Penny Thomson (14 November 1950,

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

– 9 July 2007,

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

) was a producer for Britain's

Channel Four Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded entirely by its commer ...

and former EIFF director. She attended St. Leonard's School for Girls at

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

, Scotland. She became a production assistant, learning her craft with

Murray Grigor William Alexander Murray Grigor (born 1939) is a Scottish film-maker, writer, artist, exhibition curator and amateur architect who has served as director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival. He has made over 50 films with a focus o ...

and Patrick Higson. During this time she met musician and sculptor, Allan Ross whom she married on 4 July 1978. Her career in film progressed through one of the earliest films made for

, ''The Work They Say Is Mine'', to a cameo appearance in ''

Gregory's Girl ''Gregory's Girl'' is a 1980 Scottish coming-of-age romantic comedy film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and starring John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn and Clare Grogan. The film is set in and around a state secondary school in the Abronh ...

''. During this time, Thomson and Ross moved to a farmhouse at

Avonbridge Avonbridge () Drochaid na h-Aibhne
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, setting up Avonbridge Film Productions and producing commercials on which future directors and producers cut their teeth. At the Scottish Film Production Fund, which she ran for two years, she secured funding for

Margaret Tait Margaret Caroline Tait (11 November 1918 – 16 April 1999) was a Scottish medical doctor, filmmaker and poet. Early life and education Tait was born and raised in Kirkwall, in the Orkney Islands in the north of Scotland, before being sent to ...

's film, '' Blue Black Permanent''. In 1991, Thomson was appointed director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF). Thomson took over the Festival and during her three years at the helm brought stability back to the organisation. In the 1990s, Thomson and Ross moved to York Road in Edinburgh. With the move came a new working partnership. Together they devised, pitched for and won many commissions for installations, theatre pieces, and award statuettes. For 12 years they provided the Viking longship, burnt annually on

Calton Hill Calton Hill (; ) is a hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland, situated beyond the east end of Princes Street and included in the city's United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Views of, and f ...

in culmination of the Torchlight Procession which heralds in Edinburgh's four-day

Hogmanay Hogmanay ( , ) is the Scots language, Scots word for the last day of the old year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year in the Scottish manner. It is normally followed by further celebration on the morning of New Year's Day (1 ...

celebration. In later years, she worked on script development and consultancy. She was a tireless worker for

BAFTA Scotland BAFTA in Scotland is the Scottish branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Formed in 1986, the branch holds two annual awards ceremonies recognising the achievement by performers and production staff in Scottish film, televis ...

, serving on its committee for many years. She supported the Edinburgh Film Focus from its inception and played a key role in advisory panels. The most recent meeting, she chaired from a wheelchair with indomitable style. She was chair of the Boilerhouse Theatre Company, a contributor to the List magazine and to BBC Scotland and was a board member and UK representative on the European producers' programme, EAVE. Terminally ill with

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

Penny Thomson and Allan Ross celebrated their 29th wedding anniversary in St Columba's Hospice, Edinburgh, with champagne and chocolate cake. She died 5 days later, aged 56.

References

External links

*http://www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/contactus/whoswho/advisors/drama.aspx *http://news.scotsman.com/obituaries.cfm?id=1090382007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Penny 1950 births 2007 deaths People educated at St Leonards School Scottish television directors Scottish film producers Television people from Edinburgh Deaths from breast cancer in Scotland 20th-century Scottish businesspeople