Carole Hayman is an English writer, broadcaster, actor and director. She was born in Kent, and attended Leeds University and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She was an associate director at The Royal Court Theatre in the late eighties. During that time she appeared in many of Caryl Churchill's plays including, Cloud Nine and Top Girls. As Associate Director, she directed plays by Sarah Daniels, Andrea Dunbar, GE Newman, Fay Weldon and Sue Townsend, including Ripen our Darkness and Byrthrite by Sarah Daniels and Bazaar and Rummage and The Great Celestial Cow by Sue Townsend. She has published many comic and satirical novels and written radio and TV series for the BBC, ITV and CHANNEL FOUR. These include Ladies of Letters (co-written with Lou Wakefield) and The Refuge and The Spinney (co-written with Sue Townsend).