Background
He was born in London and brought up in Brentwood, Essex.
He was born in London and brought up in Brentwood, Essex.
He attended Brentwood School from 1965 to 1977, which at the time was still a direct grant grammar school. He gained a Bachelor in English from Oxford, where he studied from 1977 to 1980 at Christ Church.
Newspapers He started on newspapers at the Sheffield Star, a daily newspaper across South Yorkshire. From 1984 he was a writer on the Times Diary for The Times and became the paper"s arts correspondent in 1988. In 1989 he moved to The Observer.
In 1997 he joined the London Evening Standard as Chief Interviewer.
He returned to The Times in 2002, where he wrote the weekly "The Andrew Billen Interview" for five years. He has been the paper"s main television reviewer since 2007.
Foreign ten years up to 2007 he worked in a freelance capacity as the New Statesman′s television critic. He later became its theatre reviewer.
In 2008 he was again critic of the year in the same awards.
He was three times shortlisted for interviewer of the year in the United Kingdom Press Awards.
