The beginning

In May 2006 I had the idea that I'd like to make a documentary film based around Hardy's, the fishing tackle company. I had come back to angling after many years away and found it such a reassuring surprise that the name Hardy's, a name so prevalent in my youth and 80 years before that, still meant so much to thousands and thousands of people all over the world. I always was and still am interested in the idea of why they became so popular, why they meant so much to so many people and also in discovering how much fishing has changed in the years since they came on the scene. I quickly became absorbed and passionate about making the film but with many years of filmmaking under my belt I was also aware of the difficulty in finding a broadcaster who would be interested.

Later that month we, as in myself and my producer Heike, took a trip to Cannes for the film festival. We also have a feature film project called "Captain Kirk" and we were there to finance this. Whilst suffering down at Cannes (no irony intended, its really not as glamorous as people would have you believe) we hit upon a way to make our film. The method was great, simple and very modern - for us it was really exciting as it meant we could set sail on a year long odyssey to make The Lost World of Mr. Hardy.

The blog will gradually build to tell all about the film and how we made it and our journey across the UK from the Summer of 06 until March this year and into the edit room where I now sit. As we add to the blog we hope it brings across the passion and enthusiasm of the people we met, the love of Hardy's and for fishing tackle of the very highest quality, the importance of the hand made in our lives, of angling, the countryside, conservation, history and even for films themselves... Hmmm, no pressure there then, so better get started.