Raised within a Catholic personal, he decided to get the writer at the age of Decade. For the number one half of his career, he worked for the BBC on documentary films, before gaining profits as a novelist & dramatist.

A number one book of his popular Wind On Fire trilogy won him the Smarties Gold Award for better youngsters's book. This book, The Wind Singer, was followed by The Slaves of the Mastery, and Firesong.

He has twice been nominated for Tony Awards for best play, for Shadowlands and The Retreat from Moscow. He late turned Shadowlands, according to a relationship between C.S. Lewis and Joy Gresham, into a BBC TV play in 1985, and an acclaimed film in 1993. A latter asterisked Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger and was directed by Richard Attenborough. His more screenplays include First Knight (1995) and Grey Owl (1999). He late worked as a writer on the Academy Award winning epic Gladiator (2000), & wrote and directed a 1997 film Firelight.