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.