Executive ChairmanStephen studied jurisprudence at Oxford, where he also edited the university magazine Isis. But he counts his first media break as a six-year-old extra, in a Milky Bar Kid commercial. This early interest in television may or may not have inspired his apprenticeship as a Researcher, then freelance producer/director at Granada, where he worked for - among others - Factory Records’ founder Tony Wilson, then at Andrea Wonfor’s Tyne Tees and the BBC. His passion for shepherding new and exciting talent, however, began at Channel 4, where he was Commissioning Editor for Youth Programming from 1987 to 1992. This was where he was able to give “first breaks” to a wide range of writers and directors, including the now-established talents of The Full Monty-director Peter Cattaneo and its writer Simon Beaufoy. Responsible for over 100 hours of broadcasting a year, Stephen was involved in everything from youth drama Teenage Health Freak (directed by Cattaneo) to post-Punk magic show The Secret Cabaret. He can also claim (for better or worse) to have commissioned the thoroughly mischievous, pop culture milestone that was The Word.

In 1992 Stephen left Channel 4, to co-found Kudos. Keen to create his very own innovative, unusual and provocative programming, the company’s first projects included Rory Bremner’s first BAFTA award-winning show for C4 (Stephen executive produced), the serio-comic religious quest series Desperately Seeking Something, and the controversial poverty-themed game show Come On Down and Out. Kudos’ first notable drama success, however, came with the Beaufoy-penned feature film Among Giants, which Stephen produced. Since then, his list of production credits has been equally impressive, from TV drama Psychos (Executive Producer) to the movie Pure (Joint Executive Producer) via the International Emmy Award-winning The Magician’s House (Executive Producer) and the first BAFTA-winning series of Spooks (Executive Producer), as well as Simon Beaufoy’s climate-change thriller, Burn Up (Executive Producer). Ste[hen is also an Executive Producer on the US version of Life on Mars, which runs on ABC.

In 2004, Stephen invited former-FilmFour head Paul Webster to join he and Jane Featherstone as partners in a stand-alone film-making entity. And the resulting venture, Kudos Pictures, already has David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises (which Stephen executive produced) and Bharat Nalluri’s Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (which he produced) under its belt, with Disney’s first-ever natural history feature, a documentary Crimson Wing, also completed. He also runs Shine Pictures with Paul Webster, a joint venture with Arnon Milchan’s New Regency. Outside Kudos, Stephen is a council member of BAFTA and a member of the British Screen Advisory Council.