Anthony Steven
Born: 3rd August 1916 (as William Anthony Steven)
Died: 26th May 1990 (aged 73 years)
Episodes Broadcast: 1984
Surrey-born Anthony Steven originally worked as a reporter before
becoming a writer for the British government's Crown Film Unit in the
Forties. Steven joined the BBC in the mid-Fifties, and his early scripts
included The Adventures Of Annabel, Duty Bound and The
Sky Larks. He remained prolific during the Sixties, often writing
adaptations of classic works like The Count Of Monte Cristo,
Hereward The Wake, The Three Musketeers and The Forsyte
Saga. Amongst his credits in the Seventies were Tom Brown's
Schooldays, Woodstock and Five Red Herrings. He also
began writing for All Creatures Great And Small, where he came to
know production unit manager John Nathan-Turner.
Steven's career started to wind down in the early Eighties, but he still
provided scripts for The Talisman and Fanny By Gaslight.
Meanwhile, Nathan-Turner had become the producer of Doctor Who.
In 1983, he recommended Steven to write the debut adventure for Colin
Baker as the Sixth Doctor. Unfortunately, Steven's progress on The Twin Dilemma was slow, a
situation he attributed to a series of increasingly bizarre events --
even reporting that his typewriter had “literally exploded”!
When Steven fell badly ill, it was left to script editor Eric Saward to
overhaul the serial. Steven would not work in television again, and he
died on May 26th, 1990.
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