Skip to main content
Sign in

MichaelNoonan

  • Writer
Michael-Noonan-Key-Image.jpg

Michael Noonan was a legend in New Zealand scriptwriting, and not just because he was amongst the first to prove you could actually make a living at it. A key force in the creation of landmark New Zealand shows The Governor and Close to Home, Noonan often explored Kiwi history, power and social injustice in his writing. He died on 11 June 2023.

Screenography

In Memoriam 2023
2023 Subject Short film
Good Hands - Lima Lelei
2003 Script Consultant Series
Homeward Bound - First Episode
1992 Writer Television
Shortland Street
1992 - 2026 Writer Series

Biography

Veteran scriptwriter Keith Aberdein once said that Michael Noonan was the best television writer New Zealand had — a man who wouldn't be brought off, who insisted on "getting things right". Certainly Noonan's resume is not lacking in Kiwi television firsts: including bicultural drama Pukemanu, historical epic The Governor, and the country's first soap, Close to Home. Noonan was outspoken about the importance of stories that reflected New Zealand, and "help us understand a little more about ourselves".

Awards

1978 Feltex Television Awards (New Zealand)
Best Drama: The Governor

1975 Feltex Television Awards
Best Writing: for The Longest Winter (shared with Michael King for Tangata Whenua)

“We shouldn’t allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by foreign rubbish.”

— Michael Noonan

Related images

Peter_Coates_Gallery_2.jpg
The Producers' Course of 1970. From left, back row: Peter Sharp, ?, Donald Hope Evans, Wayne Tourell, Alan Lyne, John Whitwell, Michael Noonan, and Bob Blair. Front: David McPhail, Peter Coates, Roy Melford, Murray Reece and Mike Mune.
Kindly supplied by Peter Coates
The-Governor-Gallery-1.jpg
Sergeant Johnson (Norman Fletcher) finds the rules of combat on a warrior during the Tauranga campaign. It reads: "If thine enemy hungers, give him food. If he thirsts, give him drink". From the fifth episode of The Governor, 'The Lame Seagull'.
Kindly provided by The Dominion Post.
The-Governor-Gallery-6.jpg
Corin Redgrave as Governor George Grey (left) and Martyn Sanderson as General Sir Duncan Cameron, during on location filming for the fifth episode of The Governor, 'The Lame Seagull'.
Kindly provided by The Dominion Post.
Pukemanu-Gallery-6.jpg
Filming on the set of the Pukemanu pub.
Kindly supplied by TVNZ Archives.
Pukemanu-Gallery-2.jpg
"Not all the action was on the track at the Tauherenikau races recently, for TV's Pukemanu team was there filming episode 2. Here actress Pat Evison (Phyllis Telford) is seen with a group of young children she has taken to the races yelling home her fave. The filming team with lights, microphones and camera is almost lost among interested onlookers." The Evening Post, 1972.
Kindly supplied by the Dominion Post.