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Paul Higgins

Acting Scotland, UK 24 credits

Biography

Paul Higgins is a Scottish actor, best known for appearing in the British television series The Thick of It, Utopia and Line of Duty.

Higgins was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland. He was raised as a Roman Catholic, but now he considers himself a lapsed Catholic. As a teenager, he trained to be a priest, but gave his training up aged 17 when he began dating.

Higgins has appeared onstage in Paul and Black Watch, and in the film Complicity. He played Alan in Staying Alive, a hospital drama on ITV. He has also played Jamie McDonald, an aggressive press officer, in the BBC show The Thick of It and its spin-off feature-length film, In the Loop. In 2009, he appeared as Gil Cameron on the BBC drama Hope Springs. He played Michael Dugdale in Channel 4's acclaimed conspiracy thriller Utopia. In 2013 he appeared in series 1 of the BBC series Line of Duty and returned for season 4 in 2017. He wrote a play titled Nobody Will Ever Forgive Us, which was performed at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in a co-production with the National Theatre of Scotland in November 2008.

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Known for

The Simpsons

as Hamish (voice)

Silent Witness

as Det Sgt Nick Wallace

Slow Horses

as Struan Loy

Line of Duty

as ACC Derek Hilton

Line of Duty

as CS Derek Hilton

The Thick of It

as Jamie

Utopia

as Michael Dugdale

Full filmography

  • The Simpsons (1989) as Hamish (voice)
  • Vera (2011) as Clive Stringer
  • Silent Witness (1996) as Det Sgt Nick Wallace
  • Slow Horses (2022) as Struan Loy
  • Line of Duty (2012) as ACC Derek Hilton
  • Line of Duty (2012) as CS Derek Hilton
  • The Thick of It (2005) as Jamie
  • Utopia (2013) as Michael Dugdale
  • The Play on One (1988) as Murdo Caldwell
  • Case Histories (2011) as Ian Kelso
  • The Ipcress File (2022) as Minister
  • The Last Enemy (2008) as Professor Lawrence Cooper
  • A Very Peculiar Practice (1986) as Adie Shaw
  • Rik Mayall Presents (1993) as Writer
  • The Wrong Mans (2013) as PC Hennessy
  • Apostle (2018) as Frank
  • In the Loop (2009) as Jamie McDonald
  • Raised by Wolves (2015) as Sean Garry
  • Victoria & Abdul (2017) as Dr. James Reid
  • Hope Springs (2009) as Gil Cameron
  • Murder (2002) as Lee Finch
  • Greed (2019) as Jim McBride
  • Red Road (2006) as Avery
  • Brian and Maggie (2025) as Geoffrey Howe