AustLit logo
person or book cover
Photo courtesy of Freebase.com
John Edwards John Edwards i(A130640 works by)
Born: Established: 1953 Manly, Manly - Allambie - Curl Curl area, Sydney Northeastern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales, ;
Gender: Male
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

BiographyHistory

A multi-award winning television/film producer and screenwriter, John Edwards has been noted for television productions that have won 18 Logie Awards, 25 AFI Awards, four People's Choice Awards, eight ASTRA Awards, as well as more than a dozen other related awards, including Writers' Guild, NSW Premier's Literary Award, ARIAs, APRA, Screen Composers' Guild and Cinematographers' Society. He has also been awarded a number of prestigious international awards, notably an Umbriafiction award (Italy), two New York Festival awards and the only Australian television nominations for the Golden Globe Awards. Specialising in one-hour drama series, Edwards produced and created the only two Australian series ever commissioned for primetime in the UK, these being Police Rescue for BBC1 (and the ABC, Australia) and The Secret Life of Us for Channel 4 (and Network Ten, Australia). His career has seen him produce more than 30 television drama series, one-off movies and mini-series, and as a writer he has collaborated on various episodes for around six series.

Edwards's career path was initially as a history teacher. He had been educated at the Northern Beaches Secondary College and Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Years 11 and 12), before undertaking tertiary studies at Sydney University and Jacksonville State University, Alabama (USA). In 1981, after three years of teaching in Sydney's West, he turned to the film and television industry as a researcher then writer at Film Australia. Among his early screenplays are: Out of Time, Out of Place, The Bounty Experiment and The Weekly's War.

In 1985 Edwards co-produced (with Tim Read) the feature film The Empty Beach) , starring Bryan Brown). This was followed by the telemovie I Own the Racecourse, 1986), the mini-series Cyclone Tracy (1986) and the TV series Stringer (1988). Between 1991 and 1996, in partnership with Sandra Levy at Southern Star, he produced Police Rescue, and six television movies based on the character Cody (played by Gary Sweet). The Police Rescue series won Most Popular Drama at the Logies in 1994 and 1996, along with a number of acting Logies, five AFI Awards, and a number of international awards. He went on to make Big Sky (1997-1999) with Levy, which he followed independently with the mini-series On the Beach (2000), starring Armand Assante, Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown. On the Beach won two AFI Awards and two Golden Globe nominations.

Between 2001 and 2005 Edwards co-produced (with Amanda Higgs) The Secret Life of Us. The series went on to win a total of six Logies. During that period he also produced the ABC mini-series Marking Time which won a record seven AFI Awards, along with several other awards including NSW Premier's Literary Award and an AWGIE Award. Among the other productions he is associated with are: Children of the Dragon (1991), Big Sky (1997-1999), Do or Die (2001), Fireflies (2004), Love My Way (2004-2007), The Surgeon (2005), The Alice (2005-2006), Dangerous (2007), Rush (2008-2009), Out of the Blue (2008), Tangle (2009) and Spirited (2010).

John Edwards's writing credits include the telemovie I Own the Racecourse (1986), Police Rescue: The Movie (1994), and episodes for The Secret Life of Us, Dangerous, Love My Way and Rush.

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • This John Edwards is not to be confused with another John Edwards (also an Australian television producer) who was associated with productions in the 1960s and 1970s - including Division 4 (1969), Ryan (1974) and Class of '74 (1974).

Personal Awards

2017 recipient Order of Australia Member of the Order of Australia (AM) For significant service to the broadcast media industry as a television producer, and as a role model and mentor.

Awards for Works

form y separately published work icon Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo ( dir. Daina Reid ) Australia : Southern Star Entertainment Screen Australia , 2011 Z1771522 2011 series - publisher film/TV
2011 shortlisted AWGIE Awards Television Award Mini-series - Original
2012 nominated Logie Awards Most Outstanding Drama Series
2011 nominated Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards Best Telefeature or Mini Series
2011 winner Queensland Premier's Literary Awards Best Television Script Shortlisted for both Part 1 and Part 2; winner for Part 2.
form y separately published work icon Offspring ( dir. Shirley Barrett et. al. )agent 2010 Australia : Southern Star John Edwards , 2010- Z1733890 2010 series - publisher film/TV

'Born out of the telemovie of the same name, Offspring is a contemporary drama series about Nina Proudman, a thirtysomething obstetrician and her fabulously messy family. Following the Proudman family's adventures searching for love, fulfillment and balance in the chaos of modern life, Offspring is about the life forces that drive us all: love, sex, babies, food and music. Stylistically fresh and visually exciting, Offspring mixes conventional narrative drama with flashbacks, graphic animation and fantasy sequences, showcasing the vibrant world of Fitzroy, Melbourne, where Nina and the extended Proudman family go about their unpredictable daily lives.'

Source: Australian Television Information Archive.

2012 nominated Logie Awards Most Outstanding Drama Series
2013 nominated Logie Awards Most Popular Drama Program
2014 nominated Logie Awards Most Outstanding Drama Series
2013 nominated Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards Best Television Drama Series Nominated for Season Four
2014 nominated Logie Awards Most Popular Drama Program
2015 nominated Logie Awards Most Popular Drama Program
2012 nominated Logie Awards Most Popular Drama Program
2011 nominated Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards Best Television Drama Series For Season Two.
2018 nominated Logie Awards Most Popular Drama Program
form y separately published work icon Tangle ( dir. Jessica Hobbs et. al. )agent Sydney : Southern Star John Edwards , 2009- Z1632332 2009- series - publisher film/TV

Tangle is 'about two generations of two families - sometimes connecting, sometimes colliding, sometimes at cross-purposes - as they navigate their way around the maze of love, sex, money and politics.' (Showcase website.)

'Season 3 of this revelatory drama will pull apart and look at just how the generations separate from one another and how the ties of family are stretched.' Source: http://showtime.com.au/ (Sighted 23/03/2012).

2010 nominated Logie Awards Most Outstanding Drama Series
2013 nominated Logie Awards Most Outstanding Drama Series
2012 nominated Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards Best Television Drama Series Nominated for season three.
2010 nominated Australian Film Institute Awards Best Television Drama Series Nominated for season two.
Last amended 13 Feb 2020 10:36:07
Other mentions of "" in AustLit:
    X