Roger Anthony Lloyd Pack (8 February 1944 – 16 January 2014) was a British actor. He is best known for playing Trigger in Only Fools and Horses from 1981 to 2003, and Owen Newitt in The Vicar of Dibley from 1994 to 2007. He later starred as Tom in The Old Guys with Clive Swift. He is also well known for the role of Bartemius Crouch in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and for his appearances in Doctor Who as John Lumic in the episodes "Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel".

Early life

Lloyd Pack was born on 8 February 1944 in Islington, London, the son of actor Charles Lloyd Pack (1902–1983) and Ulrike Elisabeth (née Pulay, 1921–2000), an Austrian Jewish refugee who worked as a travel agent. His uncle was George Pulay, one of the secret listeners to German POW in Trent Park during World War II.

Lloyd Pack attended Bedales School near Petersfield in Hampshire, where he achieved A Level passes in English, French and Latin. He subsequently trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), graduating in 1965 with an Acting Diploma.

Career

Lloyd Pack began his acting career at Northampton's Royal Theatre, making his stage debut in the Thomas Dekker play The Shoemaker's Holiday.

He featured on an episode of The Professionals ("Long Shot", 1978) as a terrorist hitman.

Only Fools and Horses

On British television, he was best known for portraying Trigger, Del Boy's slow-witted "village idiot" friend in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, from 1981 to 2003.

Lloyd Pack was cast by pure chance: an Only Fools and Horses executive producer, Ray Butt, hired him to portray the character Trigger after seeing him in a stage play, and had only attended that play to observe potential Del Boy actor Billy Murray.

Later career

He was also known for his role in The Vicar of Dibley as Owen Newitt and to international audiences for his performance as Bartemius Crouch Sr. in the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In addition, he had a semi-regular role during the 1990s as the plumber Jake "The Klingon" Klinger, Ben Porter's arch-rival, in the sitcom 2point4 Children.

In 2005, he appeared in the second series of ITV's Doc Martin as a farmer who held a grudge against Dr Ellingham for what he believed was the malpractice-related death of his wife. In 2006, he played John Lumic and provided the voice of the Cyber-Controller in two episodes of Doctor Who, "Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel", opposite David Tennant, who had played his son in the same Harry Potter film. Lloyd Pack's final TV appearance was in Law & Order: UK as Alex Greene.

He voiced the pre-match build-up montage video shown ahead of all Tottenham Hotspur's home matches, which is still played today.

In June 2008, he appeared as a guest on the BBC's The Politics Show, arguing the case for better-integrated public transport (specifically railways), and, in January 2012, he and fellow actor Sarah Parish supported a campaign to raise £1 million for The Bridge School in Islington.

In 2012, he portrayed the Duke of Buckingham in the play Richard III, and in 2013, portrayed Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night, both at the Apollo Theatre, London.

Personal life

Lloyd Pack was married twice: first to Sheila Ball, from whom he was divorced in 1972, and secondly to the poet and dramatist Jehane Markham (daughter of David Markham), whom he married in 2000. He had a daughter, actress Emily Lloyd, and three sons. He later lived in Kentish Town, north London, and also had a home near Fakenham in Norfolk.

Lloyd Pack was a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur.

He was an honorary patron of the London children's charity Scene & Heard.

In a 2008 interview, when asked what profession he would have chosen aside from acting, Lloyd Pack said: "Psychiatrist or a psychoanalyst or something in the psycho world because I've always been interested in that... or I might have been a photographer... I also would have loved to have been a musician." In that same interview, he listed his favourite directors as Peter Gill, Harold Pinter, Richard Eyre, Thea Sharrock and Tina Packer, and listed actor Paul Scofield as both a favourite and influence.

Political views

Lloyd Pack supported the Labour Party and campaigned for Ken Livingstone in the 2012 London mayoral election. However, in 2013, he signed a letter in The Guardian stating he had withdrawn his support from the Labour Party, in favour of a new party of the left, Left Unity.

Death and tributes

Lloyd Pack died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Kentish Town, aged 69, on 16 January 2014. His funeral was held at the church of St. Paul's, Covent Garden. It was attended by former fellow cast members Sir David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst, John Challis and Sue Holderness. He was buried at Highgate Cemetery East.

Nigel Havers, Stephen Rea, Miranda Richardson, Alison Steadman, Kathy Burke and Joely Richardson paid tribute to him.

In March that year, the Sport Relief special of Only Fools and Horses was dedicated to the memory of both Lloyd Pack and John Sullivan. Similarly, the final episode of the lockdown edition of The Vicar of Dibley ended with a tribute just before the closing credits reading, "In loving memory of Liz, John, Emma and Roger", paying tribute to him and three other late Dibley cast members, (Liz Smith, John Bluthal and Emma Chambers). The third episode of series 8 of Law & Order: UK, which Lloyd Pack appeared in, aired two months after his death and similarly ended with a tribute title card.

In 2025, Lloyd Pack appeared on a British postage stamp issued as part of a special set by Royal Mail, which commemorated the series The Vicar of Dibley.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

• 1984 Wild Honey by Anton Chekhov, playing Osip (Best Supporting Actor, BTA Awards 1984)

• 1984 One for the Road by Harold Pinter (Victor) world premiere at the Lyric Hammersmith

• 1986 Kafka's Dick by Alan Bennett, playing Kafka (world premiere at The Royal Court)

• 1985 The Deliberate Death of a Polish Priest by Ronald Harwood (Lt. Chmielewski) premiere at Almeida Theatre

• 1989 A Flea in Her Ear (playing Étienne Plucheux) by Georges Feydeau translated by John Mortimer, directed by Richard Jones, Old Vic

• 1995 Tartuffe by Moliere playing the title role at the Royal Exchange, Manchester

• 1999 'Art' at the Theatre Royal, Bath and in 2000 at the Bristol Hippodrome

• 2005 Blue/Orange by Joe Penhall, as Robert at the Sheffield Crucible

• 2006 Dick Whittington, pantomime by Mark Ravenhill at the Barbican Centre, as Sarah the cook

• 2007 Dealer's Choice by Patrick Marber, playing the part of Ash, at the Menier Chocolate Factory, directed by Samuel West

• 2007 The Last Laugh, by Kōki Mitani (English version of Warai no Daigaku), playing The Censor, Japan.

• 2012 The Trojan Women, Caroline Bird's adaptation of the tragedy by Euripides, playing Poseidon, at the Gate Theatre, Notting Hill, London

• 2012 Richard III by William Shakespeare, playing Duke of Buckingham at the Globe Theatre, South Bank, London

• 2013 Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare playing Sir Andrew Aguecheek

References

External links

• Roger Lloyd-Pack at the British Film Institute

• BBC biography

• BBC interview about appearing in

• Roger Lloyd Pack Archive at V&A

• list of stage roles at Theatricalia