Anthony Steven

Born: 3rd August 1916 (as William Anthony Steven)
Died: 26th May 1990 (aged 73 years)
Episodes Broadcast: 1984

Biography

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.

Credits
Writer
The Twin Dilemma

Updated 22nd June 2021