The Australian director Amanda Brotchie has died.  Amanda Brotchie directed two episodes of the most recent season of Doctor Who, Lux and The Well.  She talked about working on Lux I loved the humour and wit in the episode, and the huge heart and the monumental imagination of the genius who wrote it. It’s the perfect episode. I grew up on Warner Brothers cartoons and reading Carl Barks’ comics, so all the elements just came together for me. I treated the animated character like any other villain, using moves and angles that fitted the character and story beat. We used a Mr Ring-a-Ding standee to get our focus points. It was much harder for the cast, who had to look as though they all were looking at the same point where Mr Ring-a-Ding was supposed to be. And I was very fortunate to be able work with the crew at Framestore who brought Mr Ring-a-Ding to life. They were meticulous in creating a cartoon and character from the Fleischer era, and giving him such mischievous expressiveness. She also worked on the 2025 BBC Series Riot Women, directing three episodes. Previous works include Renegade Neil and Gentleman Jack. With her husband, Adam Zwar, she created a satirical series on tabloid journalism, The Lowdown, which she also wrote and directed. Her early work was in her native Australia, where her earliest work was a director on Neighbours. She later directed episodes of the 2017 series Picnic at Hanging Rock and worked on  A Place to Call Home and Mr Black. She created the production company High Wire Films with producer Nicole Minchin and Zwar, responsible for the series Agony Aunts and Agony Uncles and the ABC comedy Twentysomething. In 1999, Brotchie directed the multi-award-winning short film Break & Enter, winning an AFI award for Best Short Film and the Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Short Film. She later won an AACTA Award and two Australian Writers’ Guild Awards for Lowdown Her death was announced by Adam Zwar, who paid tribute to his wife.  Amanda made directing look effortless. She always put story first, drawing real, nuanced performances from actors and bringing clarity and depth to every script. That’s why showrunners such as Russell T Davies, Sally Wainwright and Kay Cannon sought her out. She was a passionate advocate for writers and consistently elevated the work she was involved in Amanda Brotchie died in December 2025 after a long illness.

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