Danny Piggott is a character appearing in the episode Country Matters of the ITV crime drama Midsomer Murders.
Danny dreamed of selling his bar and getting out of Elverton-cum-Latterley with his young son Otis. When planning committee chairman Dudley Painter met with Miranda Harvey, a representative of Goodfare Supermarkets, to try and had the village's old timber mill property evaluated for development. Danny rejoiced about the potential increased commerce that would give him a chance to afford the move. He also had an affair with Ginny Lamington, but he pursued Rose Southerly on the side, despite the fact she was a widow after her husband Giles died in a car crash, leaving her caring for their daughter Dora alone. Ginny told him she offered escort services, leaving out rose and Celia Patchett were offering similar, and Danny became a voyeur during her "services".
Danny saw one customer was a freelance environmental consultant Goodfare hired, Frank Hopkirk, and he revealed he'd oust the scam the company and painter were planning, to lie about an arsenic spillage that would reduce the price and make a swifter purchase without questions. Danny was furious he'd miss his opportunity, barged out to confront Hopkirk, and fought him until the man had a stroke. Danny, and Ginny when she arrived, drove Hopkirk out to the mil assuming he was dead, hiding him in Ginny's horse box. Danny waited to steal Hopkirk's documents, but he saw Hopkirk wake up and Ginny stab him to death. Hopkirk only had a critical stroke that paralyzed him, but Ginny was eager to frame Rose by using her kitchen knife as the murder weapon, out of revenge for catching the eyes of Dnany and Ginn's own husband Orlando. Ginny left the knife, Danny stole the papers, and they both went to the meeting that night. The tension between the villagers erupted into disastrous fighting, but it became more violent when Danny and Orlando knew they both wanted Rose. Otis would join Dora at the mill and find Hopkirk dead.
Danny eavesdropped on DC Ben Jones interrogating his uncle's friend to find one of the former workers, Johnny Crouch. Knowing he'd expose the truth, Danny broke through the front door, beat Crouch, and tried to kill him in a fight. Jones saved Crouch narrowly, but Crouch hit Jones with his kettle, giving Danny time to escape. Ginny was found out form her motive, evidence from Hopkirk's solicitation of the women around town, and Rose remembering when she stole the knife. Ginny tried to frame Danny by getting the tape recording of the stroke from her security camera as part of her prostitution, but Danny nicked it. His pin from the meeting, however, was at the scene, and he was arrested during a failed hasty escape after Otis inadvertently alerted him. The mask and the tape were there, but Danny pleaded he wasn't the murderer. Danny was confronted in interrogation, the police knowing the forensics proved his account right, so he agreed to cooperate to testify against Ginny for a reduced sentence.
Victims[]
- Frank Hopkirk - Had a stroke from an altercation with Danny Piggott, which knocked him unconscious and made him incapacitated. He was then transported to an old mill and as he regained consciousness and begged for help, was stabbed repeatedly in the chest with one of Rose Southerly's kitchen knives.
- Johnny Crouch - Knocked on his door, then punched him back into his house before engaging in a lengthy fight to the death with him. Was narrowly rescued by DC Ben Jones, who was hit with a kettle by Crouch to provide the time for Danny to briefly escape.