Cirrus@Austlit

Script-writer, producer, script editor, and occasional actor.

Alan Hardy's earliest involvement in the film industry was as an actor: throughout the 1970s, he had small roles in such television programs and films as Rush (1974), The Great MacArthy (1975), Homicide (1975), Tandarra (1976), Power Without Glory (1976), Mad Dog Morgan (1976), Bluey (1976), Cop Shop (1977), Blue Fire Lady (1977), and The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978).

By the 1980s, Hardy was working as a producer, beginning with historical mini-series All the Rivers Run (1983), as well as both series of children's series The Henderson Kids (1985-1987) and television series House Rules (1988). He continued to appear intermittently as an actor, including in Young Ramsay (1980), his own productions All the Rivers Run and The Henderson Kids, and cult British science-fiction television program Blakes 7, in which he made an uncredited appearance in 1981.

In 1990, Hardy produced both All the Rivers Run II and television series Embassy, which would bring him his first AFI Award.

In the early 1990s, Hardy began a productive creative partnership with director Pino Amenta and script-writer Philip Dalkin: together, they created and produced sit-coms All Together Now with John Powditch (1991-1993), The Bob Morrison Show with Jon Stephens (1994), and Us and Them with John Powditch (1995). Hardy also contributed scripts to both All Together Now and Us and Them and acted as story consultant for All Together Now and The Bob Morrison Show.

Hardy's other productions in the 1990s include The Wayne Manifesto (1996-1997), a television adaptation of David McRobbie's novel, and Witch Hunt (1999), a telemovie based on the true story of a girl's abduction by her grandparents.

Hardy did little acting in the 1990s, though he did appear in George Miller's mini-series Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Hardy's productions since 2000 include Something in the Air (2000-2002), Marshall Law (2002), and Fergus McPhail (2004). He was also the script editor for Marshall Law and contributed scripts to Something in the Air. Between 2008 and 2009, he contributed scripts to Home and Away. Between 2009 and 2010, he was script editor for City Homicide, and he followed this with the role of story producer between 2010 and 2011.

His last two credited acting appearances were in 2011, in Laid (co-created by his daughter Marieke Hardy) and City Homicide.

Among his awards and nominations are numerous AFI Awards, including Best Children's Television Drama (nomination) for Fergus McPhail in 2004, Best Episode in a Long Running Television Drama Series (win) for Something in the Air in 2001, Best Children's Television Drama (win) for The Wayne Manifesto in 1997, and Best Episode in a Television Drama, Series or Serial (win) for Embassy in 1991). The year Hardy won Best Episode in a Long Running Television Drama Series for Something in the Air, he was also nominated for the same award a further two times for two more episodes of Something in the Air.