Bill Paterson
Acting • Born 1945-06-03
Biography
William Tulloch Paterson (born 3 June 1945) is a Scottish actor. Throughout his career he has appeared regularly in radio drama and provided the narration for a large number of documentaries. Paterson has appeared in films and television series including Comfort and Joy (1984), Traffik (1989), Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1986), Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990), The Witches (1990), Wives and Daughters (1999), Sea of Souls (2004–2007), Amazing Grace (2006), Miss Potter (2006), Little Dorrit (2008), Doctor Who (2010), Outlander (2014), Fleabag (2016–2019), Inside No. 9 (2018), Good Omens (2019), Brassic (2020) and House of the Dragon (2022). He is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Scottish BAFTAs. William Tulloch Paterson was born in Glasgow on 3 June 1945. Paterson was raised in Dennistoun by his father, a plumber, and his mother, a hairdresser. He states that his interest in acting began with a school trip to the Citizens Theatre in the Gorbals in 1961. However, after school he chose to initially pursue a career based on an interest in architecture and spent three years as a quantity surveyor's apprentice before deciding to attend the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
Filmography
175 credits
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
Movie • 2007
Self
The Witches
Movie • 1990
Mr Jenkins
Comfort and Joy
Movie • 1984
Alan
Complicity
Movie • 2000
Wallace Byatt
Dutch Girls
Movie • 1985
Mr Mole
Miss Potter
Movie • 2006
Rupert Potter
Defence of the Realm
Movie • 1986
Jack Macleod
The Return of the Musketeers
Movie • 1989
Charles I
Amazing Grace
Movie • 2006
Lord Dundas
Ghosts in the Machine
Movie • 2009
Himself
The Riddle of the Sands
Movie • 1995
Narrator
Victory
Movie • 1996
Capt. Davidson
The Man Who Lives with Bears
Movie • 2008
Self - Narrator (voice)
Hilary and Jackie
Movie • 1998
Cello Teacher
Yellowbacks
Movie • 1990
Alex McPherson
Documenting John Grierson
Movie • 2014
Narrator
Arthur's Whisky
Movie • 2024
Henry
The Man who Crossed Hitler
Movie • 2011
Kurt Ohnesorge
The Colour Room
Movie • 2021
Gordon Forsythe
Spanish Flu: The Forgotten Fallen
Movie • 2009
Dr James Niven
The List
Movie • 2013
Reg Troughton
Fast Freddie, the Widow and Me
Movie • 2011
Judge Underwood
Friendship's Death
Movie • 1987
Sullivan
Creation
Movie • 2009
Dr. Gully
A Bear Named Wojtek
Movie • 2023
Zoo Director (voice)
Coming Up Roses
Movie • 1987
Mr. Valentine
The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil
Movie • 1974
Various
Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars
Movie • 2007
Dr Watson
The Writing on the Wall
Movie • 1996
Bull
Hard Times
Movie • 1994
Stephen Blackpool
Lie with Me
Movie • 2004
DCI Collman
The Interrogation of John
Movie • 1987
Det. Supt. Chase
Lily My Love
Movie • 1987
Colin
Truly Madly Deeply
Movie • 1991
Sandy
Intervention
Movie • 2007
Dr. Martin
The Killing Fields
Movie • 1984
Dr. MacEntire
Clydescope
Movie • 1974
Model Boat Show Commentator (voice) (uncredited)
Chaplin's Goliath
Movie • 1996
Narrator (voice)
Licking Hitler
Movie • 1978
Archie MacLean
Byrne About Byrne
Movie • 1988
Father/F.S. McDade
A War on Science
Movie • 2006
Narrator (voice)
God's Chosen Car Park
Movie • 1986
Victor Rosen
The Vote
Movie • 2015
Simon Featherstone
Chaplin
Movie • 1992
Stage Manager
One Fine Day
Movie • 1979
Third Man in Lift
Dad's Army
Movie • 2016
Private Frazer
A Private Function
Movie • 1984
Wormold
Bright Young Things
Movie • 2003
Sir James Brown
Churchill's Secret
Movie • 2016
Lord Moran
Othello
Movie • 2001
Sinclair Carver
The Whistle-Blower
Movie • 2001
D.I. Neil Sleightholme
Scotland's Finest: The Story of the Highland Games
Movie • 2012
Narrator
The Cherry Orchard
Movie • 1981
Lopakhin
The White Room
Movie
Jackie Jordan
The Object of Beauty
Movie • 1991
Victor Swayle
1929: The Great Crash
Movie • 2009
Narrator
In Dreams
Movie • 1992
Dr Gold
Mr White Goes To Westminster
Movie • 1997
Ben White
Richard III
Movie • 1995
Sir Richard Ratcliffe
Jackie McCafferty's Romance
Movie • 1978
Bus Conductor
Crush
Movie • 2002
Gerald
Danielle Cable: Eyewitness
Movie • 2003
DI Nick Biddiss
Sunshine
Movie • 1999
Minister of Justice
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Movie • 1988
Henry Salt
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
Movie • 2008
Richard Young
Hidden City
Movie • 1987
Anthony
Franz Kafka's 'The Trial'
Movie • 1988
Titorelli
Just Ask for Diamond
Movie • 1988
Chief Inspector Snape
The Ploughman's Lunch
Movie • 1983
Lecturer
Spice World
Movie • 1997
Brian
Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale
Movie • 1989
Jordan
High-Rise
Movie • 2015
Mercer
The Match
Movie • 1999
Tommy
Heart
Movie • 1999
Mr. Kreitman
Rag Tale
Movie • 2005
Tulloch 'Lucky' Lloyd
The Man Who Invented Christmas
Movie • 2017
Mr. Grimsby
Happy New Year, Colin Burstead
Movie • 2018
Gordon Burstead
United Kingdom
Movie • 1981
Tony
The Odd Job
Movie • 1978
Sergeant Mull
The Rachel Papers
Movie • 1989
Gordon Highway
Wonderdate
Movie • 2018
Kolodon
The Vanishing Army
Movie • 1978
Girling
Into the Storm
Movie • 2009
Clement Attlee
The Turnaround
Movie • 1995
James Webb
The Garden Beyond
Movie • 1977
Jim Finlayson
Chrono-Perambulator
Movie • 1999
Professor Teddy Knox
The Day Mountbatten Died
Movie • 2019
Narrator (voice)
Tell Tale Hearts
Movie • 1992
Anthony Steadman
Wall of Silence
Movie • 1993
Howard Mullen
Marionette
Movie • 2020
Dr. Mandelbaum
Love Sarah
Movie • 2020
Felix
Fascism in Colour
Movie • 2006
Narrator (voice)
Shooting from the Heart: Chris Menges, Cameraman
Movie • 1985
Self
The Madness and Misadventures of Munchausen
Movie • 2008
Self - 'Henry Salt'
The Entity
Movie • 2002
Rebecca
Movie • 2020
Dr. Baker
The Thin End of the Wedge
Movie • 1977
Luke
Behind Bars
Movie • 2001
Narrator
Home Road Movies
Movie • 2002
Father
God on the Rocks
Movie • 1992
Kenneth Marsh
Children of the Wicker Man
Movie • 2024
Self
The Pen
Movie • 1995
The Phoenix: A Century of Cinema
Movie • 2011
Narrator (Voice)
The House Was Not Hungry Then
Movie • 2025
Father
The Spirit of 1926
Movie • 2022
Family Lawyer
The Animal Train
Movie • 1998
Walrus
Hitler on Trial: The Truth Behind the Story
Movie • 2015
Gone Fishing
Movie • 2008
Old Bill
Suilven Spring
Movie • 1974
Being Stanley Baxter
Movie • 2025
Self
Murder Most Horrid
TV • 1991
Chief Inspector
The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne
TV • 2000
The One Show
TV • 2006
Self - Guest
Horizon
TV • 1964
Foyle's War
TV • 2002
Patrick Jamieson
Good Omens
TV • 2019
Tadfield Neighbourhood Watch
Law & Order: UK
TV • 2009
George Castle
Criminal Justice
TV • 2008
Harry Box
Wives and Daughters
TV • 1999
Mr. Gibson
Doctor Zhivago
TV • 2002
Alexander Gromyko
Traffik
TV • 1989
John Lithgow
Little Dorrit
TV • 2008
Mr. Meagles
ShakespeaRe-Told
TV • 2005
Oliver's Travels
TV • 1995
Baxter
Sea of Souls
TV • 2004
Dr. Douglas Monaghan
Smiley's People
TV • 1982
Lauder Strickland
Rebel Heart
TV • 2001
James Connolly
Life of Shakespeare
TV • 1978
King James I
Junior Masterchef
TV • 1994
The Michael Ball Show
TV • 2010
Self
Doctor Who
TV • 2005
Edwin Bracewell
Birds Britannia
TV • 2010
Britain’s Scenic Railways
TV • 2021
Narrator
37 Days
TV • 2014
Lord Morley
The Crow Road
TV • 1996
Kenneth McHoan
Born and Bred
TV • 2002
Harry Woolf
Canterbury Tales
TV • 2003
Theo
Outlander
TV • 2014
Ned Gowan
Sharman
TV • 1995
James Webb
Shetland
TV • 2013
James Perez
Will Shakespeare
TV • 1978
Shoebox Zoo
TV • 2004
The Storyteller (voice)
Arthouse
TV • 1997
Self
Fleabag
TV • 2016
Dad
Between the Covers
TV • 2020
Self
Urban Myths
TV • 2017
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
TV • 1983
Ally Fraser
A Passion for Churches
TV • 2005
Narrator
The Sandman
TV • 2022
Dr. John Hathaway
House of the Dragon
TV • 2022
Lord Lyman Beesbury
Halo
TV • 2022
Ackerson's Dad
Brassic
TV • 2019
Tony Tillerton
Agatha Christie's Marple
TV • 2004
Bradley
The Repair Shop
TV • 2017
Self - Narrator
Them From That Thing
TV • 2012
Various
Scot Squad
TV • 2014
Sir Neville Archibald
The Repair Shop
TV • 2017
Narrator (voice)
Battle of the Atlantic
TV • 2002
Himself - Narrator
Inside No. 9
TV • 2014
Mr. Green
Play for Today
TV • 1970
Luke
The Play on One
TV • 1988
Alex McPherson
The Modern World: Ten Great Writers
TV • 1988
Titorelli
The Rebel
TV • 2016
Charles
Hard Times
TV • 1994
Stephen Blackpool
Guilt
TV • 2019
Roy Lynch
Dirk Gently
TV • 2012
Professor Jericho
A Wanted Man
TV • 1989
Det. Supt. Chase
Ghostbusters of East Finchley
TV • 1995
Joe Small
BBC2 Play of the Week
TV • 1977
Girling
The Singing Detective
TV • 1986
Dr Gibbon
Play for Today
TV • 1970
Archie MacLean
Melissa
TV • 1997
DCI Cameron
Tomb Raider
TV
Winston
Kill Jackie
TV
Owain
The Repair Shop on the Road
TV • 2025
Self - Narrator