Tom Steel was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He graduated from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he read History. In 1965 and joined the staff of Rediffusion Televisiom as a programme researcher. From 1968 he worked for Thames Television as producer and director on Today, This Week, People and Politics, as well as several documentaries. He has also worked as a freelance producer and director for Channel 4, ITV and the BBC. As well as The Life and Death of St Kilda, he also wrote Scotland�s Story. He died in 2007.