The character has since appeared in the majority of his works, except In the Dark, Rush of Blood, and Die of Shame (May 2016), in which Thorne has minor roles.

In September 2015 Billingham and co-host Michael Carlson released the six-part podcast The Crime Vault Live, [20] with the last episode released in January 2016. What's That Noise (which he wrote and presented) won the 1995 Royal Television Society award for "Best Entertainment Programme", [9] while Knight School was nominated for the RTS's "Best Children's Drama" award two years running. The trio announced in 2018 that they were working on a stage production of Maid Marian and her Merry Men.

Billingham claims to have imbued Thorne with many of his own characteristics, such as a birthday, a locale (London), and a "love of country music both alt and cheesy". Robinson, Lloyd and Billingham remain friends, and Robinson is partially credited for Billingham's literary career on the DVD release of Maid Marian (Series 3), in which the three discuss writing for the series and in general. Each episode includes a discussion on a particular theme from crime fiction and crime drama, and has featured guests including David Morrissey, Val McDermid, Michael Connelly and Ann Cleeves. Billingham's novel Lazybones won the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2004 and he won the same award in 2009 for his novel Death Message.

In the mid-1980s he moved to London as a "jobbing actor", taking minor roles in episodes of TV shows Dempsey and Makepeace, Juliet Bravo, Boon, and The Bill. She can see, hear and feel; she is aware of everything going on around her, but she is completely unable to move or communicate. He is a self-confessed fan of crime fiction, "as well as a really serious collector" [3] and has stated that the expense of collecting books inspired him to get into interviewing and reviewing books, partly for the complimentary copies. Ultimately he abandoned the unfinished novel and the comic-crime genre to focus on another book that would become Sleepyhead. In Maid Marian and her Merry Men, Billingham played Gary, a dim-but-lovable guard in the employ of the Sheriff of Nottingham ( Tony Robinson), as part of a double-act with Graeme ( David Lloyd).

In 1997, Billingham and his writing partner Peter Cocks were kidnapped and held hostage in a Manchester hotel room. Billingham cites his breaking into stand-up as a simple progression from 5-minute, unpaid "try-out" spots to 10-, 20- and 30-minute paid slots.

The general theme of Scaredy Cat is really the power of fear, and that fear is a very powerful weapon, and if you are prepared to instil it, you have a very powerful weapon that is every bit as dangerous as a gun or a knife. He attended the King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys in nearby King's Heath, and lived in that general area "right the way through university" while attending the nearby University of Birmingham. I. Tom Thorne discovers the horrifying truth; it isn’t Alison who is the mistake, it’s the three women already dead.Kevin Tughan (Eddie Marsan) is Thornes' disbelieving boss and pathologist Phil Hendricks (Aidan Gillen) is suspicious. Sky1's Thorne adaptation started broadcasting in October 2010, with actor David Morrissey starring as Tom Thorne.