Directing

Paul Seed

Born — Died

1947-09-18 — 2026-03-07

Place of birth

Bideford, Devon UK

Known for

Directing

Credits

40 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Paul Seed (1947-2026) was a British television director and former actor. Born in Bideford in Devon, he began his career as an actor, appearing in numerous television series, including Z Cars, Softly Softly: Task Force, Survivors, Doctor Who, Secret Army, Coronation Street, Crown Court and Tales of the Unexpected. In the late 1970s, Seed chose to pursue a career in TV drama directing and completed the BBC Directors' course, following which he directed numerous TV plays, series and serials during the 1980s. He is perhaps best known for directing the BBC's smash-hit 1990 mini-series House of Cards and its sequel To Play the King, adapted by Andrew Davi…

Known for

Doctor Who poster
7.9

The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.

Doctor Who

1963

Tales of the Unexpected poster
6.8

A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and a twist at the end. With early episodes written and presented by Roald Dahl, the series featured a plethora of big name guest stars.

Tales of the Unexpected

1979

Playhouse poster
7.0

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Playhouse

1974

Secret Army poster
7.8

World War II drama about covert organisation Lifeline helping allied airmen escape after being shot down in occupied Europe, working with the Resistance and hiding from the Gestapo.

Secret Army

1977

Doomwatch poster
6.4

Doomwatch is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC, which ran on BBC 1 between 1970 and 1972. The series was set in the then present-day, and dealt with a scientific government agency led by Doctor Spencer Quist, responsible for investigating and combating various ecological and technological dangers. The series was followed by a film adaptation produced by Tigon British Film Productions and released in 1972, and a revival TV film was broadcast on Channel 5 in 1999.

Doomwatch

1970

Survivors poster
7.9

Survivors is a British post-apocalyptic fiction television series devised by Terry Nation and produced by Terence Dudley at the BBC from 1975 to 1977. It concerns the plight of a group of people who have survived an accidentally released plague – referred to as "The Death" – that kills nearly the entire human population of the planet.

Survivors

1975

Film credits

1970s · 3 titles

Series credits

Doctor Who poster
7.9

The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.

Doctor Who

1963

Tales of the Unexpected poster
6.8

A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and a twist at the end. With early episodes written and presented by Roald Dahl, the series featured a plethora of big name guest stars.

Tales of the Unexpected

1979

Playhouse poster
7.0

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Playhouse

1974

Secret Army poster
7.8

World War II drama about covert organisation Lifeline helping allied airmen escape after being shot down in occupied Europe, working with the Resistance and hiding from the Gestapo.

Secret Army

1977

Secret Army poster
7.8

World War II drama about covert organisation Lifeline helping allied airmen escape after being shot down in occupied Europe, working with the Resistance and hiding from the Gestapo.

Secret Army

1977

Doomwatch poster
6.4

Doomwatch is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC, which ran on BBC 1 between 1970 and 1972. The series was set in the then present-day, and dealt with a scientific government agency led by Doctor Spencer Quist, responsible for investigating and combating various ecological and technological dangers. The series was followed by a film adaptation produced by Tigon British Film Productions and released in 1972, and a revival TV film was broadcast on Channel 5 in 1999.

Doomwatch

1970

Survivors poster
7.9

Survivors is a British post-apocalyptic fiction television series devised by Terry Nation and produced by Terence Dudley at the BBC from 1975 to 1977. It concerns the plight of a group of people who have survived an accidentally released plague – referred to as "The Death" – that kills nearly the entire human population of the planet.

Survivors

1975

No artwork available
NR

Escape is an American anthology series that aired on the NBC network from February 11 to April 1, 1973. The show was a production of Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited for Universal Television. It aired on Sunday evenings at 10 p.m. Eastern, following the NBC Mystery Movie.

Escape

1980

Behind the camera

Clash of the Santas poster
2.5

Christmas sequel to hit comedies, City Lights and Northern Lights. Follow the ups-and-downs of bickering best friends Colin and Howie at the World Santa Championships.

Clash of the Santas

2008

Roman Road poster
NR

Vince is a writer who suddenly decides to visit his old college friend Matt (who knows more than a bit about map-reading) to join him on an expedition. They both set off to walk the Roman road from Chichester to London, but it doesn't take long for it to become apparent that they're being chased by a mystery man in a fast car. It seems Vince has something in his backpack that someone wants very badly indeed.

Roman Road

2004

Too Late to Talk to Billy poster
7.0

Relationships are strained in a Belfast family, particularly between a father and his son. First in a multi-year trilogy.

Too Late to Talk to Billy

1982

A Rather English Marriage poster
5.5

A squadron leader and a retired milkman decide to bury their differences and move in together after they are both widowed on the very same night. They become a companionable if odd couple, until their unlikely friendship is threatened by the arrival of an alluring woman with a hidden agenda.

A Rather English Marriage

1998

Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes poster
8.0

Arthur Conan Doyle reveals the story behind Sherlock Holmes and his mysteries by telling about Dr. Joseph Bell, from whom he drew his inspiration, after meeting him as a medical student in Edinburgh. This TV movie served as the pilot for the later released minisseries Murder Rooms: Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes produced by the BBC. The series then picks up with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's time as a general practitioner in Southsea, solving mysteries with the help of his mentor, Dr Joseph Bell, who is still based in Edinburgh.

Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes

2000

A Coming to Terms for Billy poster
7.0

Belfast, 1980: July, the marching season ... Norman Martin, away for two years, returns with his 'English woman', Mavis. How will the family - particularly Billy - react? And has she achieved the impossible in mellowing the man? Third in the trilogy.

A Coming to Terms for Billy

1984

Christmas Lights poster
5.6

Robson Green and Mark Benton co-star in Christmas Lights, a one-off comedy drama for ITV1 centred on two lifelong friends who have always competed with each other. The festive season brings on new challenges and takes their rivalry to extremes resulting in the two friends forgetting what Christmas is really about. Can anything bring them to their senses?

Christmas Lights

2004

The Affair poster
4.0

A black soldier in World War II England begins an affair with a white woman whose husband is a soldier currently overseas in battle and in doubts of her relationship with him as she discovered he had been having an affair with his secretary.

The Affair

1995

Wynne and Penkovsky poster
NR

The true story of Greville Wynne, the British businessman who doubled as a spy on his trips to Russia, and Colonel Penkovsky, the high-ranking Soviet Intelligence officer who passed key information to the West.

Wynne and Penkovsky

1985

Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster poster
5.2

The real-life struggle to contain the environmental and financial damage caused to Alaska by the oil spill from the Exxon Valdez is dramatized.

Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster

1992

Ready When You Are, Mr McGill poster
7.3

Remake of the 1976 TV drama by Jack Rosenthal. An extra in a TV drama is finally given a line to say. He goes on to cause mounting chaos

Ready When You Are, Mr McGill

2004

The Picnic poster
NR

A widowed teacher marries again, but her hopes of her daughter accepting a stepfather her own age, and her anticipation of a birthday picnic by the river are clouded by a series of murders in the district and by a fear rooted rather nearer home.

The Picnic

1989

The Booze Cruise II: The Treasure Hunt poster
8.7

The Booze Cruise is a series of three feature length comedy dramas written for British television by Paul Minett and Brian Leveson. In this episode the same characters go on a treasure hunt, and end up with their car being washed out to sea on a beach. Marcus (a businessman who deals with Dave's company) first appears in this episode.

The Booze Cruise II: The Treasure Hunt

2005

A Matter of Choice for Billy poster
6.0

Belfast 1978: the Martin family, a year on. Norman is away in England, and his eldest son, Billy, and daughter, Lorna, are in charge of their younger sisters, Ann and Maureen. Second in the trilogy.

A Matter of Choice for Billy

1983

A Risk Worth Taking poster
3.5

A wife nursing her terminally ill husband finds herself falling for his friend.

A Risk Worth Taking

2008

Strange Relations poster
NR

A NYC psychiatrist is diagnosed with leukaemia - and when he finds out he was adopted, he travels to England in search of his birth mother and some answers.

Strange Relations

2001

The Booze Cruise poster
8.0

A group of men from Kent; Clive (Martin Clunes), Rob (Neil Pearson), Dave (Mark Benton), Maurice (Brian Murphy) and Daniel (Ben Whishaw) - go on a booze cruise to France, with mixed success and many mishaps along the way. Events involving their wives and families back home also form a large part of the plot.

The Booze Cruise

2003

Dirty Tricks poster
5.5

Martin Clunes plays Edward, an English tutor at an Oxford language school. Seemingly charming and thoughtful, Edward is really a calculating liar and manipulator. A series of events triggered at a dinner party leads Edward down a very precarious and hilarious path.

Dirty Tricks

2000

Long Term Memory poster
NR

Gerald has been separated from his wife and children for twenty-one years. Now ailing physically and mentally, he contacts them in the hope of a reunion.

Long Term Memory

1985

The Booze Cruise III: The Scattering poster
7.3

The gang return for their third adventure, this time on a trip to scatter Grace's mother's ashes on the Yorkshire Moors.

The Booze Cruise III: The Scattering

2006

Across the Water poster
1.0

When Martin's adopted daughter is kidnapped from their English home by a mysterious figure from Ireland, Martin decides to go in pursuit and finds himself across the water exploring his own background as a Protestant in Ulster.

Across the Water

1983

Fighting Back poster
10.0

A single mother returns to her home town after fifteen years of unhappy marriage and fights to make a better life for herself and her children.

Fighting Back

1986

Ex poster
10.0

Griff Rhys Jones stars as a writer on a popular television soap opera who falls in love with the show's leading lady but finds himself unable to break his ties with his ex-wife and their children.

Ex

1991

Inappropriate Behaviour poster
NR

Jo teaches ‘difficult’ children—American style. Young Helen, one of her most rebellious pupils, teaches horse-riding—Cotswold style. Who is going to learn the most?

Inappropriate Behaviour

1987