Tara Fitzpatrick

Hello! I am a journalist and writer from Glasgow, Scotland currently with STV News.

I have worked in local and national news for over five years.

I am also a keen arts writer and have covered gigs across Glasgow's vibrant music scene and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Here you can learn more about me and find a portfolio of my work. Please feel free to get in contact. 

Reporting and Features

Daily Record •

Over 200 sexual misconduct cases against Police Scotland officers in four years

Hundreds of cases of sexual misconduct were made against Police Scotland officers over the last four years – yet not one resulted in dismissal.

Shocking new figures reveal there were 245 counts of sexual misconduct made against 166 police officers and special constables in Scotland but no dismissals were made.

The damning statistics have been uncovered from a Freedom of Information request made by Channel 4 Dispatches programme.

The findings come as part of a wider investigation into sexual m
Daily Record •

National Coming Out Day: LGBT Scots open up on celebrating their identity

National Coming out Day celebrates LGBT awareness on October 11 every year.

Scots within the community have shared their own experience of coming out to loved ones in a bid to celebrate their true self and support those who choose to keep their identity a secret.

"It’s the only way that you can achieve a sense of self worth"

A Scots barrister who came out as gay 46 years ago said times have changed for the better but warned society is at risk of going backwards.

Alan Inglis came out to his d
Daily Record •

Women seeking abortions face 'postcode lottery' on harassment, say campaigners

The Scottish Government are putting women seeking abortions at risk of harassment and intimidation with a ‘postcode lottery’ on protection, say campaigners.

Opposition parties and campaigners are calling for the SNP to commit to protest-free ‘buffer zones’ around abortion facilities to protect women from harassment.

It comes as American-based anti-choice group 40 Days for Life began carrying-out ‘prayer vigils’ at facilities across Scotland yesterday, which will run until the end of October.
Daily Record •

Care workers earning below living wage in Scots councils despite fair pay vow

Six of Scotland’s councils have been found to have care worker jobs advertised with care providers with rates below the Real Living Wage despite making promises to pay at least that much.

Figures obtained by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and the Daily Record show the frontline work is being advertised with salaries short of the UK’s Real Living Wage of £9.50 per hour.

Care jobs commissioned by Fife, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire and Stirling wer
Daily Record •

Scots former heroin addict hooked on drugs for 20 years becomes support worker

A Scots former heroin addict whose family relationships 'fell apart' during his 20-year drug addiction has turned his life around to become a support care worker.

Tony Donachy first starting using drugs when he was just 14 and turned to heroin at the age of 18.

The now 40-year-old almost died during his devastating addiction which lasted until his mid-thirties, until he finally made the decision to reach out for help.

Tony, from Glasgow, now uses TikTok as a way to educate others common assum
Daily Record •

Son of asylum seeker in Glasgow allowed to stay and grow up a 'Scottish boy'

The orphaned son of an asylum seeker has been told he can permanently stay in Glasgow and grow up a “Scottish boy” after living under the threat of deportation for a decade.

Giorgi Kakava lived in fear for 10 years that he would be returned to his birth country of Georgia without any of his friends.

The 13-year-old has now shared his relief and delight after the UK Home Office finally granted him the right to remain indefinitely allowing him to stay in his home city of Glasgow.

The teen said
Daily Record •

Man freed from immigration van after Glasgow protest 'overwhelmed' by support

A man detained in a van by the Home Office prompting a mass street protest in Glasgow has said he is “astonished” and “overwhelmed” by the support of the community.

Lakhvir Singh was detained along with Sumit Sehdevi when officers from the UK Border Agency raided a property in Glasgow’s southside this morning.

The 34-year-old, from India, was later freed after police made the decision to order the release of the two men.

It came after members of the public surrounded the van on Kenmure Street
Daily Record •

Scots women share experiences of harassment ahead of vigils for Sarah Everard

Women across Scotland have been sharing their experiences of sexual harassment and intimidation ahead of a candlelit vigil in memory of Sarah Everard this evening.

People in Glasgow and Edinburgh will hold virtual online vigils at 6pm to light candles for Sarah Everard and demand streets are made safe for women “regardless of what you wear, where you live or what time of day or night it is”.

Edinburgh organiser Chloe Whyte, 20, bravely shared her own experience of being attacked on the street
Daily Record •

Glasgow physicist studying Mars rocks opens up on gender inequality in science

When NASA successfully landed a rover on Mars last month Áine O’Brien, a Glasgow-based physicist, was overwhelmingly emotional.

The 29-year-old has spent the last four years studying organic compounds in martian meteorites and is working to determine whether the Red Planet has the components necessary to support life.

Watching the Perseverance rover mission come to a successful landing on February 18 this year was a moment for real celebration.

The project seeks to find signs of ancient life
Daily Record •

Care home relatives describe 'nightmare' of separation as visits set to restart

Scots families who have been campaigning for access to care homes say new guidance is a “huge step forward” but are pleading with the public to stick to lockdown measures to allow them to visit loved ones.

Families have been separated from their care home relatives since the country went into lockdown in March 2020.

A campaign by Care Home Relatives Scotland (CHR Scotland) has attracted the attention of tens of thousands across the country with their plea to the Scottish Government for access

Arts, Travel, Lifestyle

Source •

Scribble is an inventive take on mental ill health, but it's still a work in progress – Source

Our Edinburgh Fringe reviewer Tara Fitzpatrick found ‘Scribble’ enjoyable, although at times a little disconcerting

SCRIBBLE, written by Andy Edwards and Amy Gilmartin, explores one character and their coping mechanisms with mental health.

Ross is studying a PhD in cosmology, he suffers obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety. He explains his views about the universe, his long-distance relationship with his girlfriend Fiona and how Bran Flakes help to organise his life.

Scribble is an enjoy
Source •

Seanmhair is a totally immersive piece of performance – Source

CommonSpace theatre critic Tara Fitzpatrick gives her take on a “highly intense” effort from Hywel John

SEANMHAIR, from Welsh writer Hywel John, is a wonderfully acted, highly intense piece of theatre which expertly shifts between characters and timescales.

Jenny, a well-spoken, upper-class Edinburgh girl falls in love with Tommy MacLeish, a cheeky, working-class lad from Leith.

The story is told by older Jenny, looking at an older and mentally frail Tommy and remembering their first meeting.
Source •

Show Me The Money tackles the financial struggles of those in the creative industries – Source

CommonSpace theatre critic Tara Fitzpatrick reviews Paula Varjack’s take on the thorny issue of trying to finance making a living in the arts

SHOW ME THE MONEY is a performance and personal discussion by writer and theatre maker Paula Varjack about working in a creative industry and the value we place upon it.

Specifically, the play is about money, or rather the lack of it within creative fields and the struggles this presents for people who try to make a living in the arts.

Addressing the au
Source •

The North! The North! is a truly dark experience - not for the faint hearted –

CommonSpace theatre critic Tara Fitzpatrick says there were a few nervous looks for the exit during this Christopher Harrisson effort

THE North! The North!, created and performed by Christopher Harrisson, is a dark, uncomfortable fable unlikely to be enjoyed by the faint-hearted.

Entering the run-down interiors of one of Summerhall’s many lecture theatres, Harrisson greets his audience with a sincere thank you for attending. “It’s so sunny out there and you chose to come in here with me,” he s
Source •

The plot twist in 'Heather' makes for an electrifying experience – Source

Our Edinburgh Fringe reviewer Tara Fitzpatrick says ‘Heather’ contains an explosive, revealing turning point

HEATHER is a play with a twist. The programme has asked that when discussing the play we keep the secret so, in that spirit, this is my formal warning that my review contains spoilers.

Those looking to see Heather during the Edinburgh Fringe’s final week or catch it during touring, you have been warned.

It is clear from the beginning of Heather that something is not quite right. The dr
Source •

Award-winning production explores the inner conflict inside the head of women –

“NO one wants to see a woman get angry.” This is the lightbulb moment in Mouthpiece, the UK premiere of Quote Unquote Collective’s award winning piece exploring the inner conflict inside the head of women.

Using sound, movement and text, Canadian performers Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava navigate the social concepts and politics of the female voice over the course of a day. One women, Cassandra, discovers her mother has died and, tasked with writing and giving the eulogy, she realises she has
Source •

A clear and uncompromising take on Europe's refugee crisis – Source

Theatre critic Tara Fitzpatrick reviews The Sky is Safe, Dogstar Theatre Company, Summerhall’s main stage, 4– 27 August (then touring Scotland)

THE Sky is Safe, Dogstar Theatre Company’s fifth Edinburgh Fringe show, is a play with a clear and uncompromising take on the misery and injustice of Europe’s Refugee Crisis.

The award-winning company behind The Tailor of Inverness have premiered their new work, directed by Ben Harrison, at Edinburgh’s Summerhall which collides multiple narratives expl
Source •

Tara Fitzpatrick: Bold performances and direction make for an entertaining The Lying Kind –

Our brand new theatre critic Tara Fitzpatrick kicks off with her take on The Lying Kind from the Tron Theatre Company

THE Scottish premiere of Anthony Neilson’s 2002 farcical comedy, The Lying Kind, is an outrageous, and at times uncomfortable, production about the morality of withholding or distorting the truth for the greater good.

The setup is straight forward. Two feckless, young police officers, Blunt (Martin McCormick) and Gobbel (Michael Dylan), arrive at the door of an elderly couple o
Source •

Tara Fitzpatrick: Adulting is inventive, heartfelt, endearing and leaves a smile –

Our Edinburgh Fringe reviewer, Tara Fitzpatrick, gives her take on ‘Adulting’

THE FRINGE debut from Spilt Milk theatre company is more of an informal chat than a play.

The four cast members – Catherine Ward-Stoddart, Grant McDonald, Jacqueline Thain and Anthony Byrne – divulge personal secrets and intimate stories throughout the hour-long performance, with each scene forming a new creative way to engage the audience in their own devising process.

‘Adulting’ is a verb meaning ‘to adult’ and im
Source •

Alan Bissett's Moira Bell is a breath of working class fresh air at the Edinburgh Fringe – Source

Our Fringe reviewer Tara Fitzpatrick doesn’t think we’ve seen the last of the Moira Monologues

ALAN BISSETT returns with his feisty, loud-mouthed Moira Bell, “the hardest woman in Falkirk” for a second round of sassy monologues.

The Moira Monologues premiered in 2009 and, looking to update the popular character, Bissett has written six new scenes for the cleaner and single-mother tackling (among other things) sexual escapades, neighbourhood gossip and Scottish independence, all told by Moira t

Podcasts and Videos

Explore a featured selection of my writing work below.
Source •

FilmSpace Podcast 002: Dunkirk, The Big Sick, Cinema vs Netflix –

CommonSpace film critic Scott Wilson and theatre critic Tara Fitzpatrick are back with episode two of the FilmSpace Podcast

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE who listened to the pilot of FilmSpace Podcast. We’re so excited by how CommonSpace continues to grow, and I’m personally overwhelmed by the support received after our first episode.

For episode two, we celebrate the launch of The Shape of Water’s trailer, discuss The Beguiled and how it’s been received, talk about the merits of cinema versus on dema
Source •

FilmSpace Podcast 001: The pilot –

CommonSpace film critic Scott Wilson and theatre critic Tara Fitzpatrick launch the brand new FilmSpace Podcast

COMMONSPACE IS GROWING. It continues to break news, shed light on injustice, and inform its readership. As it develops, so too does its output, and our Magazine section is thriving. Here, our film critic Scott Wilson and theatre critic Tara Fitzpatrick introduce the FilmSpace Podcast.

The million dollar question is – why?

We, and I in particular, hope you enjoy our film coverage. We
June and Winter •

Fringe 2017: Award-winning feminist play, Mouthpiece, comes to Edinburgh (video)

Mouthpiece, by Quote Unquote Collective, is a devised performance from Canadian theatre makers Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava. Having won ‘Best New Canadian Play’ at the Toronto Theatre Critics Award for 2016/17, the two-woman show is performing at Summerhall’s CanadaHub as part of the Edinburgh Fringe 2017.

The play follows one woman (played simultaneously by Nostbakken and Sadava) over the course of one day, as she discovers she has lost her voice. The performance,which was also directed by
June and Winter •

Fringe 2017: Portraying the Refugee Crisis in The Sky is Safe by Dogstar Theatre Company

The Syrian refugee crisis has fallen off our news channels lately. This is despite the number of people fleeing the conflict having risen past five million this year, according to the UN. However, where the news cycle may have moved on – temporarily – to different issues, many performances at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe festival are keen to bring the humanitarian crisis back to centre stage.

One such example is the new work by Dogstar Theatre Company who are returning to the festival for the f

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