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 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 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).
Michael Stewart married Martine Brant (writer of television series The Devil's Whore and New Worlds) in 1989.