Stephen Wyatt, born 4 February 1948 in

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, in Greater London. Until 1965 it was part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Charing Cross, situated north of Elmers End and E ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

(now

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness Greatness is a concept of a state of superiority affecting a person or object in a particular place or area. Greatness can also be attributed to individuals who possess a natural ability to be better than al ...

), is a British writer for theatre, radio and television.

Early life and education

Wyatt was raised in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was his ...

, West

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. He was educated at

Latymer Upper School (Slowly Therefore Surely) , established = , closed = , sister_school = Godolphin and Latymer School , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , head_label = H ...

and then

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refound ...

. After a brief spell as lecturer in Drama at

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, he began his career as a freelance

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

in 1975 as writer/researcher with the

Belgrade Theatre The Belgrade Theatre is a live performance venue in Coventry, England. It was the first civic theatre to be built in Britain after the Second World War and is now a Grade II listed building. Background Coventry was the fastest growing city i ...

Coventry in Education team. Full listings of his work can be found on his website www.stephenwyatt.co.uk.

Theatre work

His subsequent young people's theatre work includes ''The Magic Cabbage'' ( Unicorn Theatre, 1978), ''Monster'' ( York Theatre Royal, 1979) and ''The Witch of Wapping'' (Half Moon, 1980). In 1982 and 1983, he was Resident Writer with the Bubble Theatre for whom he wrote ''Glitterballs'' and ''The Rogue's Progress''. His other theatre work includes ''After Shave'' (

Apollo Theatre The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, in central London.

, 1978), ''R.I.P Maria Callas'' (

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

/ Hen and Chickens, 1992), ''A Working Woman'' - from

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

’s L'Assommoir (

West Yorkshire Playhouse Leeds Playhouse is a theatre in the city centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire. Having originally opened in 1970 in a different location in Leeds, it reopened as West Yorkshire Playhouse, on Quarry Hill, in March 1990. After a refurbishment in 2018-20 ...

, 1992), ''Pick Yourself Up'' (Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch, 2011), ''A Victorian Mikado'' (Krazy Kat Theatre, 2011), ''The Standard Bearer'' (Waterloo East Theatre, London / Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre, Los Angeles, 2014), ''The Devil in the Belfry'' - libretto after a scenario by

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...

(Gottingen 2013), and ''Told Look Younger'' ( Jermyn Street Theatre, London, 2015). He also collaborated with Jeff Clarke on ''The Burglar's Opera'' for

Opera della Luna Opera della Luna (OdL), founded in 1994, is a British touring theatre troupe of actor-singers focusing on comic works. Led by artistic director Jeff Clarke, it takes its name from Haydn's operatic setting of Goldoni's farce '' Il mondo della lun ...

(2004) "stolen from an idea by W. S. Gilbert with music nicked from

Sir Arthur Sullivan Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera, operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinaf ...

" and with the Weaver Dance Company on ''The Loves of Mars and Venus'' and ''The Loves of Pygmalion''. His new comedy ''Two Cigarettes in the Dark'' starring Penelope Keith and directed by Alan Strachan opens at the Chichester Festival Theatre in February 2022.

Television work

Wyatt's first work for television was ''Claws'', filmed by the BBC in 1987, starring Simon Jones and

Brenda Blethyn Brenda Blethyn (''née'' Bottle; 20 February 1946) is an English actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, and two Academy Award nominations. Blethyn ...

. He was then commissioned by Andrew Cartmel to write two scripts for the science-fiction series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

'', which were called ''

Paradise Towers ''Paradise Towers'' is the second serial of the 24th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 5 to 26 October 1987. In the serial, Kroagnon, the incorporeal arc ...

'' and '' The Greatest Show in the Galaxy'', both starring Sylvester McCoy as the

Seventh Doctor The Seventh Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', and the final incarnation of the original Doctor Who series. He is portrayed by Scottish actor Sylvester McCoy. W ...

. His other television credits include scripts for '' The House of Eliott'' and '' Casualty''. In 2020 Big Finish brought out ''The Psychic Circus'', Stephen's audio drama prequel to ''The Greatest Show in the Galaxy''.

Radio work

He has worked for

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

since 1985 as both an adapter and an original playwright.

Radio adaptations

* ''Sketches by Boz'' (1998–1999) * ''The Old Wives' Tale'' (2003) * ''Gilbert without Sullivan'' (2003–2004) * ''Vanity Fair'' (2004) * ''Oblomov'' (2005) * ''Tom Jones'' (2007) * ''The Talented Mr Ripley'' (2009) * ''Alice Through the Looking Glass'' (2012) * ''The Divine Comedy'' (2014)

Original plays

* ''Fairest Isle'' (1995, Sony Award Winner) * ''Gray's Elegy'' (2000) * ''Party Animal'' (2003) * ''Dr Brighton and Mr Harding'' (2006) * ''Memorials to the Missing'' (2007) * ''Gerontius'' (2011) * ''Finlandia'' (2015) * ''The Psychic Circus (Big Finish 2020)'' * ''The Seven Ages of Woman'' (2021)

Publications

* ''Three plays by Pinero'' - Introduced by Stephen Wyatt (Methuen, 1985) * ''Paradise Towers'' (Target Books, 1988) * ''The Greatest Show in the Galaxy'' (Target Books, 1989) * ''Memorials to the Missing'' (London, 2007) * ''R.I.P, Maria Callas and other monologues for stage and radio'' (London, 2007) * ''Gilbert without Sullivan'' (London, 2007) * ''L'Assommoir'' (London, 2007) * ''The Speculator'' (London, 2009) * ''So You Want To Write Radio Drama?'' with Claire Grove (Nick Hern Books, 2013) * ''The World and His Wife: A true story told by two unreliable narrators'' (Book Guild 2019) * ''Hurst on Film'' with Caitlin Smith (Quartertoten 2021) * 'The Secret Life of Caretaker Number 112 Stroke 9 Subsection 7' in ''Build High for Happiness'' (Obverse Books 2021) * ''The Wallscrawler and Other Stories'' (Obverse Books 2022)

Awards

His play ''Memorials to the Missing'' (2007) won the Tinniswood Award for best original radio script of 2007 and Silver in the Best Drama category of the 2008 Sony Radio Academy Awards. His radio drama ''Gerontius'' (2010) won the 2011 Tinniswood Award for Best Radio Drama Script.

References

External links

Official Website
* https://writersguild.org.uk/find-a-writer/
Stephen Wyatt Interview at Best British TV

* *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyatt, Stephen 1948 births Living people People from Beckenham People educated at Latymer Upper School Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Glasgow British science fiction writers British soap opera writers British television writers British male dramatists and playwrights British instructional writers English screenwriters English male screenwriters English radio writers English television writers English soap opera writers English dramatists and playwrights English male dramatists and playwrights British male television writers