Bill was born and bred in the North-East town of Middlesbrough, close to the North Yorkshire border, and trained at the Guildford drama school in the early Eighties.

He has been seen on television many times, most recently in Vera with Brenda Blethyn, the hugely popular drama Broadchurch with Olivia Colman and in the multi award-winning Downton Abbey opposite Phyllis Logan - as well as starring in Alan Bleasdale's Monicled Mutineer with Paul McGann and Hallmark's Blackbeard with Stacy Keach and Jessica Chastain and has recently finished filming Scratch, part of the BBC's Moving On series directed by Reece Dinsdale and, most recently, Dark Angel directed by Brian Percival.

His film credits include The Tournament with Robert Carlyle, In Our Name with Joanne Froggatt, United, the story of the Munich air disaster, with Jack O'Connell and David Tennant, Harrigan with Stephen Tompkinson, Extremis with David O'Hara and Lady Macbeth with Fiona Pugh.

Amongst his many Theatre credits are Mickey in the West End production of Blood Brothers, alongside Stephanie Lawrence, Tony Harrison's Trackers at the Royal National Theatre, Pastoral at the Soho Theatre and, most recently, Hobson's Choice at Regents Park Theatre directed by Nadia Fall.

Bill is also the singer / songwriter with the band The Poor Relations and can be heard on iTunes.