He was in a car crash early in his life in which he lost an eye, broke his nose and injured his back so he could hardly turn his head.
He was originally a rather unsuccessful getaway driver for a gang of bank robbers. While serving time in prison, he wrote a novel which he showed to writer Alan Plater who was giving a lecture at the prison. Plater encouraged him to use his experiences as a "villain" as background for writing radio plays. This led to his far more successful career as a writer for programmes such as The Sweeney (1975), London's Burning (1988) and Minder (1979).