Michael A. Noonan

Michael Anthony Noonan (4 December 1940 – 11 June 2023) was a New Zealand writer, most often associated with his writing for television drama series. He is usually credited under either his full name or as Michael A. Noonan, so as to be distinguished from New Zealand-born Australian writer Michael Noonan.

Biography Born on 4 December 1940, Noonan grew up in the southern South Island, in Dunedin and Oamaru.

In the following years, Noonan formed a close working relationship with director Tony Isaac. In 1975 their collaboration won a Feltex Award for The Longest Winter, a docu-drama about the Great Depression. The same year saw the debut of Close to Home, for which Noonan and Isaac became a principal writer and director. This was to prove to be New Zealand's most successful soap opera until the launch of Shortland Street 17 years later. In 1977, Noonan wrote the docu-drama The Governor, based on the life of Sir George Grey. This series, also directed by Isaac, too was to become a New Zealand television landmark. Noonan later successfully adapted Roger Hall's stage play Glide Time into a long-running television comedy series, Gliding On.

Filmography Television The numbers in writing credits refer to the number of episodes.