Hettie Macdonald is an English film,[1] theatre and television director.[2] Macdonald is known as the director of the Hugo Award-winning 2007 episode of Doctor Who, "Blink".[3][4] She has won numerous awards including one BAFTA Television Award for Best Single Drama,[5] one Hugo Award,[4] and a Grand Prix award. She has been nominated for numerous awards, including two BAFTA Television Awards.[6][7][8]
"Blink" is frequently named as the best episode of Doctor Who since the series' 2005 revival. In 2009, SFX named the episode's climax as the scariest moment in Doctor Who's history, citing its "perfect direction".[9] Macdonald would return to the series in 2015 to direct the year's opening story.
She has also directed for the stage. She studied English at Bristol University, before training as a director at the Royal Court Theatre, and was formerly associate director at the Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich.
Career
Macdonald made her feature-length film directorial debut on 1996's Beautiful Thing, which received mostly positive reviews and is considered by many to be an LGBTQ+ classic.[10] She did not direct another film for cinemas until 2023's The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, which has also received positive reviews.
