Born in Newcastle in 1966. Started writing for Radio in 1995 winning awards for I Luv You Jimmy Spud, Spoonface Steinberg and Blood Sugar which all made the journey to other media, his screenplay for Billy Elliot was nominated for an Oscar and was adapted into a multi-award winning stage musical. He has worked as writer in residence for Live Theatre, Newcastle and the RSC and has adapted many plays for the stage including Goldoni's A Servant to Two Masters (Young Vic/RSC), Brecht's Mr Puntila and his Man Matti (Right Size/ Almeida) and Heijermans' The Good Hope (RNT). He is currently working with Roger Waters on a stage adaptation of The Wall. Tom Stoppard's work includes Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Real Inspector Hound, Jumpers, Travesties, Night and Day, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, After Magritte, Dirty Linen, The Real Thing, Hapgood, Arcadia, Indian Ink, The Invention of Love, the trilogy The Coast of Utopia, Rock 'n' Roll, The Hard Problem and Leopoldstadt. His radio plays include If You're Glad I'll Be Frank, Albert's Bridge, Where Are They Now?, Artist Descending a Staircase, The Dog It Was That Died, In the Native State and Darkside (incorporating Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon). Television work includes Professional Foul, Squaring the Circle and Parade's End. Film credits include Empire of the Sun, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which he also directed, Shakespeare in Love, Enigma and Anna Karenina. Born in Newcastle in 1966. Started writing for Radio in 1995 winning awards for I Luv You Jimmy Spud, Spoonface Steinberg and Blood Sugar which all made the journey to other media, his screenplay for Billy Elliot was nominated for an Oscar and was adapted into a multi-award winning stage musical. He has worked as writer in residence for Live Theatre, Newcastle and the RSC and has adapted many plays for the stage including Goldoni's A Servant to Two Masters (Young Vic/RSC), Brecht's Mr Puntila and his Man Matti (Right Size/ Almeida) and Heijermans' The Good Hope (RNT). He is currently working with Roger Waters on a stage adaptation of The Wall.