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

• 2024Damaged — Village Man
• 2021Go Home — Mike
• Grace — Hector Hegarty
• 2021The Last Bus — Billy (Drunk)
• 2019Get Duked! — PC Dougie
• 2018The Flu That Killed 50 Million — Victor Vaughan
• 2017Darkest Hour — Lord Kingsley Wood
• 2016Whisky Galore — Angus
• Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell — Honeyfoot
• 2015The Legend of Barney Thomson — Charlie
• Outlander — Old Charlie
• Endeavour — Jephthah Claypole
• Black Mirror — William Grange, Dentist
• 2011Hattie — Ron
• The Field of Blood — Father Richards
• 2010Donkeys — Brian Colburn
• Garrow's Law — Robert Boycott
• 2009Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution — Couthon
• 2008A Risk Worth Taking — Maxwell Borthwick
• 2005Lassie — O'Donnell
• 2005The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes & Arthur Conan Doyle — Harry How
• To the Ends of the Earth — Wheeler
• Hustle — Tip Jones
• New Tricks — Archie Milgrow
• 2004One Last Chance — Macgregor
• 2004The Rocket Post — Reverend Shand
• 2004Vanity Fair — Mr. Raggles
• 2003Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — Poole
• 2003The Key
• Rockface — Brother Thomas
• Snoddy — Professor Baxter
• 2001Conspiracy — Alfred Meyer
• Monarch of the Glen — Eric Morton
• 2000The House of Mirth — Mr. Bry
• Life Support — Gordon Travers
• 1999The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc — the executioner / the torturer of the trial
• 1998Vigo — Fatman
• The History of Tom Jones: A Foundling — Parson Supple
• 1997The James Gang — Spanner
• Dalziel and Pascoe — Mortimer
• 1996Loch Ness — Repairman
• 1995Eleven Men Against Eleven — Cliff Tutley
• Hamish Macbeth — Rory Campbell
• 1995In the Bleak Midwinter — Ventriloquist
• The Ghostbusters of East Finchley — Howard Heights
• Heartbeat — Andrew McIntyre
• 1992In Dreams — Journalist/Dave
• 1988Lucky Sunil — Cyril
• 1988The Great Escape II: The Untold Story — Kirby-Green
• 1987Little Dorrit — Clarence Barnacle
• City Lights — Alisdair
• Farrington of the F.O. — Billy Murdoch
• 1986Happy the Man — Andy
• 1986Heavenly Pursuits — Father Cobb
• Lovejoy — Willy Kinross
• 1985Gulag — Vlasov
• 1984A Christmas Carol — Ben
• 1984Amadeus — Hospital Attendant
• 1982Britannia Hospital — Biles
• Cloud Howe — Dite Peat
• Turning Year Tales — Boy
• Return of the Saint — Bartender
• Clayhanger — Stifford
• Get Some In! — Bruce Leckie
• Bedtime Stories — Alan
• Last of the Summer Wine — The Best Man
• 1972Just Your Luck — Youth at Wedding
• 1972Peer Gynt — Additional cast
• Villains — Youth
• 1970Is That Your Body, Boy — Spratt
• 1970Let There Be Light — Pupil Teacher
• Play for Today — Boy in Grounds
• 1970The Right Prospectus — Boy in Grounds
• 1970Warm Feet, Warm Heart — Nigel Purvis
• ITV Saturday Night Theatre — Adam Armour
• 1968if.... — Biles
• This Man Craig
• The Vital Spark
• Armchair Theatre — Nigel Purvis

Appearances as themselves (3)

• 2019Memories of Lindsay Anderson — Self
• 2004Lindsay Anderson: Lucky Man? — Self
• 1992Is That All There Is? — Self