australian underworld drama, Underbelly, for which he won the Best Supporting or Guest Actor in a Drama Series at the 2008 AFI Awards.
Nicholas Bell is an English actor who has worked in Australia for more than 20 years. He works regularly with the Melbourne Theatre Company as well as with all the major television broadcasters in Australia, most notably the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In addition to his work in film and television, Bell has also recorded over a dozen audiobooks with Bolinda, a company based in Melbourne, Australia.
Henry Nixon is an Australian actor.
Tony Nikolakopoulos is a Greek Australian film, theatre and television actor. He is best known for his work in the films of Nick Giannopoulos, The Wog Boy and The Wannabes, and for his role as Attilio in the television series Scooter: Secret Agent. He has also performed in stage plays, including Cafe Rebetika in 2009.
Leah Vandenberg is a New Zealand-born Australian theatre, television, and film actress. She has appeared in many well-known Australian productions, including the award-winning Netflix series The Letdown and SBS drama The Hunting. She received an ASTRA nomination for "Most Outstanding Performance by an Actor-Female" in the comedy series Stupid, Stupid Man. She is a presenter on the long-running ABC television program Play School, a role she maintains today.
Mirrah Foulkes is an Australian director, screenwriter, and film and television actress. She was raised on the Sunshine Coast, in South East Queensland, Australia. She has appeared in films such as Animal Kingdom (2010), Sleeping Beauty (2011), and in the Australian anthology film The Turning (2013).
Kevin Hofbauer is an Australian actor known for his role as Constable Christian Tapu in the Australian police drama series Rush. He is also known for his role in Offspring. Hofbauer also appeared in 2020 series Informer 3838 as Detective David Miechel.
Kate Atkinson is an Australian film, television and theatre actress. She is best known for her roles on television series SeaChange as police officer Karen Miller and Offspring as Renee. From 2013 to 2021 she appeared in a regular role in Wentworth as Deputy Governor Vera Bennett.
Susan Prior is an Australian actress.
Trisha Morton-Thomas, also known as Patricia Morton-Thomas, is an Anmatyerr woman born in the Northern Territory of Australia. She is a writer, producer, director and actor who has worked in the Australian film industry since 1998 when she appeared in Radiance, the first feature film by director Rachel Perkins.
Jacqueline Brennan is an Australian stage, television and film actress with a career that has spanned over 30 years. Brennan has appeared in television, film, theatre and voice-over roles. Jacquie Brennan is known for her roles in Bullpitt!, The Hollowmen, and her most known role in Australian award-winning TV Drama Wentworth as Officer Linda 'Smiles' Miles.
Hamish Michael is an Australian actor. For his performance in Crownies he was nominated for the 2012 Logie Award for Most Outstanding Newcomer. and for its spin off series Janet King he was nominated for the 2016 AACTA Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actor in a Television Drama. At the 6th Helpmann Awards he was nominated for the Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play for Two Brothers. Other featured roles include The Twelve, Howzat! Kerry Packer's War and Power Games: The Packer–Murdoch War.