Directing

Paul Seed

Born 1947-09-18 · Bideford, Devon UK

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 Davies from Michael Dobbs' novels and famously starring Ian Richardson as Francis Urquhart. He continued to direct for television drama series throughout the 1990s including A Touch of Frost and Playing the Field, and in 2002 directed all six episodes of the revival of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. In later years, he has directed episodes of New Tricks, Northern Lights and Lark Rise to Candleford, and in 2010 directed the BBC adaptation of Just William. Description above from the Wikipedia article Paul Seed, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.​

Acting credits

A Matter of Time poster
NR

A retrospective documentary looking at Graham Williams' three-year tenure as Doctor Who producer.

A Matter of Time

2007

The Human Factor poster
5.8

When a leak of information in the African section of British Intelligence is discovered, a security man is brought in to investigate.

The Human Factor

1979

A Thinking Man as Hero poster
NR

A television producer encounters personal problems while making a documentary about the philosopher Wittgenstein.

A Thinking Man as Hero

1973

Preview poster
NR

Four television critics gather in a Wardour Street preview theatre to see a documentary and get the surprise of their lives.

Preview

1982

Doctor Who: The Ribos Operation poster
6.8

The Doctor is summoned by the mysterious and powerful White Guardian, and sent on a quest to find the six segments of the Key to Time, which, once assembled, will restore balance to the Universe. Joining the Doctor and K9 is the smart and sassy Romana, a Time Lord fresh from the Academy. Landing on the wintry planet of Ribos to locate the first segment, the TARDIS crew quickly find themselves embroiled in a little local trouble with a pair of conmen and an unstable warlord...

Doctor Who: The Ribos Operation

1978

Darkness & Light: The Life of Graham Williams poster
NR

Family and colleagues remember the Doctor Who producer. In 1977, Birkenhead-born first-time producer Graham Williams took over one of the BBC’s most famous shows, Doctor Who. His turbulent three years in the role saw clashes with star Tom Baker, budgetary nightmares and catastrophic industrial action – but also the highest viewing figures the programme has ever achieved. Graham died in 1990, aged just 45, leaving behind a wife and three young children. In this intimate new film, Graham’s family, friends and colleagues look back on a life of darkness and light.

Darkness & Light: The Life of Graham Williams

2024

Nearly a Happy Ending poster
9.0

A play by Victoria Wood. Maureen has been faithfully attending the slimmers' club for months. Now the weeks of endless crispbreads have paid off - but is her optimism misplaced? Sequel to Wood's earlier play Talent, featuring the same characters of lifelong friends Maureen and Julie.

Nearly a Happy Ending

1980

The Ribos File poster
NR

The cast and crew of The Ribos Operation look back at the making of the story.

The Ribos File

2007

Behind the camera

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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