After leaving Cambridge University, John Jackson developed and script edited the ITV soap Night and Day.
[1] In 2009 he wrote the episode The King Is Dead, Long Live the King… for the BBC One series Robin Hood.
[2] From 2010 to 2012 he wrote two episodes of the serial drama Lip Service.
[5] This brought him a Writers' Guild of Great Britain award for Best TV Drama Series.
On 2 November 2023, it was announced that Jackson would be lead writer on the television adaptation of Rivers of London.