---
name: "Andy De Emmony"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/andy-de-emmony"
fi1m_id: "andy-de-emmony"
imdb_id: "nm0214320"
tmdb_id: 109544
wikidata_id: "Q33333043"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "1 January 1965"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 7
average_fi1m_score: 76
average_as: "director"
average_over: 7
updated: "2026-10-07T16:51:18.676717+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Andy De Emmony

## Identity

Andy De Emmony

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/andy-de-emmony
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** andy-de-emmony
- **IMDb ID:** nm0214320
- **TMDB ID:** 109544
- **Wikidata ID:** Q33333043
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_De_Emmony, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33333043, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0214320/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/109544

Director. Born 1 January 1965 in Leicester.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 1 January 1965, Leicester
- **Active:** 1988–present
- **Frequently works with:** [Ben Daniels](https://film.one/person/ben-daniels.md), [Roger Goldby](https://film.one/person/roger-goldby.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 76, as director, over 7 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 88 (1), 1990s 89 (1), 2000s 69 (3), 2010s 74 (1), 2020s 70 (1)
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 5 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Comedy 6, Drama 5, Crime 1, Sci-Fi & Fantasy 1, War 1
- **Screen time:** 3 hours of reviewed films
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_De_Emmony, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33333043, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0214320/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/109544

## Streaming the US now

- **The Roku Channel:** [*Father Ted*](https://film.one/tv/father-ted.md) (89)
- **Apple TV:** [*Red Dwarf*](https://film.one/tv/red-dwarf.md) (88)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*The Wipers Times*](https://film.one/film/the-wipers-times.md) (74)
- **BritBox:** [*At Home with the Braithwaites*](https://film.one/tv/at-home-with-the-braithwaites.md) (71)
- **Peacock:** [*Vigil*](https://film.one/tv/vigil.md) (70)
- **Tubi:** [*Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!*](https://film.one/film/kenneth-williams-fantabulosa.md) (65)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Andy De Emmony

> De Emmony learned his trade on the studio floor of Spitting Image and the sitcom house, and his best work keeps a few people in a room and lets them talk. Reliable on television, sometimes better than that, never quite at home in a cinema.

The parochial house on Craggy Island is a stage set with a window, a sofa and a door for people to arrive through, and *Father Ted* (1995) is at its funniest when nobody can leave. De Emmony directed the studio episodes of the final series, and he understood what the form wants: keep the trap visible and fill it with guests who do not fit. Kenneth Williams's flat in *Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa* (2006) is the same room with the laughter taken out: a man, a desk, a door that shuts. He has been directing that room, in one shape or another, for three decades.

He came to it sideways. He started at *Spitting Image* as a sculptor and art director, was sent on a multi-camera directing course, and ended up directing series of the show in the early 1990s. From puppets he moved to people who behaved like them, on the sixth series of *Red Dwarf* (1993) and then *Father Ted* in 1998. In the 2000s he became a drama director, on Sally Wainwright's *At Home with the Braithwaites* (2000), Debbie Horsfield's *Cutting It* (2002) and single plays: *Fantabulosa*, *God on Trial* (2008), *The Wipers Times* (2013). Three features came in between, *West Is West* (2010), *Love Bite* (2012) and *Four Kids and It* (2020), and then the series again, *The Nest* (2020), *The Larkins* (2021–2022) and *Vigil* (2021).

What he does well is stay out of the way of a good actor in a small space. We did not expect *Fantabulosa* to move us, since Martyn Hesford's script is a list of famous moments filmed in order, and it did, in the silence after Michael Sheen's Williams shuts his front door and the voice stops. De Emmony holds on the flat and offers no help, and the stillness is the performance. That is also the limit of him. He films what he is given, in the order he is given it, and when the writing is thin the picture is thin with it; years go by between scenes with nothing to mark them. The same holds, differently, on *Vigil*: the submarine carries three episodes, and once Tom Edge's plot stops deserving its setting, the direction does not step in to rescue it.

We have not reviewed the features, and the general verdict on them is broad and flat, which is roughly what you would expect when a studio-floor director is handed a wider frame and a budget for effects. It does not trouble us much. Hand him a room, a door and one actor worth watching and he will give you an evening. Hand him a submarine and he will do what he can.

## Biography

Andy De Emmony is a British film and television director. He began his career as a puppet maker and later director on the satirical series *Spitting Image*, before moving into other comedy work.

He directed episodes of *Red Dwarf* series VI in 1993 and contributed to *Father Ted* in 1998, for which he shared a BAFTA Television Award for Best Comedy in 1999. His other television credits include *The Bletchley Circle*, *Vigil* and *The Larkins*. He has also directed feature films such as *West Is West* (2010), *Love Bite* (2012) and *Four Kids and It* (2020).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, reddwarf.fandom.com, imdb.com, comedy.co.uk.*

## On Fi1m (7)

- *Vigil* (2021), Fi1m 70, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/vigil.md)
- *The Wipers Times* (2013), Fi1m 74, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/the-wipers-times.md)
- *Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!* (2006), Fi1m 65, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/kenneth-williams-fantabulosa.md)
- *Cutting It* (2002), Fi1m 72, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/cutting-it.md)
- *At Home with the Braithwaites* (2000), Fi1m 71, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/at-home-with-the-braithwaites.md)
- *Father Ted* (1995), Fi1m 89, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/father-ted.md)
- *Red Dwarf* (1988), Fi1m 88, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/red-dwarf.md)

## Complete filmography (40)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Fortune* (2026), series, Director
- *The Feud* (2025), series, Director
- *The Larkins* (2021), series, Director
- *Vigil* (2021), series, Director — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/tv/vigil.md)
- *Four Kids and It* (2020), Director
- *The Nest* (2020), series, Director, Creator
- *Dave Allen at Peace* (2018), Director
- *Kevin Hart: Cold As Balls* (2018), series, Director
- *HIM* (2016), series, Director, Creator
- *Moonfleet* (2013), series, Director
- *The Wipers Times* (2013), Director — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/the-wipers-times.md)
- *Love Bite* (2012), Director
- *The Bletchley Circle* (2012), series, Director
- *Whistle and I'll Come to You* (2010), Director
- *West Is West* (2010), Director
- *Off the Hook* (2009), series, Director
- *Framed* (2009), Director
- *God on Trial* (2008), Director
- *Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story* (2008), Director
- *Recovery* (2007), Director
- *Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!* (2006), Director — Fi1m 65, [page](https://film.one/film/kenneth-williams-fantabulosa.md)
- *Red Dwarf: The Starbuggers - Series VI* (2005), Thanks
- *A Thing Called Love* (2004), series, Director
- *55 Degrees North* (2004), series, Director
- *Canterbury Tales* (2003), series, Director
- *Cutting It* (2002), series, Director — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/tv/cutting-it.md)
- *Don't Eat the Neighbours* (2001), series, Director
- *Score* (2001), Director
- *Pay and Display* (2000), series, Producer, Director
- *At Home with the Braithwaites* (2000), series, Director — Fi1m 71, [page](https://film.one/tv/at-home-with-the-braithwaites.md)
- *Spitting Image: From F.A to Fair Play* (1996), Director
- *In Search of James Bond with Jonathan Ross* (1995), Director
- *Father Ted* (1995), series, Director — Fi1m 89, [page](https://film.one/tv/father-ted.md)
- *Red Dwarf: Smeg Ups* (1994), Director
- *Thatcherworld* (1993), Director
- *Spitting Image: Election Special '92* (1992), Director
- *Spitting Image: Best Of - Is Nothing Sacred?* (1991), Director
- *Red Dwarf* (1988), series, Director — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/red-dwarf.md)
- *The Mark Thomas Comedy Product*, series, Director
- *The Woods*, series, Director

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/andy-de-emmony