Ray Harding

Raymond Richard Harding (born 1949) is a New Zealand film and television scriptwriter, producer and story editor. He started his television writing career working for Crawford Productions in 1979. Harding has worked on three of Australia's most well-known soap operas; Home and Away, Neighbours and A Country Practice. He wrote the telemovies I Can't Get Started and Sisterly Love, and scripted episodes for various dramas and children's programmes, including Mirror, Mirror, The Adventures of Skippy, The Miraculous Mellops, and Blue Heelers. He also acted as a story consultant on MDA. Harding has taught at the University of London and Charles Sturt University. He is also a playwright. In 2019, Harding was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

Early life and family Harding was born in Christchurch in 1949. His father was a publican and he grew up around hotels in New Zealand. and later joined the British Army as a paratrooper. I Can't Get Started was Harding's first film script. Harding wrote "Episode 523" of Neighbours, which features the wedding between Scott Robinson and Charlene Mitchell (played by Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue). The episode became one of the most well-known and most watched Australian television episodes of all time. Harding wrote over 200 episodes of Home and Away with the majority written on his commute between his home in Springwood and Sydney, where the show is set and filmed. In the 1990s, Harding became a scriptwriter on the children's series Mirror, Mirror and The Adventures of Skippy. He later became a writer and story consultant on the drama series MDA. He later returned to work on the serial, before quitting in the early 2000s as he was unhappy with the direction the network was trying take the show in. Harding wrote the play Asparagus with the assistance of fellow CSU lecturer Dr Robin McLachlan. The play looks at "the impact of war, politics, economic growth and the vision of three significant Australian writers on three generations of a Bathurst family." It premiered at the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre in October 2003. and A Terrible Beauty, which focuses on the 2002 Bali bombings and how it changed the portrayal of Bali in Australia.

Credits Holiday Island (1981) – Writer I Can't Get Started (1985) – Writer A Country Practice (1985–1994) – Writer, story consultant, script editor Neighbours (1986–2003) – Writer Butterfly Island (1987) – Writer Home and Away (1988–2002) – Writer, story editor, script editor, script producer Sisterly Love (1988) – Co-writer The Miraculous Mellops (1991–1992) – Writer Bony (1992) – Writer The Adventures of Skippy (1992) – Writer Blue Heelers (1994) – Writer Mirror, Mirror (1995) – Writer Water Rats (1999) – Writer Flipper & Lopaka (1999) – Writer, script editor MDA (2002–2003) – Writer, script consultant Ice (2011) – Writer

Accolades and honours In 1986, Harding won the AWGIE Award for Best Script for a Television Serial for the A Country Practice episode "Lest We Forget".

In the 2019 Australia Day Honours, Harding was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM), for "significant service to the broadcast media, particularly as a script writer and producer for television."

In 2021, Harding's play Kangawomb was nominated for the New Play Award at the Australian Theatre Festival NYC.