Paddy Higson obit

Scottish producer Paddy Higson, collaborator of Bill Forsyth and Peter Mullan, dies aged 83

 

She was not on the list.

Scottish producer and executive Paddy Higson, who worked with Bill Forsyth and led filmmaking charity GMAC, has died aged 83, of cancer.

Higson died on Sunday, April 13. “She passed gently away surrounded by her family and so much love,” read a Facebook post from her children Michael, Chris and Frances.

Higson was a production supervisor on Forsyth’s 1980 Scottish classic Gregory’s Girl and an associate producer and production manager on 1979’s That Sinking Feeling.

She also produced films including Charles Gormley’s 1982 romance Living Apart Together; and Cary Parker’s 1985 The Girl In The Picture starring Gregory’s Girl lead John Gordon Sinclair and Irina Brook.

Higson began her career as a production secretary at the BBC in the 1970s. Alongside her work with Forsyth, she also collaborated with Scottish talents including Peter Mullan, on his features Orphans in 1998 and The Magdalene Sisters in 2002, as executive producer and line producer respectively.

Higson also co-directed Billy Connolly: Big Banana Feet, a 1977 TV documentary following the comedian on a tour of Ireland.

Further TV credits included producing episodes of series Taggart, Monarch Of The Glen and Cardiac Arrest.

Higson was presented with a Scottish Bafta for outstanding contribution to the Scottish film industry in 2018. Presenting the award, actor David Hayman described her as “the mother of the Scottish film industry”.

Higson joined the board of Scottish film charity GMAC in 2014, and became the organisation’s CEO in 2019, before retiring in 2022.

“Not only have the three of us lost our amazing and extraordinary mother, we as a wider community have lost a kind and generous, supportive and selfless pioneer,” wrote Higson’s children in their Facebook post.

“We are heartbroken but find comfort in knowing she is no longer suffering.”

Producer

Return to Arabia

executive producer

ReleasedShort

2023

 

Amparo Fortuny in The Way I Welcome You (2024)

The Way I Welcome You

Short

executive producer

2024

 

Unseen

2.2

Short

executive producer

2022

 

Misha McCullagh, Lindsay Watson, Rosie Wilson, and Helen Cuinn in The Queen's Speech (2022)

The Queen's Speech

Short

executive producer: GMAC

2022

 

Dropping Off Michael (2015)

Dropping Off Michael

8.8

Short

producer

2015

 

Feetsteps

Short

executive producer

2003

 

The Magdalene Sisters (2002)

The Magdalene Sisters

7.7

line producer

2002

 

Mark Benton and Ricky Tomlinson in Nice Guy Eddie (2002)

Nice Guy Eddie

6.2

TV Series

producer

2002

1 episode

 

Richard Briers, Susan Hampshire, and Alastair Mackenzie in Monarch of the Glen (2000)

Monarch of the Glen

7.7

TV Series

producer

2000

4 episodes

 

Life Support (1999)

Life Support

5.9

TV Series

producer

1999

6 episodes

 

Home (1998)

Home

6.8

Short

executive producer

1998

 

Orphans (1998)

Orphans

7.0

executive producer

1998

 

Flight: Searching for Scotland (1997)

Flight: Searching for Scotland

Short

executive producer

1997

 

Colin Buchanan and Warren Clarke in Dalziel and Pascoe (1996)

Dalziel and Pascoe

7.4

TV Series

producer

1997

4 episodes

 

Latin for a Dark Room

Short

executive producer

1995

 

Helen Baxendale, Ace Bhatti, Jo Dow, Andrew Lancel, and Peter O'Brien in Cardiac Arrest (1994)

Cardiac Arrest

8.1

TV Series

producer (1996-1997)

1994–1996

 

Encounters (1992)

Encounters

TV Series

producer

1992–1993

5 episodes

 

Mark McManus in Taggart (1983)

Taggart

7.4

TV Series

producer

1993

2 episodes

 

Iain Glen in Silent Scream (1990)

Silent Scream

5.7

producer

1990

 

The Play on One (1988)

The Play on One

5.9

TV Series

producer

1990

1 episode

 

Halfway to Paradise

TV Series

executive producer

1988

1 episode

 

Brond (1987)

Brond

7.9

TV Series

producer

1987

3 episodes

 

The Girl in the Picture (1985)

The Girl in the Picture

6.1

producer

1985

 

Vincent Friell and Joe Mullaney in Restless Natives (1985)

Restless Natives

6.8

line producer

1985

 

Comfort and Joy (1984)

Comfort and Joy

6.6

associate producer

1984

 

Bless My Soul

TV Movie

executive producer

1984

 

Living Apart Together (1982)

Living Apart Together

6.4

producer

1982

 

That Sinking Feeling (1979)

That Sinking Feeling

6.7

associate producer

1979

 

Jenna Anne Nathan in Spicy Pink Tea

Spicy Pink Tea

Short

executive producer

 

Editor

Play for Today (1970)

Play for Today

7.8

TV Series

Editor (as Patrick Higson)

1972

1 episode

 

Look, Stranger (1970)

Look, Stranger

TV Series

Editor (as Patrick Higson)

1970

1 episode

 

A Boy in Harris

TV Movie

Editor (as Patrick Higson)

1966

 

Production Manager

John Gordon Sinclair in Gregory's Girl (1980)

Gregory's Girl

7.1

production supervisor

1980

 

That Sinking Feeling (1979)

That Sinking Feeling

6.7

production manager

1979

 

The Odd Man

production manager

1978

 

The Highlands and Islands: A Royal Tour

Short

post-production supervisor

1973