William Nicholson was born in 1948, and grew up in Sussex and Gloucestershire. He was educated at Downside School and Christ's College, Cambridge, and then joined BBC Television, where he worked as a documentary film maker. There his ambition to write, directed first into novels, was channeled into television drama. His plays for television include Shadowlands and Life Story, both of which won the BAFTA Best Television Drama award in their year; other award-winners were Sweet As You Are and The March. In 1988 William received the Royal Television Society's Writer's Award. His first play, an adaptation of Shadowlands for the stage, was Evening Standard Best Play of 1990, and went on to a Tony Award winning run on Broadway. He was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay of the film version, which was directed by Richard Attenborough and starred Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger. Since then he has written more films - Sarafina, Nell, First Knight, Grey Owl, Gladiator (as co-writer), for which he received a second Oscar nomination, and Elizabeth: the Golden Age. He has written and directed his own film, Firelight, and three further stage plays: Map of the Heart, Katherine Howard and The Retreat from Moscow, which ran for five months on Broadway and received three Tony Award nominations. His novel for older children, The Wind Singer, won the Smarties Prize Gold Award on publication in 2000, and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award in 2001. Its sequel, Slaves of the Mastery, was published in May 2001, and the final volume in the trilogy, Firesong, in 2002. The trilogy has been sold in every major foreign market, from the US to China. His second sequence of fantasy novels is called The Noble Warriors. The first book, Seeker, was published in the UK in September 2005. The second book, Jango, in 2006 and the third book NOMAN, in September 2007. His novels for adults are The Society of Others (2004), The Trial of True Love (2005), and The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life (2009). In 2010 a sequel to Secret Intensity called All the Hopeful Lovers was published; his love-and-sex novel for teens, Rich and Mad, was released; while his play Crash premiered at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, pulished by Methuen Drama.

Crash is a contemporary, satirical comedy, probing the feelings behind and reaction to the economic crisis and the people who caused it.
The play follows a reunion of sorts, but on the basis of the characters' current situations, their common ground is at best elusive. Nick is a Securities Trader for Goldman Sachs and collector of art. Humphrey is an artist with ethics and a cheque he's not sure he should cash. And Christine is the beautiful girl they both loved, but Humphrey married. All together again, in Nick's Elizabethan mansion, getting ready to celebrate the unveiling of a new sculpture.
But under the surface Humphrey is angry. Angry in the same way that the whole world is angry, angry about how people like Nick seem to have got away with causing a financial meltdown that affected everyone, but still manage to bank their bonuses.
William Nicholson is the Tony and Academy award nominated author of Shadowlands and screenwriter on Gladiator and Elizabeth: The Golden Age as well as an acclaimed novelist. His new play seethes with the fury of a nation duped, alongside some sharp political humour about art, Collateralised Debt Obligations and ramblers.