Biography
Shelagh Stephenson is an English playwright, screenwriter and former actress. Born in Tynemouth, Northumberland in 1955, she read drama at Manchester University and began her career as an actress, appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and in television series including Sapphire & Steel and Coronation Street.
She later concentrated on writing. Her stage plays include The Memory of Water (premiered 1996), which transferred to the West End and won the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2000, and An Experiment with an Air Pump (1998). She has written extensively for BBC Radio, including the award-winning Five Kinds of Silence (1996). Her television credits include an episode of Downton Abbey (2010) and the series Murder in Provence (2022).
