
Bill Paterson
Actor · b. 1945 · Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland, UK
William Tulloch Paterson (born 3 June 1945) is a Scottish actor. Throughout his career he has appeared regularly in radio drama and provided the narration for a large number of documentaries. Paterson has appeared in films and television series including Comfort and Joy (1984), Traffik (1989), Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1986), Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990), The Witches (1990), Wives and Daughters (1999), Sea of Souls (2004–2007), Amazing Grace (2006), Miss Potter (2006), Little Dorrit (2008), Doctor Who (2010), Outlander (2014), Fleabag (2016–2019), Inside No. 9 (2018), Good Omens (2019), Brassic (2020) and House of the Dragon (2022). He is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Scottish BAFTAs. William Tulloch Paterson was born in Glasgow on 3 June 1945. Paterson was raised in Dennistoun by his father, a plumber, and his mother, a hairdresser. He states that his interest in acting began with a school trip to the Citizens Theatre in the Gorbals in 1961. However, after school he chose to initially pursue a career based on an interest in architecture and spent three years as a quantity surveyor's apprentice before deciding to attend the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
Movies24
Movie5.9ComedyFantasyAn arrogant but charismatic ladies' man finds his life of money, power and casual flings upended when he wakes up in a parallel world dominated by women.
Ladies First
2026 · 546 votes
Movie7.0FantasyAdventureAn account of Baron Munchausen's supposed travels and fantastical experiences with his band of misfits.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
1988 · 1K votes
Movie7.0FantasyFamilyWhile staying at a hotel in England with his grandmother, Helga, a young boy named Luke inadvertently spies on a convention of witches. The Grand High Witch reveals a plan to turn all children into mice via a magical formula. When they discover the eavesdropper, the witches test the formula on him. Now, with the help of Helga and hotel manager Mr Stringer, Luke the mouse must fight back against the witches.
The Witches
1990 · 1.4K votes
Movie6.0ComedyRomanceSidney Young is a down-on-his-luck journalist. Thanks to a stint involving a pig and a glitzy awards ceremony, Sidney turns his fortunes around, attracting the attention of Clayton Harding, editor of New York-based glossy magazine 'Sharps', and landing the holy grail of journalism jobs. The Brit jets off to the Big Apple and moves from one blunder to the next.
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
2008 · 871 votes
Movie5.6DramaLife for the residents of a tower block begins to run out of control.
High-Rise
2015 · 1.3K votes
Movie7.5DramaHistoryNew York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg is on assignment covering the Cambodian Civil War, with the help of local interpreter Dith Pran and American photojournalist Al Rockoff. When the U.S. Army pulls out amid escalating violence, Schanberg makes exit arrangements for Pran and his family. Pran, however, tells Schanberg he intends to stay in Cambodia to help cover the unfolding story — a decision he may regret as the Khmer Rouge rebels move in.
The Killing Fields
1984 · 866 votes
Movie6.7DramaFamilyBeatrix Potter, the author of the beloved children's book "The Tale of Peter Rabbit", struggles for love, happiness and success.
Miss Potter
2006 · 572 votes
Movie7.4DramaAn aged Charlie Chaplin narrates his life to his autobiography's editor, including his rise to wealth and comedic fame from poverty, his turbulent personal life and his run-ins with the FBI.
Chaplin
1992 · 1.3K votes
Movie6.8DramaHistoryIn 1843, despite the fact that Dickens is a successful writer, the failure of his latest book puts his career at a crossroads, until the moment when, struggling with inspiration and confronting reality with his childhood memories, a new character is born in the depths of his troubled mind; an old, lonely, embittered man, so vivid, so human, that a whole world grows around him, a story so inspiring that changed the meaning of Christmas forever.
The Man Who Invented Christmas
2017 · 888 votes
Movie6.2ComedyDramaA young woman wishes to fulfill her mother's dream of opening her own bakery in Notting Hill, London. To do this, she enlists the help of an old friend and her grandma.
Love Sarah
2020 · 85 votes
Movie6.8DramaWarHaving helped his brother King Edward IV take the throne of England, the jealous hunchback Richard, Duke of Gloucester, plots to seize power for himself. Masterfully deceiving and plotting against nearly everyone in the royal court, including his eventual wife, Lady Anne, and his brother George, Duke of Clarence, Richard orchestrates a bloody rise to power before finding all his gains jeopardized by those he betrayed.
Richard III
1995 · 198 votes
Movie4.9AdventureFantasyWorld-famous pop group the Spice Girls zip around London in their luxurious double-decker tour bus having various adventures and performing for their fans.
Spice World
1997 · 518 votes
Movie6.3RomanceDramaAfter a whirlwind romance with a wealthy widower, a naïve bride moves to his family estate but can't escape the haunting shadow of his late wife.
Rebecca
2020 · 1.2K votes
Movie6.4DramaHistoryThe fate of a Hungarian Jewish family throughout the 20th century.
Sunshine
1999 · 158 votes
Movie5.0ComedyWarA cinema remake of the classic sitcom Dad's Army (1968). The Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard platoon deal with a visiting female journalist and a German spy as World War II draws to its conclusion.
Dad's Army
2016 · 226 votes
Movie6.6DramaMusicThe tragic story of world-renowned cellist Jacqueline du Pré, as told from the point of view of her sister, flautist Hilary du Pré-Finzi.
Hilary and Jackie
1998 · 119 votes
Movie6.2ComedyActionIt's 1649: Mazarin hires the impoverished D'Artagnan to find the other musketeers: Cromwell has overthrown the English king, so Mazarin fears revolt, particularly from the popular Beaufort. Porthos, bored with riches and wanting a title, signs on, but Aramis, an abbé, and Athos, a brawler raising an intellectual son, assist Beaufort in secret. When they fail to halt Beaufort's escape from prison, the musketeers are expendable, and Mazarin sends them to London to rescue Charles I. They are also pursued by Justine, the avenging daughter of Milady de Winter, their enemy 20 years ago. They must escape England, avoid Justine, serve the Queen, and secure Beauford's political reforms.
The Return of the Musketeers
1989 · 162 votes
Movie6.4DramaHistoryThis powerful follow-up to “The Gathering Storm” follows Churchill from 1940 to 1945 as he guided his beleaguered nation through the crucible of the war years--even as his marriage was encountering its own struggles.
Into the Storm
2009 · 91 votes
Movie5.2DramaComedyAmerican couple Jake and Tina are living in an expensive London hotel above their means, incurring a sizeable debt. When they are asked to pay a lavish dinner bill and Jake's card is declined, he suggests they sell Tina's tiny, expensive Henry Moore sculpture to cover the debt. After they hatch a scheme to claim the sculpture was stolen in order to collect insurance on it, the sculpture mysteriously goes missing.
The Object of Beauty
1991 · 49 votes
Movie6.9DramaThe true story of William Wilberforce and his courageous quest to end the British slave trade. Along the way, Wilberforce meets intense opposition, but his minister urges him to see the cause through.
Amazing Grace
2007 · 332 votes
Movie5.1ComedyRomancePoised to attend Oxford University, 19-year-old Charles Highway decides it's high time to have a romantic encounter with an older woman. With the help of a computer program and several eccentric relatives, Highway sets his sights on seducing Rachel Noyce, a stunning American in her 20s. However, Highway has his work cut out for him. Noyce has a boyfriend, DeForest, and is not exactly receptive to Highway's advances — at first, anyway.
The Rachel Papers
1989 · 38 votes
MovieDocumentaryTV MovieBoasting an amazing selection of the most watched, most influential and most highly acclaimed programmes ever made, The 50 Greatest Television Dramas presents a long overdue assessment of the rich heritage television drama has to offer. Channel 4 invited over 200 of Britain's top television drama professionals – writers, directors, producers and commissioners – to take part in an exclusive poll to discover what they consider the finest dramas ever produced.
Movie6.4DramaHistoryA psychological, heart-wrenching love story that provides a unique and inside look at Charles Darwin. Torn between faith and science, he struggles to finish his legendary book "On the Origin of Species," which goes on to become the foundation for evolutionary biology.
Creation
2009 · 251 votes
Movie6.4ComedyDramaColin has rented a stately country home for his extended family’s New Year celebrations. He’s the centre of attention until his estranged brother David unexpectedly arrives, throwing the family dynamic far off orbit.
Happy New Year, Colin Burstead
2018 · 56 votes
Series24
TV7.6Action & AdventureDramaThe Doctor is a Time Lord: a 900 year old alien with 2 hearts, part of a gifted civilization who mastered time travel. The Doctor saves planets for a living—more of a hobby actually, and the Doctor's very, very good at it.
Doctor Who
2005 · 3.5K votes
TV8.4Sci-Fi & FantasyDramaThe Targaryen dynasty is at the absolute apex of its power, with more than 15 dragons under their yoke. Most empires crumble from such heights. In the case of the Targaryens, their slow fall begins when King Viserys breaks with a century of tradition by naming his daughter Rhaenyra heir to the Iron Throne. But when Viserys later fathers a son, the court is shocked when Rhaenyra retains her status as his heir, and seeds of division sow friction across the realm.
House of the Dragon
2022 · 7.2K votes
TV8.2DramaSci-Fi & FantasyThe story of Claire Randall, a married combat nurse from 1945 who is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743, where she is immediately thrown into an unknown world where her life is threatened. When she is forced to marry Jamie, a chivalrous and romantic young Scottish warrior, a passionate affair is ignited that tears Claire's heart between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.
Outlander
2014 · 3K votes
TV4.4Talk ShowA topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One.
The One Show
2006 · 31 votes
TV6.6DramaPlay for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.
Play for Today
1970 · 10 votes
TV7.5DocumentaryHorizon tells amazing science stories, unravels mysteries and reveals worlds you've never seen before.
Horizon
1964 · 35 votes
TV7.5CrimeDramaCreated from the novels by award winning crime writer Ann Cleeves, Shetland follows DI Jimmy Perez and his team as they investigate crime within the close knit island community. In this isolated and sometimes inhospitable environment, the team have to rely on a uniquely resourceful style of policing.
Shetland
2013 · 216 votes
TV7.8DramaCrimeThe adventures of Miss Jane Marple, an elderly spinster living in the quiet little village of St Mary Mead. During her many visits to friends and relatives in other villages, Miss Marple often stumbles upon mysterious murders which she helps solve. Although the police are sometimes reluctant to accept Miss Marple's help, her reputation and unparalleled powers of observation eventually win them over.
Agatha Christie's Marple
2004 · 151 votes
TV7.8Sci-Fi & FantasyDramaAfter years of imprisonment, Morpheus — the King of Dreams — embarks on a journey across worlds to find what was stolen from him and restore his power.
The Sandman
2022 · 2.8K votes
TV7.2DocumentaryOmnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast mainly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The programme was the successor to the long-running arts-based series 'Monitor'. It ran from 1967 until 2003, usually being transmitted on Sunday evenings. During its 35-year history, the programme won 12 Bafta awards. Among the series' best remembered documentaries are Cracked Actor, a profile of David Bowie, and Rene Magritte, a graduate film by David Wheatley, 'Madonna: Behind the American dream', a film produced by Nadia Hagger, and a profile of the British film director Ridley Scott. For a season in 1982, the series was in a magazine format presented by Barry Norman. The series was replaced by 'Imagine' hosted by Alan Yentob.
Omnibus
1967 · 9 votes
TV7.5DramaMysteryTormented and bedridden by a debilitating disease, a mystery writer relives his detective stories through his imagination and hallucinations.
The Singing Detective
1986 · 46 votes
TV8.2Sci-Fi & FantasyAction & AdventureDepicting an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant, the series weaves deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future.
Halo
2022 · 3.3K votes
TV7.9MysteryDramaAs WW2 rages around the world, DCS Foyle fights his own war on the home-front as he investigates crimes on the south coast of England. Foyle's War opens in southern England in the year 1940. Later series sees the retired detective working as an MI5 agent operating in the aftermath of the war.
Foyle's War
2002 · 112 votes
TV8.1ComedyMysteryAn anthology of darkly comic twisted tales, each one taking place behind a door marked 'number 9'.
Inside No. 9
2014 · 288 votes
TV8.0ComedyDramaAziraphale and Crowley, of Heaven and Hell respectively, have grown rather fond of the Earth. So it's terrible news that it's about to end. The armies of Good and Evil are amassing. The Four Horsemen are ready to ride. Everything is going according to the Divine Plan...except that someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist. Can our heroes find him and stop Armageddon before it's too late?
Good Omens
2019 · 2.4K votes
TV7.0DramaAdapted from the hit US series, Law & Order: UK follows a team of police detectives and prosecutors representing the public interest in the criminal justice system.
Law & Order: UK
2009 · 45 votes
TV6.0DramaScreenplay was a drama anthology television series, broadcast on BBC between 1986 and 1993. Numerous episodes were produced including one named "Boswell and Johnson's Tour of the Western Islands" starring Robbie Coltrane as English writer Samuel Johnson who in the autumn of 1773, visits the Hebrides off the north-west coast of Scotland. That episode was directed by John Byrne and co-starred John Sessions and Celia Imrie.
ScreenPlay
1986 · 2 votes
TV8.3ComedyDramaA group of working-class friends finding unconventional ways to win at life in suburban northern England. These lads have dealt, scammed, bribed and conned their way through adolescence, but now, their dealing and stealing is catching up with them and a whole load of trouble is heading their way.
Brassic
2019 · 257 votes
TV8.3ComedyDramaA portrait into the mind of a dry-witted, sexual, angry, porn-watching, grief-riddled woman, trying to make sense of the world. As she hurls herself headlong at modern living, Fleabag is thrown roughly up against the walls of contemporary London, with all its frenetic energy, late nights, and bright lights.
Fleabag
2016 · 2K votes
TV7.0DramaComedyAn anthology of plays and novels adapted into feature length TV movies, broadcast on BBC2 from September 1977 to April 1979.
BBC2 Play of the Week
1977 · 1 votes
TV7.0RealityThe Repair Shop is a workshop of dreams, where broken or damaged cherished family heirlooms are brought back to life. Furniture restorers, horologists, metal workers, ceramicists, upholsterers, and all manner of skilled craftsmen and women have been brought together to work in one extraordinary space, restoring much-loved possessions to their former glory.
The Repair Shop
2017 · 29 votes
TV7.2DramaAnthology drama series.
Screen One
1989 · 5 votes
TV6.0DramaA series of television plays, some original, some based on pre-existing plays or novels.
The Play on One
1988 · 3 votes
TV6.9MysteryCrimeComedienne Dawn French tackles dark, tongue-in-cheek thrillers as her various characters embark on a different mystery every episode. In one way or another, she is involved with murder — either committing the crime or even getting bumped off herself!
Murder Most Horrid
1991 · 15 votes