Born: 4th July 1928 (as Patricia Mary Russell)
Died: 2nd November 2017 (aged 89 years)
Episodes Broadcast: 1966, 1974-1975, 1977

Thirty-eight years before she blazed a trail as Doctor Who's first female director, Patricia Russell was born in Highgate, London. With the outbreak of the Second World War, she was initially evacuated to an estate in the West Country with her school, but was sent back home after breaking curfew to play with the owner's horses. She subsequently relocated to Croxley Green, Hertfordshire with her family. Russell was determined to become an actress, but her admission to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama came over her father's objections, and only after she agreed to incorporate stage management into her studies. She won her first roles while still a student, in two 1950 installments of BBC Sunday-Night Theatre. She adopted the stage name “Paddy” Russell to avoid confusion with another actress called Patricia Russell.

The second of Russell's plays for the BBC saw her not only perform, but also step into the shoes of its ailing stage manager. The experience helped Russell realise that had a penchant for television production -- and that it was better remunerated than acting. She became the BBC's first female stage manager, working under director Rudolph Cartier on programmes such as The Quatermass Experiment (on which she also took small roles in front of the camera). Told that she would never be able to do the job like a man, she promised instead to do it like herself.

Russell was given her first directing assignment only after she threatened to resign from the BBC

Russell continued to break barriers, albeit not without resistance. She completed the BBC's internal directors' course, but was given her first assignment only after she threatened to resign from the Corporation. She worked on shows like Compact before going freelance. Russell's career soon began to take off; during a two-year period, she both directed and produced The Massingham Affair, Hit And Run, Reluctant Bandit and an adaptation of Treasure Island. Having been unable to direct Inside The Spaceship in early 1964 due to other commitments, Russell's first work on Doctor Who wound up being The Massacre Of St Bartholomew's Eve two years later. Assignments in the late Sixties included The Newcomers, Quick Before They Catch Us, and the first of more than fifty episodes of Z Cars.

Russell was persuaded to return to Doctor Who in the mid-Seventies, when Jon Pertwee was starring as the Third Doctor. Although she rejected an assignment on Death To The Daleks, she agreed to make Invasion Of The Dinosaurs instead. Russell then directed two stories featuring Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor. The first of these was the 1975 classic Pyramids Of Mars, but 1977's Horror Of Fang Rock was a frustrating experience which left her determined never to work on Doctor Who again. Amongst Russell's other credits during the Seventies were Little Women, The Moonstone, My Old Man (which she also produced) and The Omega Factor. Towards the end of the decade, she began working regularly for Yorkshire Television, including the game show 3-2-1 and almost eighty installments of Emmerdale Farm.

Winding down her career, Russell started directing the Yorkshire regional news programme Calendar in 1981. She also began mentoring young directors. Russell retired around the end of the decade, channelling her energies towards the care of stray cats. She died following an illness, on November 2nd, 2017.