Stephen Wyatt, born 4 February 1948 in

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. Prior to 1965, it was part of Kent. It is situated north of Elmers End and Eden Park, east of Penge, south of Lower Sydenham and Bellingham, and west ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

(now

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

), 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 (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

, West

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He was educated at

Latymer Upper School Latymer Upper School is a public school in Hammersmith, London, England, on King Street. It derives from a charity school, and is part of the same 1624 Latymer Foundation, from a bequest by the English legal official Edward Latymer. There ...

and then

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, 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 Unive ...

. After a brief spell as lecturer in Drama at

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

, he began his career as a freelance

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

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 in ...

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 The Unicorn Theatre is a children's theatre in the London Borough of Southwark, in England. It is a custom-built, RIBA Award–winning building on Tooley Street, which opened in 2005. The theatre was designed by Keith Williams, built by Arup an ...

, 1978), ''Monster'' (

York Theatre Royal York Theatre Royal is a theatre in St Leonard's Place, in York, England, which dates back to 1744. The theatre currently seats 750 people. Whilst the theatre is traditionally a proscenium theatre, it was reconfigured for a season in 2011 to off ...

, 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 listed building, Grade II listed West End theatre in 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 Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

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

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

’s L'Assommoir (

West Yorkshire Playhouse Leeds Playhouse is a theatre in the city centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1990 in the Quarry Hill area of the city as the West Yorkshire Playhouse, successor to the original Leeds Playhouse, and was rebranded in June 2018 ...

, 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 influe ...

(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 (2004) "stolen from an idea by

W. S. Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most fam ...

with music nicked from Sir Arthur Sullivan" 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 ( Bottle; born 20 February 1946) is an English actress. Known for her character work and versatility, she is the recipient of various accolades, including a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and a Cannes Film Festival Award, as well as n ...

. He was then commissioned by

Andrew Cartmel Andrew J. Cartmel (born 6 April 1958) is a British script editor, author and journalist. He was the script editor of ''Doctor Who'' during the Sylvester McCoy era of the show between 1987 and 1989. He has also worked as a script editor on other t ...

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, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'', which were '' Paradise Towers'' and '' The Greatest Show in the Galaxy'', both starring

Sylvester McCoy Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith (born 20 August 1943), known professionally as Sylvester McCoy, is a Scottish actor. Gaining prominence as a physical comedian, he became best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the long ...

as the

Seventh Doctor The Seventh Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is portrayed by Scottish actor Sylvester McCoy. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-o ...

. His other television credits include scripts for ''

The House of Eliott ''The House of Eliott'' is a British television series produced and broadcast by the BBC in three series between 31 August 1991 and 6 March 1994. The series starred Stella Gonet as Beatrice Eliott and Louise Lombard as Evangeline Eliott, two s ...

'' and ''

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 ...

''. 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 (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

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) * ''Breaking the Rules: A House Called Insanity'' (2024)

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 The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

. 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/ *

* *

{{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 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