---
name: "Paul Higgins"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/paul-higgins"
fi1m_id: "paul-higgins"
imdb_id: "nm0383467"
tmdb_id: 71084
wikidata_id: "Q7151278"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "1 January 1964"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 7
average_fi1m_score: 82
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 7
updated: "2026-10-07T17:01:07.163541+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."
---

# Paul Higgins

## Identity

Paul Higgins

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/paul-higgins
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** paul-higgins
- **IMDb ID:** nm0383467
- **TMDB ID:** 71084
- **Wikidata ID:** Q7151278
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Higgins_(actor), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7151278, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0383467/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/71084

Actor. Born 1 January 1964 in Scotland, UK.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 1 January 1964, Scotland, UK
- **Active:** 1988–present
- **Frequently works with:** [Adeel Akhtar](https://film.one/person/adeel-akhtar.md), [Beeban Kidron](https://film.one/person/beeban-kidron.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 82, as actor, over 7 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 87 (3), 2010s 78 (3), 2020s 82 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 84 to 75 across 6 titles
- **Score spread:** 4 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 1 of 4 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Comedy 4, Drama 4, Mystery 3, Crime 2, Action & Adventure 1, Sci-Fi & Fantasy 1
- **Screen time:** 4 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $7m across 2 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Higgins_(actor), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7151278, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0383467/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/71084

## Streaming the US now

- **Apple TV:** [*In the Loop*](https://film.one/film/in-the-loop.md) (92), [*Utopia*](https://film.one/tv/utopia.md) (83)
- **BritBox:** [*The Wrong Mans*](https://film.one/tv/the-wrong-mans.md) (73)

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

## Fi1m on Paul Higgins

> Paul Higgins is known for the loud man, the Scottish press officer who threatens people at the top of his voice. His best screen work is the quiet man being slowly ruined, and *Utopia* gave him a whole series of it.

A civil servant sits at a kitchen table and lies to his wife about where he has been. He is not good at it. Paul Higgins plays Michael Dugdale in *Utopia* (2013) as a man being squeezed a little more each episode, blackmailed over a woman called Anya Levchenko into approving a flu vaccine he knows he should not, and he barely raises his voice. That is the surprise. Higgins made his name shouting.

The shouting was Jamie McDonald, the Scottish press officer in Armando Iannucci's *The Thick of It* (2005–2007) and its film *In the Loop* (2009). Jamie is all threat and volume, a man who uses his body as much as his mouth to intimidate, and Higgins gives him a physical charge that makes the abuse feel as if it might turn into something worse. It is a fine comic turn. It is also, in the film, one voice in a wall of insults, and *In the Loop* is so busy with the language that it rarely lets him be anything but the language.

Since then he has been cast, again and again, as authority under strain: Derek Hilton, the scheming senior officer in *Line of Duty* (2012–2017); parts in *Apostle* (2018), *Greed* (2019) and *Slow Horses* (2022–). On stage he was in *Black Watch* (2006) for the National Theatre of Scotland, and he writes for the theatre too, including *Nobody Will Ever Forgive Us* (2008). The type is clear enough that a casting director could fill it in their sleep.

What we value is the other Higgins, the one *Utopia* found. Dennis Kelly's series is bright yellow and cruel, and Dugdale's scenes are the most ordinary things in it: an office, a kitchen, a man in a suit doing what he is told. Higgins plays the erosion in his shoulders and his pauses, so that by the end of the first six episodes he seems to have shrunk without losing weight. We found it harder to watch than any of the programme's violence, because we have known a Dugdale, and we suspected we could be one.

Outside *Utopia* he has rarely been asked to carry anything. That is a waste. Give him a man with something to hide and a director who trusts a silence, and he will do the rest.

## Biography

Paul Higgins is a Scottish actor and writer. He was born on 3 December 1964 in Wishaw, Lanarkshire, and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

Higgins is best known for playing the aggressive press officer Jamie McDonald in the BBC series *The Thick of It* (2005–2012) and its 2009 feature film spin-off *In the Loop*. His other television credits include Michael Dugdale in *Utopia* (2013–2014) and ACC Derek Hilton in *Line of Duty* (2012–2017). Film roles include appearances in *Red Road* (2006), *Victoria & Abdul* (2017) and *Apostle* (2018).

On stage he has appeared in productions including *Black Watch*. He wrote the play *Nobody Will Ever Forgive Us*, first performed in 2008. He is married to actress Amelia Bullmore.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (7)

- *Slow Horses* (2022), Fi1m 82, as Struan Loy — [page](https://film.one/tv/slow-horses.md)
- *The Wrong Mans* (2013), Fi1m 73, as PC Hennessy — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-wrong-mans.md)
- *Utopia* (2013), Fi1m 83, as Michael Dugdale — [page](https://film.one/tv/utopia.md)
- *Line of Duty* (2012), Fi1m 79, as CS Derek Hilton — [page](https://film.one/tv/line-of-duty.md)
- *In the Loop* (2009), Fi1m 92, as Jamie McDonald — [page](https://film.one/film/in-the-loop.md)
- *Red Road* (2006), Fi1m 74, as Avery — [page](https://film.one/film/red-road.md)
- *The Thick of It* (2005), Fi1m 94, as Jamie — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-thick-of-it.md)

## Complete filmography (50)

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

- *Brian and Maggie* (2025), series, as Geoffrey Howe
- *Kill* (2024), as Don
- *Meat Puppet* (2024), as University Dean (voice)
- *Slow Horses* (2022), series, as Struan Loy — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/slow-horses.md)
- *The Ipcress File* (2022), series, as Minister
- *Greed* (2019), as Jim McBride
- *The Party's Just Beginning* (2018), as Luisaidh's Dad
- *Apostle* (2018), as Frank
- *11th Hour* (2017), as Drunk
- *Victoria & Abdul* (2017), as Dr. James Reid
- *Charlie Cloudhead* (2016), as Charlie
- *Couple in a Hole* (2016), as John
- *Raised by Wolves* (2015), series, as Sean Garry
- *Hangar 10* (2014), Producer
- *Lawless* (2013), as Simon Harding
- *The Wrong Mans* (2013), series, as PC Hennessy — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-wrong-mans.md)
- *Utopia* (2013), series, as Michael Dugdale — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/tv/utopia.md)
- *Utopia* (2013), as Dugdale
- *Line of Duty* (2012), series, as ACC Derek Hilton, CS Derek Hilton — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/tv/line-of-duty.md)
- *Case Histories* (2011), series, as Ian Kelso
- *Vera* (2011), series, as Clive Stringer — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/tv/vera.md)
- *Hope Springs* (2009), series, as Gil Cameron
- *New Town* (2009), as Hamish
- *No Holds Bard* (2009), as Struan Robertson
- *In the Loop* (2009), as Jamie McDonald — Fi1m 92, [page](https://film.one/film/in-the-loop.md)
- *The Last Enemy* (2008), series, as Professor Lawrence Cooper
- *Shell* (2007), as The Salesman
- *Spinners and Losers* (2007), as Jamie
- *A Hartley Story* (2007), as Hartley
- *The Rise of the Nutters* (2007), as Jamie
- *Red Road* (2006), as Avery — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/red-road.md)
- *Low Winter Sun* (2006), as David Westwood
- *The Thick of It* (2005), series, as Jamie — Fi1m 94, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-thick-of-it.md)
- *Birthday Girl* (2002), as Drew
- *Murder* (2002), series, as Lee Finch
- *Beautiful Creatures* (2000), as Aidan
- *Complicity* (2000), as Andy
- *Bedrooms and Hallways* (1998), as John
- *Riot* (1996), as Gang Member
- *Staying Alive* (1996), series, as Alan McPherson
- *Silent Witness* (1996), series, as Det Sgt Nick Wallace
- *The Negotiator* (1994), as Det. Sergeant Andrew Coyne
- *Being Human* (1994), as Soldier
- *Rik Mayall Presents: Micky Love* (1993), as Writer
- *Rik Mayall Presents* (1993), series, as Writer
- *The Simpsons* (1989), series, as Hamish (voice) — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-simpsons.md)
- *Tumbledown* (1988), as Saltemarsh
- *A Wholly Healthy Glasgow* (1988), as Murdo Caldwell
- *The Play on One* (1988), series, as Murdo Caldwell
- *A Very Peculiar Practice* (1986), series, as Adie Shaw — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/a-very-peculiar-practice.md)

---
© 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/paul-higgins