Freddie Bestigui is the film producer living in the flat below Lula Landry‘s. His film company is called BestFilms, and he is known for trying to “crowbar” anyone famous into his movies to attract extra press coverage, including Lula Landry and Deeby Macc. He had put a vase of roses in Deeby’s flat for the rapper’s arrival, but they were ruined after a police officer knocked them over the night of Lula’s fall, a situation that caused Bestigui to lose his cool.

Freddie is described as “built like a bull, with short legs, a broad barrel chest and a thick neck. His hair was grey and brush-cut; his face a crumpled mass of folds, bags and moles, out of which his fleshy nose protruded like a tumour.” His personality — brash, boorish and aggressive — is as attractive as his face.

He is married to Tansy (nee Chillingham), but the Bestiguis are in the process of getting a divorce, and Tansy has hired Tony Landry as her lawyer.

Throughout the investigation, Robin Ellacott phones Bestigui’s office to try to set up an interview with him for Strike, but her efforts are rebuffed. It isn’t until Strike makes his own way into Pinewood Studios (using outdated but genuine SIB documentation) that he manages to corner Freddie Bestigui and talk to him in person.