Douglas Mackinnon
Born: 20th February 1961 (as Douglas Roderick Mackinnon)
Episodes Broadcast: 2008, 2012-2015
Douglas Mackinnon was born in Portree, on the Isle of Skye in Scotland.
He was interested in photography during his youth, but he was inspired
to pursue filmmaking after watching the 1934 film The Rugged
Island. Mackinnon began his training at the Glasgow School of
Building and Printing, and then moved on to the National Film and
Television School, from which he graduated in 1990. During his studies,
he directed the music video for the Proclaimers' 1987 single Letter
From America. Mackinnon wanted to work in drama, but he initially
found himself confined to documentary programmes such as Home. To
demonstrate the breadth of his skills, he wrote and directed the
Gaelic-language short film Sealladh (that is, Vision),
which earned widespread critical praise. It led to an invitation to
direct for The Bill, and Mackinnon was soon working on programmes
like Soldier Soldier, London's Burning and Out Of
Hours. In 1997, he directed the first two episodes of The
Grand, written by Russell T Davies.
Mackinnon found steady employment following the turn of the century,
with credits on shows like Nice Guy Eddie, Silent Witness,
Happy Hollidays, and Steven Moffat's Jekyll. He also
made his feature film debut with 2006's The Flying Scotsman
starring Jonny Lee Miller. With Davies having become the executive
producer of Doctor Who, their past association led to Mackinnon
directing 2008's The Sontaran
Stratagem / The Poison Sky, starring David Tennant as the
Tenth Doctor. Mackinnon moved on to Taggart and Line Of
Duty, but it wasn't long before he was back on Doctor Who,
which was now under Moffat's aegis. Two stories for Matt Smith's
Eleventh Doctor -- plus some mini-episodes destined for DVD/Blu-ray
boxed sets -- were followed by four for his successor, Peter Capaldi,
including the experimental thriller Listen in 2014. Mackinnon's
final work on Doctor Who was the 2015 Christmas special, The Husbands Of River Song.
Mackinnon worked with Moffat again on an episode of Sherlock, by
which time he was in demand for projects -- especially those with a
fantastical bent -- on both sides of the Atlantic. He made episodes of
Outlander and the American version of Dirk Gently's Holistic
Detective Agency, before earning credits as both director and
executive producer on Knightfall. Mackinnon again wore both hats
on Good Omens, the adaptation of the novel by Terry Pratchett
and Neil Gaiman, which co-starred Tennant.
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