Neil Pigot

Neil Pigot is an Australian film, television, and stage actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Inspector Falcon Price in the television series Blue Heelers. He has presented several documentaries on his niche subject, Australian military history. He is also the author of several works of non-fiction.

Early life and education Neil Pigot was born 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. He then left his "dysfunctional family home" at the age of 17.

Career

Pigot began work with the semi-professional Lieder Southern Regional Theatre in Goulburn, New South Wales, 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. He performed at a late night cabaret, The Katt Klub, with many artists including the Doug Anthony Allstars.

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.

Pigot's television credits include leading guest roles in over 20 television series and several telemovies, beginning with G.P. in the 1980s. Notable series include The Man from Snowy River, The Games, The Adventures of Lano and Woodley, The Secret Life of Us, Laid, Marshall 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.

Pigot featured in a number of Australian films, including Head On, Lucky Country, Red Dog, The Dish, Oranges and Sunshine and Blessed.

Pigot is also a documentary writer and presenter who specialises in Australian military history.

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 was recorded during two concerts at the Melbourne Recital Centre in 2013.

Personal life 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. The couple divorced in 2016. He later remarried and was living in Broken Hill in 2023.

Pigot has been open about suffering from Bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, and alcoholism, and having attempted suicide. He spent time in mental and rehab facilities for treatment in 2016.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

As actor YearTitleRoleNotes Early 1980s The Importance of Being Earnest Meriman the Butler Lieder Southern Regional Theatre, Goulburn 1985 Picnic on the Battlefield / Orison / Fando and Lis Gorman House, Canberra with Australian Theatre Workshop 1985 Two Gentlemen of Verona / The Private Ear Gorman House, Canberra with Black Inc 1985 No. 3 Rehearsal Room, Civic Square, Canberra with Red Square Theatre 1985 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat ANU, Canberra with Black Inc 1986 The Lover Rehearsal Room, Civic Square, Canberra with Black Inc 1986 Bedroom Farce Playhouse, Canberra with Canberra Comedy Theatre Co. 1986 Ubu Roi Australian National Gallery Theatre, Canberra 1988 Naked Childers Street Theatre, Canberra with Black Inc 1992–1993; 1995 A Bright and Crimson Flower Princes Wharf, Hobart, Launceston Showgrounds Motor Pavilion, HMAS Lonsdale, Melbourne, Echuca, Hamilton, Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide, Bendigo, Mt Nelson Theatre, Hobart with Zootango Theatre Company 1993 As You Like It Duke Frederick / Silvius / Forrester Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, Hobart with Zootango Theatre Company 1995 The Ship That Never Was Polly Woodside, Melbourne, with Round Earth Theatre Company 1996 Travesties Henry Carr Melbourne Athenaeum with Black Inc 1996 Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know Lord Byron Melbourne Athenaeum with Black Inc 1996 The Truth Game Carlton Courthouse with Missing Link Productions 1997 Ned Kelly Theatre Works, Melbourne, with Kickhouse Theatre 1998 Judgement Captain Vukhov Carlton Courthouse, Melbourne 1999 The Boneyard La Mama, Melbourne 1999 Fred Barry / Egyptian Man Fairfax Studio, Melbourne with MTC 2001 Crave Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney 2002 Uncle Bob Uncle Bob Red Stitch Actors Theatre, Melbourne 2002 The Fortunes of Richard Mahony Richard Mahony Brisbane Powerhouse, Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne with Playbox Theatre Company & QTC 2002 Rapture Tom Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne with Playbox Theatre Company 2003 Breath By Breath Carlton Courthouse, Melbourne with La Mama 2003 The Country Richard Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney 2004 Traitors Krasin, an Army officer Carlton Courthouse, Melbourne with La Mama 2004 Dinner Lars Fairfax Studio, Melbourne with MTC 2005 Weary - the Story of Sir Edward Dunlop Weary Dunlop Australian tour with McPherson Touring 2005 Oleanna The Butter Factory Theatre, Wodonga with HotHouse Theatre 2006 A Single Act Neil Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne with MTC 2007 Heaven Trades Hall, Melbourne with theatre@risk 2007 Evidence Trades Hall, Melbourne, with theatre@risk 2007 Hamlyn Trades Hall, Melbourne, with theatre@risk 2007 Black Box 149 Trades Hall, Melbourne, with theatre@risk 2007; 2008 Thom Pain (based on nothing) Thom Pain Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, Street 2, Acton, Canberra with MTC 2008 Frost/Nixon Fairfax Studio, Melbourne with MTC 2008 The Lower Depths Fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne with Ariette Taylor Productions 2008–2010 When the Rain Stops Falling Gabriel York Australian tour with Brink Productions, STCSA, STC & QTC 2009 Flashpoint: Big Noise / Topsy / Whiteley's Incredible Blue Fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne 2011 Song of the Bleeding Throat Abraham Lincoln The Eleventh Hour Theatre, Melbourne 2011 Whiteley's Incredible Blue ... an hallucination Brett Whiteley Fortyfivedownstairs for Melbourne International Arts Festival 2017 The Realistic Joneses Bob Red Stitch Actors Theatre 2019 The Tree of Man Old Treasury Building, Melbourne with Stork Theatre 2023 Green Time & Tempo Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne 2023 Good Works Alan / Brother Clement / Barry / Mr Donovan Mill Theatre, Canberra 2024 Terror Christian Lauterbach Mill Theatre, Canberra

As crew YearTitleRoleNotes 1985 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Lighting Designer Theatre 3, Acton, Canberra with Black Inc 1985 Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris Assistant Director Gorman House, Canberra with Black Inc 1985 Private Lives Lighting Designer Theatre 3, Acton with Canberra Repertory Society 1986 After Magritte Publicist Rehearsal Room, Civic Square, Canberra with Black Inc & Canberra Theatre Trust