Stewart Binns began his professional life as an academic. He passed selection for the SAS in 1980 and served for three years before settling into a career as a schoolteacher, specialising in English and history. Later in life he began a successful career in television. He has won a BAFTA, a Grierson, an RTS and a Peabody for his documentaries. Stewart has written two highly acclaimed historical series. Betrayal, a standalone, is his seventh novel.