THE first woman to direct cult sci-fi series Doctor Who has died at the age of 89.

Patricia “Paddy” Russell, who lived in Oxenhope, near Keighley, was highly respected among fans of the TV drama for classic episodes like Pyramids of Mars.

She had a long career as a TV director after working her way up the ranks in the male-dominated world of TV technical crews in the 1960s.

She settled in Oxenhope after starting work directing TV soap Emmerdale, and is believed to have lived quietly in a cottage in Back Leeming for many years.

More recently she had moved to a care home.

‘Whovians’ – fans of the show – took to social media to pay their tributes.

Born in Highgate, North London, in 1928, the daughter of a P&O shipping clerk, Ms Russell initially trained as an actress at Guildhall School of Music and Drama before starting a career in stage management as it paid better.

She was then drawn to TV production and worked under BBC director Rudolph Cartier during the 1950s during which she appeared in some acting roles.

She became BBC Television’s first female floor manager, adapting her first name to Paddy so that film crews did not realise she was female until they met her.

Ms Russell started her Doctor Who duties in 1966 with the first doctor, William Hartnell, but the adventure, entitled The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve, has long been lost.

She went on to to direct three further Doctor Who serials in the 1970s.

Invasion of the Dinosaurs in 1974 starred Jon Pertwee as Doctor Who, then she directed Tom Baker in the title role in Pyramids of Mars in 1975 and Horror of Fang Rock in 1977.

She remained especially proud of her work on Invasion of the Dinosaurs which was fraught with technical difficulties.

She also directed numerous other TV shows, including episodes of long-running BBC TV police series Z-Cars, the fledgling soap Emmerdale Farm, the early years of the TV quiz programme 3-2-1 and Yorkshire news programme Calendar.

While living in Oxenhope, she later moved into radio news and training courses and in the 1990s began rescuing and housing stray cats.

She is survived by her brother Chris.