Andrew Higgs

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Andrew Higgs, a Voting member of BAFTA, came to filmmaking after five years as an infantry officer. This unconventional background served him well at film school, where he became a multi-award-winning student under the mentorship of Gerry Wilson, screenwriter of Lawman, Chato's Land, and Scorpio. Wilson helped Higgs craft the screenplay for his graduation film, Macheath, which starred John Hurt and Kenneth Colley.

Andrew went on to direct multiple episodes of Brookside and The Bill, where he gave Eddie Marsan his first credited screen role. He also directed numerous episodes of the German police procedural Die Wache, working within the precise production protocols of German television in Cologne.

Between directing assignments, Andrew taught screen acting technique to graduating actors at several UK drama schools, including East 15, Birmingham School of Speech and Drama (now the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire), and the Guildhall School. His Guildhall students at various times included Hayley Atwell, Michelle Dockery, Susannah Fielding, Freddie Fox, Máté Haumann, Lily James, Gwilym Lee, Nikesh Patel, Gavin Stenhouse, and Jodie Whittaker.

Recognising that experienced actors needed ongoing camera training, Andrew founded The Alchemy of Screen Acting workshops in 2000. These workshops bring a screen director's perspective to actors seeking practical camera technique, structured around the alchemical cycle of Earth-Water-Air-Fire-Ether. This ancient framework proves surprisingly relevant to modern screen performance.

Through nearly four decades of directing and actor training, Andrew has developed a unique framework that maps the actor's journey through 21 transformational stages, drawing on both alchemical principles and Shakespeare's dramatic structure. This synthesis of ancient wisdom and practical experience forms the basis of his forthcoming book, The Alchemy of Screen Acting, which will be published chapter by chapter on Substack over the coming months.

Andrew is currently developing twelve projects for screen and stage.

Contact Andrew

A man and a woman sitting in a car, looking at a mobile device, with the title 'Die Wache' displayed at the bottom.

Two men in police uniforms standing outside, one speaking into a radio and the other holding a pen and paper.

Text on a dark background reads 'The Bill' with a black and white checkerboard pattern above it.

Two men appear distressed inside a barn or cellar. One man, in a leather jacket, is holding a gun and aiming it forward. The other man, in a suit, is behind him looking surprised or scared.

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A young man in a military uniform with a slight smile in the foreground, a woman in black standing behind a glass barrier in the background, with her hand on her chin.

A neighborhood street scene with houses, green lawns, trees, and parked cars, overlaid with the bold yellow text "Brookside."

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