Leslie Stewart (born 23 May 1949,

Benghazi Benghazi () () is the List of cities in Libya, second-most-populous city in Libya as well as the largest city in Cyrenaica, with an estimated population of 859,000 in 2023. Located on the Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, Ben ...

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

-based film and TV screenwriter, playwright and director.

Background

Born Leslie George Gannagé-Stewart, he co-wrote the song "

Mistletoe and Wine "Mistletoe and Wine" is a Christmas song made famous as a chart-topping single by Cliff Richard in 1988. The song was written by Jeremy Paul, Leslie Stewart and Keith Strachan for a musical called ''Scraps'', which was an adaptation of Hans Ch ...

", which earned

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

the 1988 Christmas number one. His television script writing work includes '' Monarch of the Glen'', ''

Holby City ''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a Spin-off (media), spin-off from the established BBC medical drama '' ...

'', ''Love Bytes'', '' Down to Earth'', ''

Casualty Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster **Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...

'', '' As If'', ''

Peak Practice ''Peak Practice'' is a British drama series about a GP surgery in Cardale — a small fictional town in the Derbyshire Peak District — and the doctors who worked there. It originally starred Kevin Whately as Dr Jack Kerruish, Amanda Burton ...

'', and the 1987

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

, '' Two of Us'', for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's ''Scene'' series. In 1976, Stewart co-wrote his first musical, ''Shoot Up at Elbow Creek''. He also wrote ''

The Little Match Girl "The Little Match Girl" (, meaning "The little girl with the matchsticks") is a literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen. The story, about a dying child's dreams and hope, was first published in 1845. It has been ...

'', based on

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

, for

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

Orange Tree Theatre The Orange Tree Theatre is a 180-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south-west London, which was built specifically as a theatre in the round. It is housed within a disused 1867 primary school, built in Victorian Gothic style. Th ...

, which contained the song "Mistletoe and Wine." HTV assisted in the production of the play for television in 1986. Having worked extensively in music, writing for, among others, the jazz-rock outfit Swegas,

Consortium A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...

and

, and producing artists including

Jeff Baker Jeffrey Glen Baker (born June 21, 1981) is an American former professional baseball player. He bats and throws right-handed. He played in Major League Baseball for the Colorado Rockies, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Atlanta Braves, Texas Range ...

, Stewart continues to work as a lyricist, currently with the American blues musician,

Johnny Mars Johnny Mars (born December 7, 1942) is an American electric blues harmonica player, singer, and songwriter. Over a long career, he has worked with Magic Sam, Earl Hooker, B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, Jesse Fuller, Spencer Davis, Ian Gillan, Do-Re-M ...

. Stewart is a member of the

British Academy of Film and Television Arts The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

(BAFTA), the

Writers' Guild of Great Britain The Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG). History The u ...

, the

British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors The Ivors Academy (formerly known as British Academy of Songwriters Composers and Authors – BASCA) is one of the largest professional associations for music writers in Europe. The academy works to protect and support and also campaigns the int ...

and

PRS for Music PRS for Music Limited (formerly The MCPS-PRS Alliance Limited) is a British music copyright collective, made up of two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertake ...

(formerly the Performing Rights Society). In October 2022, Stewart was featured alongside Roger Tonge in an interview for

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

's ''Kids TV: The Surprising Story'' (airdate 26 October 2022). They discussed their film ''Two Of Us'' (1987), which was written for the ''

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

's Scenes'' series, intended for use in schools. Stewart and Tonge spoke about letters they received in response to their film and the newspaper headlines. As Thatcher’s government was in power at the time of the release of ''Two Of Us'', scenes from the film were removed and banned due to Thatcher’s laws. These scenes were later restored.

Works

Stage work

*''Shoot up at Elbow Creek'' (

, Richmond; Greenwich, London; etc.). *'' The Little Matchgirl'' (with

Keith Strachan Keith Strachan (born 21 January 1944) is an English composer and theatre director. He co-wrote the song " Mistletoe and Wine", which got Cliff Richard the 1988 UK Christmas number one. His TV work includes the theme music for the worldwide franc ...

& Jeremy Paul; The Orange Tree, Richmond; Contact, Manchester; Reykjavík Opera House; European and Russian tours etc.), which transposed Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairytale to the world of alcohol abuse and child-prostitution. A song from the show, ‘

’ won an

Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and Musical composition, composing. They have been presented annually in London by the The Ivors Academy, Ivors Academy, formerly called the Britis ...

, was the best-selling single of 1988 and the third best-selling single of the 1980s. *''The Soldier'' (Ware Arts Centre/Various) *Contributed to the ''London Revue City Delights'' (with Keith Strachan;

Oxford Playhouse The Oxford Playhouse is a theatre designed by Edward Maufe and F. G. M. Chancellor. It is situated in Beaumont Street, Oxford, opposite the Ashmolean Museum. History The Playhouse was founded as ''The Red Barn'' at 12 Woodstock Road (Oxford), W ...

)

Film for television

*'' Three Minute Heroes'' (''

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

'' BBC 1) *'' The Amazing Miss Stella Estelle'' (''Play for Today'' BBC 1) *'' Space Station: Milton Keynes'' (''

Screen Two ''Screen Two'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1985 to 1998 (not to be confused with a run of films shown on BBC2 under the billing ''Screen 2'' between April 1977 and March 1978 ...

'', BBC) *''Wide Games'' ( ''Scene'', BBC 2) *''Good Neighbours'' (''Scene'', BBC 2) *''Janna, Where Are You?'' (''Scene'', BBC 2) *''Q.P.R. Askey Is Dead'' (''Scene'', BBC 2) *''That Green Stuff'' (''Scene'', BBC 2) *'' Two of Us'' (''Scene'', BBC 2) *''The Little Match Girl'' (HTV/Picture Base,

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

Nomination) *''Boogie Outlaws'' (mini-series, BBC 2) *''Love Bytes'', an anthology series, Nominated for Most Outstanding Drama Series – Silver Logie Award 2005, produced by Shine and

Fox TV Fox Broadcasting Company, LLC (commonly known as Fox; stylized in all caps) is an American commercial broadcast television network serving as the flagship property of Fox Corporation and operated through Fox Entertainment. Fox is based at Fo ...

Other television work

*''

'' (Carlton TV) *''

'' (BBC TV) *'' Down to Earth'' (BBC TV) *'' Monarch of the Glen'' (BBC TV/Ecosse) *''

'' (BBC TV) *'' As If'' (Ch4/Carnival/Columbia Tri-Star) *''Urpo and Turpo'' (Lumifilm, Helsinki).

Plays for radio

*''The Key to My Father's House'' (BBC R4, ''The Monday Play'', starring Ken Colley, Francesca Brill, Adam Hussein) *''Canada Park'' (BBC R4, ''The Monday Play'', starring Harry Towb, James Coyle and Tom Rogers) *''Dancing Backwards'' (BBC R4, ''The Friday Play'', starring Bill Nighy, Frances Barber, Sheridan Smith)

Screenplays

*''The Great Wall of China'' (Deco Films, funded by the EEC's Media II development fund) *''The Runner'' (

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

) *''Cloudberry 9'' (Film Development Corporation) *''The Millennium Job'' ( Ardent Productions/

Mel Smith Melvyn Kenneth Smith (3 December 1952 – 19 July 2013) was an English comedian, actor and filmmaker. He worked on the sketch comedy shows ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'' and ''Alas Smith and Jones'' with his comedy partner, Griff Rhys Jones. Smi ...

) *"

Moomins on the Riviera ''Moomins on the Riviera'' (Finnish title: ''Muumit Rivieralla'') is a 2014 animated family comedy film directed by Xavier Picard and produced by Hanna Hemilä, who is also co-director. The film is based on ''Moomin'' comic strips by Tove Janss ...

" (Handle Productions/Pic Tak). A hand-drawn animation feature film based on

Tove Jansson Tove Marika Jansson (; 9 August 1914 – 27 June 2001) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish author, novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. Brought up by artistic parents, Jansson studied art from 1930 to 1938 in Helsinki, Stockholm, ...

's original

Moomins The Moomins (, ) are the central characters in a series of novels, short stories, picture books, and a comic strip by the Finnish writer and illustrator Tove Jansson, originally published in Swedish by Finnish publisher Schildts. They are a ...

comic strips.

Directed

*''Foot in the Door'' (Just Films/

Anglia TV ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...

) *''Once Upon a Time'' (LSA/Eastern Arts) *''How Green is My Alley?'' (LSA) *''Filigree'', a documentary (Just Films/BFI/Eastern Arts) *''That Green Stuff'' (''Scene'', BBC2) *''Space Station: Milton Keynes'' (''Screen Two'', BBC 2) *''Lola'' (BBC 1) *''She's Not There'' (BBC 1) *''Terry'' (BBC 1)

Publications

*''Wide Games'' (Longmans) *''Good Neighbours'' (Longmans) * * *

References

External links

*
Credits at BFI
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Leslie 1949 births Living people People from Benghazi British writers