(Hugh) Michael Bonnin Stewart [1] [2] (born 25 June 1945) [3] is a British writer and entrepreneur.
Having taken an MA (Oxon) from Christ Church, Oxford (where he read "Greats") and an MBA from INSEAD (Institut Europeen d'Administration des Affaires), Michael Stewart joined PA Management Consultants in London as a Senior Consultant and later the Northern Ireland Finance Corporation as a Senior Executive. For a period thereafter, he became variously involved in turnkey construction projects in Saudi Arabia, international oil and gas broking and trading in liquidated consumer stocks.
In 1983 he entered on a career as a novelist and, later, screenwriter. After two political thrillers ("Twilight Strike" and "The 51st"), he began developing the genre for which he became known - psychological thrillers turning on breaking scientific developments. The first, "Monkey Shines", was adapted in 1988 into the American horror film of the same name. He published a further seven in the same genre. In 1995 he turned to television, devising, co-writing and executive-producing the drama series "Bliss" for ITV and a feature-length film for BBC-1 entitled "Breakout."
He has spoken widely on science in the arts and the place of science in the creative imagination. He was a speaker and moderator on the topic for three years at the World Economic Forum at Davos, and in 1996 he won the Grand Prix prize for the Public Awareness of Science and Engineering (PAWS).
Since 2000, he has been involved in the development of an advanced hybrid air vehicle. This revolutionary design combines the aerostatic lift of a conventional airship with the aerodynamic lift of an aeroplane to create a wholly new air vehicle capable of carrying payloads up to 1,000 tons and able to land on virtually any terrain without need of ground infrastructure. He continues to develop concepts and scripts for film and television while working on a novel set in the future.
Michael Stewart married Martine Brant (writer of television series The Devil's Whore and New Worlds ) in 1989. They lived at Wytham Abbey, Oxford, [4] [5] which was subsequently sold to the charity Effective Ventures. [6]
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Monkey Shines is a 1988 American science fiction psychological horror film written and directed by George A. Romero and starring Jason Beghe, Kate McNeil, John Pankow, and Joyce Van Patten. Its plot follows a young athlete who becomes a paralyzed quadriplegic, and develops a bond with an intelligent service monkey named "Ella" who becomes homicidal after she is injected with an experimental serum of human brain tissue. It is based on the 1983 British novel of the same title by Michael Stewart.
Peter Joseph Egan is a British actor. He is known for television roles including Hogarth in Big Breadwinner Hog (1969), the future King George IV in Prince Regent (1979); smooth neighbour Paul Ryman in the sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles (1984–89); and Hugh "Shrimpie" MacClare, Marquess of Flintshire, in Downton Abbey (2012–15).
ITV Studios Limited is a British multinational television media company owned by British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcasters, and is based in 12 countries across 60 production labels, with local production offices in the UK, US, Belgium, Australia, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Israel, France, Spain and Scandinavia.
The Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award was a literary award given annually to recognize a Canadian children's book. The award was given to a book written in English by a citizen or permanent resident of Canada and published in Canada during the preceding year.
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Breakout is a British television drama film written by Michael Stewart, first broadcast on BBC1 on 22 April 1997. Directed by Moira Armstrong, the film starred Neil Dudgeon and Samantha Bond as scientists Neil McFarlane and Lisa Temple, who join to investigate a mysterious death. The film was writer Michael Stewart's second science-based TV project, following ITV's Bliss, which premiered in 1995. According to BFI records, the original working title for the film was "The Lab".
Monkey Shines is a 1983 British psychological horror novel by Michael Stewart. Its plot follows a quadriplegic man whose service animal, a capuchin monkey named Ella, grows increasingly violent. It was adapted into a feature film of the same name in 1988 by director George A. Romero.
Aimée Delamain was an English actress, known for spending most of her career playing elderly ladies.