--- name: "Philippa Lowthorpe" canonical: "https://film.one/person/philippa-lowthorpe" fi1m_id: "philippa-lowthorpe" imdb_id: "nm1339400" tmdb_id: 96305 wikidata_id: "Q16873294" roles: ["Director"] born: "27 December 1961" reviewed_on_fi1m: 4 average_fi1m_score: 76 average_as: "director" average_over: 4 updated: "2026-09-17T19:37:47.751828+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." --- # Philippa Lowthorpe ## Identity Philippa Lowthorpe - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/philippa-lowthorpe - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** philippa-lowthorpe - **IMDb ID:** nm1339400 - **TMDB ID:** 96305 - **Wikidata ID:** Q16873294 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippa_Lowthorpe, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16873294, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1339400/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/96305 Director. Born 27 December 1961 in Yorkshire, England. ## Details - **Work:** Director - **Born:** 27 December 1961, Yorkshire, England - **Active:** 2012–present - **Average Fi1m score:** 76, as director, over 4 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 81 (3), 2020s 64 (1) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 74 to 69 across 3 titles - **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Genres:** Drama 4, Crime 1 - **Screen time:** 2 hours of reviewed films - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippa_Lowthorpe, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16873294, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1339400/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/96305 ## Streaming the US now - **Netflix:** [*Call the Midwife*](https://film.one/tv/call-the-midwife.md) (80), [*The Crown*](https://film.one/tv/the-crown.md) (78) - **Peacock:** [*Three Girls*](https://film.one/tv/three-girls.md) (84) - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*H Is for Hawk*](https://film.one/film/h-is-for-hawk.md) (64) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Philippa Lowthorpe > Philippa Lowthorpe is good at giving actors time and real lives careful attention. We value that patience, but *H Is for Hawk* shows how readily her consideration can soften a story that needs to hurt. In *H Is for Hawk* (2025), Brendan Gleeson stands in a field with a small girl, waiting for something to show itself. We were moved more than we expected because he takes her curiosity seriously and Lowthorpe gives his stillness time to work. He is playing Helen Macdonald’s father in one of the film’s childhood flashbacks. This is Lowthorpe at her most persuasive: trusting an actor to hold our attention without insisting that he do much. Her move from documentary into drama with *Eight Hours from Paris* (1997) has largely meant continuing to work with real lives. *Five Daughters* (2010) and *Three Girls* (2017) established her reputation for treating those lives with sensitivity and intimacy. There have been fictional departures, including *Swallows and Amazons* (2016), but they remain exceptions. She also directed two episodes of the second series of *The Crown* (2016), in 2017. We recommend that programme for its precise acting and its attention to royal duty intruding on private life, while finding its solemnity wearing at times. The danger of all this care is clearest in *H Is for Hawk*, which Emma Donoghue adapted from Macdonald’s memoir. Claire Foy’s Helen and the goshawk she buys after her father’s death give the film much of its interest, but the adaptation removes too much of the book’s anger. Lowthorpe allows oddness without quite allowing her central character to be difficult. We noted the same clean, considerate surface in *Misbehaviour* (2020); here it keeps grief from hurting as it should. Editor Nico Leunen returns to the childhood flashbacks so regularly that their emotional effect begins to feel prescribed. The first quiet encounter gives us room to respond; repetition makes the intention too obvious, and the film’s 120 minutes need a firmer cut. Lowthorpe’s attention to Foy’s work with the bird is better rewarded: the woman and the goshawk can hold our attention without another reminder of what Helen has lost. Approach *H Is for Hawk* for the performances, with patience for the extra half-hour. ## Biography Philippa Lowthorpe is an English film and television director. Born on 27 December 1961 near Doncaster in Yorkshire, she grew up in Lincolnshire and studied classics at St Hilda’s College, Oxford. She began her career making documentaries for BBC Bristol before moving into drama. Her television credits include directing episodes of *Call the Midwife* (2013–2014), for which she won a BAFTA Television Craft Award, *The Crown* (2017), *Three Girls* (2017), which earned her a further BAFTA for directing, and *Prisoner 951* (2025). Feature films include *Swallows and Amazons* (2016), *Misbehaviour* (2020) and *H Is for Hawk* (2025), which she also co-wrote. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, bfi.org.uk.* ## On Fi1m (4) - *H Is for Hawk* (2025), Fi1m 64, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/h-is-for-hawk.md) - *Three Girls* (2017), Fi1m 84, Creator, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/three-girls.md) - *The Crown* (2016), Fi1m 78, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-crown.md) - *Call the Midwife* (2012), Fi1m 80, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/call-the-midwife.md) ## Complete filmography (19) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *H Is for Hawk* (2025), Director — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/h-is-for-hawk.md) - *Prisoner 951* (2025), series, Director - *Willow* (2022), series, Director - *The Third Day* (2020), series, Director, Executive Producer - *Misbehaviour* (2020), Director - *Three Girls* (2017), series, Director, Creator — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/three-girls.md) - *The Crown* (2016), series, Director — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-crown.md) - *Swallows and Amazons* (2016), Director - *Cider with Rosie* (2015), Director - *Jamaica Inn* (2014), series, Director, Creator - *Call the Midwife* (2012), series, Director — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/call-the-midwife.md) - *Five Daughters* (2010), series, Director - *Sex, the City and Me* (2007), Director - *Beau Brummell: This Charming Man* (2006), Director - *The Other Boleyn Girl* (2003), Writer, Director - *The Spy Who Caught a Cold* (1995), Director - *Remember The Family* (1995), Director - *Three Salons at the Seaside* (1994), Director - *John & Nula*, 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/philippa-lowthorpe