Neil Dudgeon

About

Neil Dudgeon (born 2 January 1961) is an English actor who, since 2010, has played DCI John Barnaby in the ITV drama series Midsomer Murders. He replaced John Nettles in the lead role in 2011.

Dudgeon is the son of James C Dudgeon and June M Weeks. He has an older sister, Lynn W Dudgeon. He was born in Doncaster in 1961, where he was raised. At that time, it was a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, but is now in South Yorkshire. He attended Intake Secondary Modern school in Doncaster, among other schools. He acted in several school plays, (including Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead), then went on to study drama at the University of Bristol (1979–82).

Dudgeon made his first screen appearance in 1987. The following year, he appeared as a Second World War pilot in Piece of Cake, alongside Tim Woodward, Jeremy Northam and Nathaniel Parker.
As well as occasional appearances in series such as Casualty, London’s Burning and Lovejoy, he appeared in 1994 as Detective Constable Costello, a one-episode subordinate to Detective Inspector William Edward “Jack” Frost (played by David Jason), in the TV series A Touch of Frost, in 1998-99 as George…