In our profile series, Tell Us In Ten, we ask cast members and creatives of top London shows to tell us all about themselves in just 10 questions. From how they got their start in the industry to their favourite shows, we want to know everything.
This week we chatted to A Shoddy Detective And The Art Of Deception‘s Neil Jennings who plays Detective Stuart Pidcock (the aforementioned shoddy detective). A laugh-out-loud comedy whodunnit featuring four actors, a dozen characters and a whole load of chaos, the show sold out at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and a 2025 UK Tour!
1. My route into theatre was…
Sort of accidental. I always wanted to be an animator, but every time I focused on my art qualifications, I’d fall into theatre as well. Eventually I realised that my current college couldn’t really help me with the resources and guidance I needed to successfully study animation, so I leant hard into theatre. And I’ve been following that path ever since. Now instead of creating animation, I hope to voice it instead.
2. My West End idol is…
Not really a West-End Idol, but a Broadway Idol. I love the work of Alex Brightman. He’s fantastic in Beetlejuice The Musical.
3. My colleagues would describe me as…
Older than them!!
4. My favourite show is…
That’s a really tricky one. I’ve done so many great shows with so many great companies. But I think I’d have to go with playing George Bailey in Mangled Yarn’s adaptation of It’s a Wonderful Life. It was a faithful yet irreverent telling of the story that allowed me to fully inhabit the darkness of that characters life, whilst also giving me free reign to break the fourth wall when needed, and directly address the audience. I love a fourth wall break, it both shocks and delights most audiences.
5. The career moment I’m most proud of is…
Back in 2023 I was honoured to be cast as one of the only hearing roles in the UK’s first deaf sitcom “Coffee Morning Club”. More than 90% of the cast and crew were either deaf or partially deaf, and this meant I had to learn some basic BSL very fast. Now, anytime I do a stage show with a signed performance, I go out of my way to learn some of my lines in BSL and add it to my performance.
6. The hardest part about my job is…
I never really leave the stage in this show and it’s very physically demanding, so it’s very difficult to stay hydrated.
7. If I wasn’t an actor, I would be…
As I said, I’d have loved to have worked in animation – particularly claymation, like Wallace and Gromit.
8. Something people don’t know about me is…
Well, if I answered that, people would know it about me! But for this particular role, perhaps people don’t know that I’m also an actor-musician who plays a wide variety of instruments (some better than others) and that for the past few years have been regularly playing a Panto Dame. Sans moustache of course.
9. The best piece of advice I’ve ever been given is…
Expectation breeds premeditated resentment. Basically, if you expect something to either happen or not happen, you will inevitably be let down by your imagined expectations. Just live in the moment and try your best.
10. The one thing I wish I could tell my younger self is…
Get another life skill that could potentially pay well! I wish I’d trained as a qualified teacher or an electrician. Acting work is not always regular and most actors need to find work elsewhere when not acting. As much as I love being a teaching assistant, it’s not a financially rewarding role.
You can see Neil in A Shoddy Detective And The Art Of Deception at the Arts Theatre on 13 and 27 October.
