Chips Hardy

Paradox, dysfunction and the quest for redemption are ever-present themes in his work. Culminating in the hit BBC1 and FX drama series “Taboo”, which he co-created, wrote and produced with his son Tom Hardy. Taboo won him the Writers Guild of Great Britain award for best long form drama. His latest novel “Seaton’s Orchid” is a powerful and provocative portrait of a man haunted by a crime against nature, confronted by polite society, and forced to reconcile memories of a self he can no longer recognise. A previous novel “Each Day A Small Victory”, plots the unyielding quest for survival amongst the wildlife inhabitants of a lay-by on an English country road.

He won a British Comedy Award for work with comedian Dave Allen. His darkly comic play about disability and dislocation – Blue On Blue - was showcased at the Latchmere 503 and revived at the Tristan Bates. His one-woman show about eating disorders “There’s something in the Fridge that wants to kill me” ran notably in the Edinburgh Festival.

Hardy has survived machetes in Guadalupe, bombs in Gaza, local hospitality up the Orinoco, all manner of dangerous social transactions across four continents and many of life’s more dysfunctional behaviour patterns.