Born in Romford, Essex, Woods was educated at Hull Grammar School and Imperial Service College, Windsor.

He is best remembered for his television work for BBC News on Newsroom initially as a reporter but also as a newsreader from the 1960s until the early 1980s.

Along with all the other BBC newsreaders of the time, Woods participated in the 1977 Christmas edition of the Morecambe and Wise Show.

They delivered a rendition of the song "There Is Nothing Like a Dame" (from the musical South Pacific) with Woods getting the deep-voiced last line and using his trademark seriousness to comic effect.

Woods had two children, Susan (born c. 1955) and Guy (c. 1957)[citation needed] with his first wife Kathleen Marian (née Smith).