June 15, 1947 - November 22, 2004

Stephen wrote his early plays while working as an actor in Alan Ayckbourn’s Scarborough company. Several of these were produced and directed by Ayckbourn at Scarborough, and commissions from other theatres followed. Comic Cuts was written for the contact theatre in Manchester and won the Thames TV Theatre Writers award, and after many regional British productions, culminated 10 years later in the West End – retitled as The Glory of the Garden.

In addition to original plays, he wrote adaptations of books for both television and theatre, including Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, and Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca.

His television work included The Innocents for YTV, and he adapted the Forsyte Saga for Granada.

The Woman in Black ran at the Fortune Theatre in the West End from 1989 to 2023. It has been translated into at least 12 languages and performed at the last count in 41 countries.