William Ivory

William (Billy) Ivory (born 1964) is a British screenwriter, playwright and actor. He is a three-time BAFTA nominee.

Early life and career Ivory was born in Southwell, Nottinghamshire and has set many of his works in Nottingham. He was a pupil at the Minster School in Southwell. He dropped out of his English degree at the University of London after three weeks, going on to work as a binman for nearly three years, writing in his spare time.

Ivory was nominated for a television BAFTA for Best Drama Series for Common As Muck in 1995 and 1998 and for Best Drama Series for The Sins in 2001. He won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best TV Feature or Miniseries for The Sins in 2002.

Ivory received an honorary doctorate from the University of Nottingham in 2009. He is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University, a post he has held since 2022. His mother Edna suffered from motor neurone disease, and Ivory's first television drama, Journey to Knock (1991), was inspired by her experience of the disease. In 2015 one of Nottingham Express Transit's trams, Tram 232, was named after Ivory.

Filmography Film, as writer 2000 The Closer You Get (Writer) 2010 Made in Dagenham (Writer) 1989 Boon (TV; Reporter) 1995 The All New Alexei Sayle Show (TV) 1995 Sardines (TV; Chris) 1997 Common As Muck (TV; Vinny) 1997 King Leek (TV; Teacher) 2000 Care (TV film; DS Devlin) 2000 Lock, Stock... (TV; Sharpy) 2000 The Sins (TV; Man in Park) 2002 Night Flight (TV; Keys Sergeant) 2004 A Thing Called Love (TV; Drunken Man) 2005 Rose and Maloney (TV; Detective Robben) 2008 The Invisibles (TV; Priest) 2010 Made in Dagenham (Film; Reporter) 2017 Whiskers and Jane (Short film; Keith Salt)

Stage plays, as writer 2006 The Retirement of Tom Stevens