Anthony Steven

Anthony Steven was a veteran television screenwriter who worked on many programmes including All Creatures Great and Small, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and several historically based dramas.

In 1984, he wrote the script for the Doctor Who story The Twin Dilemma. Illness prevented him completing the final drafts, which were instead finished by script editor Eric Saward. 

Anthony Steven started his career as a reporter on the Oxford Mail. Later he was discovered by John Grierson (Founder of the Crown film unit and pioneer of the documentary film as we know it today) who hired him as a writer.

In 1957 Steven joined the BBC. A prolific writer, he wrote many television serials over a period of thirty years. Some of his scripts were original but many were adaptations of notable classical novels, including several episodes of The Forsyte Sage.

Work includes All Creatures Great and Small, Fanny by Gaslight, The Talisman, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Five Red Herrings, The Nine Tailors, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, Woodstock, Clouds of Witness, The Regiment, Tom Brown's Schooldays, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Finlay's Casebook, The Borderers, Who-Dun-It, TV Playhouse, The Man in the Iron Mask, Virgin of the Secret Service, Kenilworth, ITV Play of the Week, BBC Play of the Month, The Three Musketeers, Boy Meets Girl, The Forsyte Saga, Thirteen Against Fate, Redcap, Hereward the Wake, The Rise and Rise of Cesar Birotteau, The Flying Swan, Count of Monte Cristo, First Night, Maigret, Swallows and Amazons, The Third Man, Suspense, BBC Sunday-Night Play, Television Playwright, Duty Bound, Armchair Theatre, Man of Africa, Theatre Royal, The Oracle, Life in Her Hands