John was born the son of a miner in Upton, West Yorkshire. He trained as a teacher of drama at Bretton Hall College. Whilst he was Head of Drama at Minsthorpe High School, the school he attended as a student, he won every major award at the National Student Drama Festival between 1981and 1983. In 2005, John's 50th play Wrestling Mad marked his 21st anniversary with Hull Truck as Artistic Director.

John's plays are performed across the world and he has the distinction of being one of the most performed writers in the English language. He has won numerous awards for his plays including a Lawrence Olivier award and seven Los Angeles Critics Circle Awards. His plays include: Bouncers, Un ‘N' Under, April In Paris, Teechers, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Cramp, Happy Jack, September In The Rain, Salt Of The Earth, Passion Killers, Happy Families, Up ‘N' Under ll, Gym & Tonic, Dracula, Lucky Sods, Hooray For Hollywood, Weekend Breaks, It Started With A Kiss, Unleashed, Thick As A Brick, Big Trouble In The Little Bedroom, Season In The Sun, on A Night Like This, Our House, Departures, Men Of The World, Reunion, Screaming Blue Murder, Black Ties & Tales, Perfect Pitch Going Dutch, Christmas Crackers and most recently Crown Prince.

Within his extensive career in writing and directing in TV and Film, John also devised the BBC2 series Chalkface and his screenplay My KingdomFor A Horse starring Sean Bean was nominated for an alternative BAFTA award. John's first feature film Up ‘N' Under was released in January 1998. In 2005, he co-wrote Odd Squad for BBC 2, with his wife Jane, which was shot in Hull using local actors. Odd Squad won two British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards in the Schools' Drama category and in the BAFTA original writer section.

John has an MA from Leeds University, an Hon D.Litt from Hull University, an Hon D.Litt from Lincoln University, a D.Uni for the Open University and was a PHD research student for five years at Leeds University. He is a Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Liverpool Hope University, a visiting Professor of Drama at Hull University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.