He is probably best known for his starring roles in the 1970s BBC drama Wings, as Squadron Leader Rex in Piece of Cake (1988), the 1990s ITV soap opera Families and the 2000s ITV police drama Murder City. He also portrayed Leonard "Nipper" Read of Scotland Yard in the 2008 ITV adaptation of Jake Arnott's crime novel He Kills Coppers. He starred in the 1988 mini-series Piece of Cake as the wealthy, eccentric and by-the-book Squadron Leader Rex. He also guest starred with his father Edward and son Sam as a London gangster family in a special storyline for The Bill in 2008. Also, he appeared with his father Edward in an episode of American TV's The Equalizer, where he played Robert McCall's father in a flashback scene. He is the brother of actors Peter Woodward and Sarah Woodward.

He had a cameo role in william Mager's short film Stiletto, completed in June 2008.

Other TV credits include: The Irish RM, Tales of the Unexpected, Pie in the Sky, Absolutely Fabulous, Prime Suspect, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries—Bribery and Corruption with James D'Arcy, New Tricks, Bramwell, Midsomer Murders, Murphy's Law, Heat of the Sun, Rosemary & Thyme and Agatha Christie's Poirot.