Chips Hardy was born on 23 January 1950 and grew up in Ealing. Named Edward after both his father, Edward Thomas Hardy, who worked for the Port of London Authority, and his grandfather, Edward Egmore Hardy, who was the Fire Chief at Ealing Studios. His mother, Patricia, was a deputy headmistress.

In 1961 Hardy won a state scholarship to Latymer Upper School. In 1969 he won an Exhibition to read English at Downing College, Cambridge.

In 2007, Hardy’s novel Each Day A Small Victory was published in the form of frontline despatches from amongst the embattled wildlife in an English country lay-by, illustrated by Oscar Grillo.

In 2009, inspired by an idea from his son Tom Hardy, Chips Hardy and Tom created the story that was to become the 2017 eight-part series Taboo. Hardy is the co-creator, a Writer and a consulting Producer. His work on the screenplay for Taboo earned him the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain award for Best Long Form TV Drama in 2018.

Blue on Blue, Hardy’s darkly comic play on self-harm, 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, 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.