Born in Hereford, England, he read English at the University of York, graduating in 1976.
Amongst Barbarians, for which he won the 1989 Mobil Competition's prize for playwriting, was first produced at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, England.
It then moved to the Hampstead Theatre in London, and was later made into a British made-for-television movie.
He won the Sony and Giles Cooper Awards in 1985 for Hiroshima – The Movie, which he wrote for BBC radio.
Women Laughing, written in 1989, was produced on stage at the Royal Court Theatre in 1992, just after the author's death.