Born in London, John Hopkins spent his early years in Wimbledon. He read English at Cambridge University and after graduating joined the BBC as a studio manager and subsequently became a producer.
His original work for television includes: BREAK-UP, A WOMAN COMES HOME, A CHANCE OF THUNDER, Z-CARS, WALK A TIGHT CIRCLE, I TOOK MY LITTLE WORLD AWAY, HORROR OF DARKNESS, SOME PLACE OF SAFETY, A MAN LIKE ORPHEUS, FABLE, TALKING TO A STRANGER, SOME DISTANT SHADOW, A GAME - LIKE - ONLY A GAME, BEYOND THE SUNRISE, WALK INTO THE DARK, SOME DISTANT SHADOW, THAT QUIET EARTH, A STORY TO FRIGHTEN THE CHILDREN, FATHERS AND FAMILIES, HIROSHIMA and adaptations of Ford Madox Ford's PARADE'S END, Fyodor Dostoevsky's THE GAMBLER and John Le Carre's SMILEY PEOPLE all for the BBC and CODENAME: KYRIL, adapted from the novel by John Trenhaile. He also adapted THE SMALL BACK ROOM and MINE OWN EXECUTIONER from novels by Nigel Balchin and DANCERS IN MOURNING and DEATH OF A GHOST from novels by Margery Allingham.
His films include TWO LEFT FEET, THUNDERBALL, VIRGIN SOLDIERS, THE OFFENCE, MURDER BY DECREE and THE HOLCROFT COVENANT.
His original stage plays include THIS STORY OF YOURS (Royal Court, 1968), FIND YOUR WAY HOME (Open Space, 1970 and then Broadway), ECONOMIC NECESSITY (Haymarket, 1973), NEXT OF KIN (National Theatre, 1974), LOSING TIME (Manhattan Theatre Club, 1979) and ABSENT FOREVER (Great Lakes Theatre Festival, 1987).
​
Hopkins won the British Screen Writer's Guild Award two years in succession for his work on Z CARS; the British Director's Guild Award for his ground-breaking mini series TALKING TO A STRANGER in 1966; and an Emmy Award in 1969 for his contribution to MASTERPIECE THEATRE. He also received the Writer's Guild of America's Humanitas Prize and the Penn Literary Prize for HIROSHIMA.
John Hopkins died in 1998.