[3] Crick studied philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) at New College, Oxford, and graduated with a first class honours Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.

During his period as their Washington correspondent (1988–1990) [1] Crick won an award from the Royal Television Society for his coverage of the 1988 Presidential election between George H. W. Bush and Michael Dukakis.

In 1990, the Labour Party gave Crick the opportunity to contest the safe seat of Bootle, but he turned down the offer.

[12] Following the Archer documentary,[13] Crick began work on his biography of Sir Alex Ferguson which was published in 2002.

Reporting "utterly misplaced" speculation that Crick would not be objective because of his lifelong support of Manchester United, Leo McKinstry wrote for The Daily Telegraph that Ferguson "has found a worthy, if hardly compliant, biographer".

These claims involved the alleged misuse of public funds by the private office of former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith and supposed payments to his wife Betsy for work she did not do.

Crick had begun to investigate these claims in the Spring following a tip-off from a Conservative insider with knowledge of Duncan Smith's office.

[15] Crick referred the case to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Sir Philip Mawer and the Duncan Smiths were largely cleared of any impropriety.

[16] He broke the story in June 2008[20] concerning Caroline Spelman's misuse of her parliamentary staffing allowance which she was found to have used to pay her nanny.

[26] In Summer 2013, Crick reported that a file on the Conservative politician Michael Mates had been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service concerning alleged offences committed during his candidacy in the Police and Crime Commissioner elections in 2012 for the post in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

[27] Crick's investigations on behalf of Channel 4 into violations of electoral law in the South Thanet constituency during the 2017 general election resulted in the conviction of the Conservative Party regional organiser in 2019 of serious breaches of illegal spending.

One consequence of his investigations has been a tightening of electoral law to prevent local candidates from using profiles of national figures in their literature.

[28][29] In April 2019, Crick announced he had retired from Channel 4 and ITN, stating that he was "looking forward to an exciting new life writing books again, and all sorts of other activity in journalism and other fields.

[35] Crick lives in Wandsworth,[38] South London, with his partner Lucy Hetherington, an executive TV producer who has managed documentaries and current affairs programmes.