Film producer Paddy Higson has died at the age of 83 following a battle with cancer.
Her children Michael, Chris and Frances announced the news on Facebook, writing: ‘Yesterday evening our mum’s battle with cancer reached its inevitable conclusion and she pᴀssed gently away surrounded by her family and so much love.
‘Not only have the three of us lost our amazing and extraordinary mother, we as a wider community have lost a kind and generous, supportive and selfless pioneer.’
‘We are heartbroken but find comfort in knowing she is no longer suffering.’ They promised to announce funeral arrangements later.
Actor David Hayman described her as ‘the mother of the Scottish film industry’.
Paddy began her career with the BBC in the 1970s as a production secretary and went on to produce several episodes of Taggart, Monarch of the Glen, and Cardiac Arrest.
Film producer Paddy Higson has died at the age of 83 following a battle with cancer (pictured receiving a Scottish BAFTA in 2018)
She also worked director Bill Forsyth on Scottish film Gregory’s Girl.
In 2018, she was presented her with a Scottish BAFTA for for her outstanding contribution to the Scottish film industry.
She was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2023 King’s New Years Honours List for her services to the Film and Television Industry and to Diversity and Inclusion in Film and Television.
Speaking to GMAC about her work in 2019, she confessed: ‘I got involved in film by accident, if you like.
‘I was working at the BBC as a production secretary and the producer I was working for at the time got involved in doing some early television programmes. I went along as his ᴀssistant.
‘Through that, I met my husband who was a film editor. Later he had a company with another film editor and director, Murray Grigor – Viz Ltd. They made documentary films for an organisation called Films of Scotland.
‘They wanted somebody to organise things for them. I seemed to be quite good at it, so I got involved. I got a huge amount of pleasure from facilitating and making things happen.
‘I was very lucky because it was a very small industry… Everybody knew everybody. I knew Bill Forsyth quite well. He was wanting to make a film called That Sinking Feeling (1979) and I got involved in that. That project led to Gregory’s Girl (1981), then to all sorts of other films. That’s how it happened.’
