- Born
- Died
- Birth namePatricia Mary Russell
- Nickname
- Paddy
- Paddy Russell attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and started her career as an actress. She left acting to become a stage manager because it paid more money. She progressed from being director Rudolph Cartier's floor manager to becoming a director herself, becoming one of the first two women directors in BBC television. She finished her career having spent 40 successful years in television.
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous
- Of the four Doctor Who (1963) serials she directed, her favorite was "Pyramids of Mars" because she felt it had the best script. It is also a favourite for fans of the series, who have repeatedly voted it into the top ten stories ever.
- She died just two days earlier than composer Dudley Simpson, with whom she worked on three of her four Doctor Who (1963) serials.
- Professionally adopted the gender-ambiguous forename Paddy as a way of avoiding potential dissent from television staffers who may not otherwise have consented to working under a woman's direction.
- Was for a while the partner of film cameraman Tony Leggo.
- [on the difference between directing Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker] I found Jon [Jon Pertwee] much easier to work with. I found the first one with Tom Baker was alright but the second one was very, very difficult.
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