Crilly was educated at The Judd School, Tonbridge, and read Natural Sciences at Downing College, Cambridge.
Crilly began his career as a sub-editor at the Chester Chronicle before joining the Press and Journal (Aberdeen) and then moved to The Herald, where he was Edinburgh bureau chief.
In 2014, Crilly was among the journalists arrested while covering civil unrest in Ferguson, Mo, following the shooting of Michael Brown.
As a freelance journalist, Crilly has also written for The Irish Times, The Daily Mail and The Christian Science Monitor.
[7] Rob Crilly's book Saving Darfur: Everyone's Favourite African War, based on four years of reporting on Sudan and extensive travels through the region, was published in February 2010.