Neil Pearson

For the Australian rules footballer, see Neil Pearson (footballer).

Neil John Pearson (born 27 April 1959) is a British actor, known for his work on television. He was nominated for the 1994 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor for Between the Lines (1992–1994). His other television roles include Drop the Dead Donkey (1990–1998), All the Small Things (2009), Waterloo Road (2014–2015), and In the Club (2014–2016). His film appearances include all three of the Bridget Jones films. He is also an antiquarian book dealer who specialises in the expatriate literary movement of Paris between the World Wars.

Neil Pearson
Born	Neil John Pearson (1959-04-27) 27 April 1959 London, England
Alma mater	Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1980–present
Television	Drop the Dead Donkey (1990–1998) Between The Lines (1992–1994) Waterloo Road (2014–2015) In the Club (2014–2016)

Early life

Pearson grew up in Battersea and Balham, London. His father, a panel beater, left home when he was five; his mother was a legal secretary. He was a boarder at Woolverstone Hall School near Ipswich, Suffolk where he first learned to act. He attended the Central School of Speech and Drama from 1977 to 1980.

Stage, television and film work

One of Pearson's early appearances was in 1984 alongside Leonard Rossiter in Joe Orton's play Loot at the Lyric Theatre in London; Rossiter died in his dressing-room during a later performance. He won a part in Hat Trick Productions' sitcom Chelmsford 123 and also appeared with Hat Trick executive Jimmy Mulville in That's Love. Pearson narrated Colin Wyatt's animated series The Poddington Peas in 1986.

It was in the roles of associate editor and office lothario and gambling addict, Dave Charnley, in the sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey - another Hat Trick show - and of Detective Superintendent Tony Clark in the thriller Between the Lines (1992–94), that he made his greatest impact on the viewing public.

Since then he has appeared in such varied roles as Dr Jameson in Rhodes (1996), Jack Green in the children's serial The Magician's House (1999), Trevor Heslop in Trevor's World of Sport (2003) and John Diamond in A Lump in My Throat (2003). He has also been in several films, including The Secret Rapture (1993), Fever Pitch (1997) and Bridget Jones's Diary (2001). He played Major Steve Arnold, the American interrogator, in Taking Sides at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in 2003. He played Rob in The Booze Cruise (2003), and then also in the second and third sequels in 2005 and 2006. He appeared in the 2006 Radio Four series Vent as Ben. He played the choirmaster Michael Caddick in the BBC drama All the Small Things in 2009. He also appeared in episodes of Midsomer Murders and Lewis - in the former, appearing alongside Drop the Dead Donkey co-star Jeff Rawle; and in the latter, again playing a gambling addict alongside Haydn Gwynne, another star of Drop the Dead Donkey - and played Doug Anderson in an episode of Death in Paradise in 2013.

In the Inspector George Gently episode Goodbye to China (2011), Pearson acts as a former Sergeant of DCI Gently, who now has risen in rank above his former master. In 2014 Pearson became a series regular in Waterloo Road as new headteacher Vaughan Fitzgerald.

Pearson was a judge on Channel 4's The Play's the Thing, which sought to find a play written by an unknown writer for a run in the West End. The winning play, written by Kate Betts, was called On the Third Day and opened at the New Ambassadors Theatre in London in June 2006. Pearson appeared in a touring revival of Sir Peter Hall's production of Harold Pinter's Old Times in 2006, and in a production of Tom Stoppard's play Arcadia at the Duke of York's Theatre, London, in 2009.

After obtaining a collection of original Hancock's Half Hour radio scripts and realising that some of the corresponding recordings no longer existed, he conceived and subsequently co-produced The Missing Hancocks, a series of re-creations of selected wiped episodes for BBC Radio 4, which debuted in October 2014.

In 2020, he was in season 8, episode 4 of Father Brown. He also appeared as Eric Morley in an episode of The Reckoning (2023), a miniseries about the life of Jimmy Savile.

Pearson has acted in several BBC Radio Dramas including the black comedy series Vent as comatose writer Ben Smith, adaptations of the Martin Beck novels playing Beck's sidekick Detective Lennart Kollberg, and House of Ghosts: A Case for Inspector Morse where he played the late Colin Dexter's iconic fictional detective Inspector Morse.

Antiquarian book business

Pearson is the author of a book on the publisher Jack Kahane, Obelisk: A History of Jack Kahane and the Obelisk Press. He is a collector of rare drama scripts and in 2011 he opened an online bookshop specialising in theatrical material. He has a special interest in the expatriate literary movement of Paris between the wars.

Personal interests

He strongly identifies with the British Left - having made a party election broadcast for the Labour Party for the 1994 European Elections, though he later supported Ken Livingstone when Livingstone ran as an independent candidate for Mayor of London in 2000. For many years he has also supported the National Council for One Parent Families, having written about his family background for the organisation, and also raised £32,000 for the charity on a celebrity edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.

He is a keen Texas hold 'em poker player and participated in the 2007 World Series of Poker Europe event in London. Pearson is also a fan of Tottenham Hotspur and regularly attends home games. In 2007 he assisted with fundraising to renovate the Bristol Old Vic Theatre.

Filmography

Key

†	Denotes works that have not yet been released

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Oi for England	Napper	Television film
1983	Privates on Parade	Pianist
	Submariners	'Cock' Roach	Television film
1988	The Bell-Run	Joe Glover	Television film
1989	Work Experience	Greg	Short film
1993	The Secret Rapture	Patrick Steadman
1995	Latin for a Dark Room	William	Short film
1997	Fever Pitch	Mr. Ashworth
1998	Heaven on Earth	Richard Bennett	Television film
1999	Bostock's Cup	Gerry Tudor	Television film
	The Mystery of Men	Julian Wyatt	Television film
2001	Bridget Jones's Diary	Richard Finch
	Trance	Brendan	Television film
	A Lump in My Throat	John Diamond	Television film
2003	The Booze Cruise	Rob	Television film
2004	Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason	Richard Finch
2005	The Booze Cruise II: The Treasure Hunt	Rob	Television film
2006	The Booze Cruise III: The Scattering	Rob	Television film
	The Kindness of Strangers	Joe Farrelly	Television film
2007	Clapham Junction	Frank Winterton	Television film
	Frankenstein	Professor Waldman	Television film
2008	Pictures	Matthew	Short film
2010	On Expenses	Hugh Tomlinson	Television film
2014	The Portrait	Roger	Short film
2016	ID2: Shadwell Army	Dave
	Bridget Jones's Baby	Richard Finch
2017	In Extremis	Doctor
2025	†Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy	Richard Finch	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Play for Tomorrow	Adam	Episode: "Shades"
1985	Drummonds	Andy Sykes	Recurring role; 5 episodes
1987	Up Line	Nik Targett	Miniseries; 4 episodes
	Intimate Contact	Morrie	Miniseries; 4 episodes
1988	Les Girls	Adman	Episode: "Spanners"
	ScreenPlay	Jack Bing	Episode: "Eskimos Do It"
	This Is David Lander	Simon Forbes	Episode: "Reduced to Tears"
1988–1990	Chelmsford 123	Mungo	Series regular; 13 episodes
1989	The Poddington Peas	Narrator	Series regular; 13 episodes
1989–1992	That's Love	Gary	Series regular; 15 episodes
1990	Harry Enfield's Television Programme	War Correspondent	Episode: "Series 1, Episode 1"
1990–2008	Drop the Dead Donkey	Dave Charnley	Series regular; 66 episodes
1991	Shrinks	Peter McCraken	Episode: "Episode 5"
1992–1994	Between the Lines	Tony Clark	Series regular; 35 episodes
1996	Screen Two	Tom Peel	Episode: "Crossing the Floor"
	Rhodes	Dr. Leander Starr Jameson	Miniseries; 7 episodes
1997	See You Friday	Greg	Recurring role; 2 episodes
1999–2000	The Magician's House	Jack Green	Series regular; 12 episodes
2000	Dirty Work	Leo Beckett	Series regular; 6 episodes
2001	The Whistle-Blower	Dominic Tracey	Miniseries; 2 episodes
	Armadillo	Rintoul	Miniseries; 3 episodes
2002	Murder in Mind	Stuart Wilsher	Episode: "Memories"
2003	Trevor's World of Sport	Trevor Heslop	Series regular; 7 episodes
2006	The State Within	Phil Lonsdale	Miniseries; 6 episodes
	Terry Pratchett's Hogfather	Quoth the Raven	Miniseries; 2 episodes
2008	Lewis	Dr. Stringer	Episode: "And the Moonbeams Kiss the Sea"
	Apparitions	Governor Lassiter	Episode: "Episode 3"
2009	All the Small Things	Michael Caddick	Series regular; 6 episodes
2010	Agatha Christie's Marple	Inspector Lejeune	Episode: "The Pale Horse"
2011	Midsomer Murders	Eddie Stanton	Episode: "Dark Secrets"
	Inspector George Gently	Alan Shepherd	Episode: "Goodbye China"
2012	Monroe	Alistair Gillespie	Series regular; 6 episodes
2013	Death in Paradise	Doug Anderson	Episode: "A Dash of Sunshine"
2014–2015	Waterloo Road	Vaughan Fitzgerald	Series regular; 20 episodes
2014–2016	In the Club	Jonathan Lambert	Recurring role; 6 episodes
2017	The Other One	Paul	Episode: "Pilot"
2019	Sticks and Stones	Phil	Miniseries; 1 episode
2020	Father Brown	Sir Toby Dobson	Episode: "The Wisdom of the Fool"
2023	The Reckoning	Eric Morley	Miniseries; 1 episode
2024	Silent Witness	DI Steve Tudor	Episode: "Kings Cross"

External links

• BBC Radio Gloucestershire interview with Neil 03/07
• Neil Pearson at IMDb