Tom Hegarty - Scriptwriter / Editor / Producer

Tom was a travelling salesman for Lever Brothers in Queensland when he started writing stories at night. With an interest in pursuing writing full time, he and then wife Coyla moved to the UK. There Tom wrote radio plays, which he sold to the BBC. During a trip home for the birth of their second child Tom sent some of his writing to Crawfords to see if they might be interested in his work. In December 1967 Hector called, offering him a 3 week trial. Tom wrote an episode of Hunter and as a result, joined the company as a staff writer in January 1968.

After initially writing for “Hunter”, Tom then went on to “Homicide”, writing about 22 episodes, including "Initiation", the first all colour “Homicide”. Tom also wrote scripts for “ Division 4” and “Matlock Police”. Along with Ian Jones, he created the very successful serial “The Box”, which he also produced. Tom left Crawfords to adapt the highly acclaimed “Power Without Glory” and to write “The Box” feature film. He went back on staff at Crawfords and wrote for “Bluey”, eventually taking on the role as Producer. He wrote episodes of “Young Ramsay” and developed “The Flying Doctors”.

Tom left Crawfords once again to take up the post of Head of the Writing Workshop at the AFTRS in Sydney. He then headed back to Melbourne, writing for mini series such as “Against the Wind”, “A Town Like Alice”, “Eureka Stockade”, and “Sword of Honour”, and the Henry Crawford/Disney Channel series “Five Mile Creek”. Other projects Tom has worked on as Writer, Script Editor, or Story Editor include “The Lighthorsemen”, “E Street”, “Snowy”, “Halifax f.p.”, “The Man From Snowy River”, “All Saints”, “Blue Heelers” and “Stingers”. Tom was Executive Story Editor on the US series “Ponderosa”. He also spent time at the AFC as Director of Scripts. These days Tom still does some script editing and advising on scripts - when he's not writing a tell-all memoir.

Tom passed away on the 11th of September 2023