Edward John "Chips" Hardy (born 23 January 1950) is an English novelist, playwright and screenwriter. He and Elizabeth Ann, his wife, are the parents of actor Tom Hardy, with whom Hardy worked on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...

's 2017 drama series ''

Taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannic ...

'', as the co-creator, a writer and a consulting producer.

Career

Alongside a career in advertising as a

creative director A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...

, Hardy has written for television, film, theatre, novels and stand-up material. Productions include a children’s television series with a talking chair called ''

Helping Henry ''Helping Henry'' was a United Kingdom Channel 4 children's television programme, which ran for one series of thirteen 15-minute episodes in 1988. Designed as an educational show, it featured a young boy named Stephen explaining how things worke ...

'' and ''About Face'', a television drama with

Maureen Lipman Dame Maureen Diane Lipman (born 10 May 1946) is an English actress, writer and comedian. She trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and her stage work has included appearances with the National Theatre and the Royal Shakesp ...

. He also won a British Comedy Award for his work with Irish comedian Dave Allen. In 2007, Hardy’s novel ''Each Day A Small Victory'' was published in the form of frontline dispatches from amongst the embattled wildlife in an English country lay-by, illustrated by Oscar Grillo. ''Blue on Blue'', Hardy’s darkly comic play on

self-harm Self-harm is intentional behavior that is considered harmful to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues usually without a suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-injury and self-mutilati ...

, was first showcased at the Latchmere 503 in London in 2007. The play was revived in 2016 at the Tristan Bates in London in partnership with

BLESMA Blesma, The Limbless Veterans (formerly known as the British Limbless Ex-Servicemen's Association) is a British charity that helps all serving and ex-Service men and women who have lost limbs, or lost the use of limbs or eyes, to rebuild their ...

, the British Limbless Ex-serviceman’s Association. In 2008, Hardy’s one woman dysfunctional Cabaret, ''There’s Something In The Fridge that Wants To Kill Me!'', ran notably at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

. In 2009, inspired by an idea from his son Tom, he and Tom created the story that was to become the 2017 eight-part series''

''. Hardy is the co-creator, a writer and a consulting producer. His work on the screenplay for ''

'' earned him the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain award for ''Best Long Form TV Drama'' in 2018. In March 2023, work on the second season of ''Taboo'' was announced. In June 2021, it was announced that Hardy's next novel, ''Seaton's Orchid'', would be published by Chiselbury Publishing.

References

External links

* 1950 births Living people English television writers Writers from London {{UK-writer-stub