Ian McFadyen (born 8 July 1948) is an Australian television writer, actor, director and producer, is best known for the Australian television comedy series The Comedy Company and Let the Blood Run Free.

McFadyen used to paint while he was at school and university, until about the age of 22.^[2]

McFadyen played the part of Detective Mears in the iconic Australian TV series Prisoner, in 1983. He wrote the 1988 comedy feature film The Bit Part, starring Nicole Kidman, Chris Haywood and Maurie Fields.^[3]

After filming an unaired pilot, McFadyen used the remaining funding to produce a series of eight one-hour shows, called The Eleventh Hour, which aired late nights on Channel Seven. A pre-cursor to The Comedy Company, it introduced characters such as Uncle Arthur, who was portrayed by Glenn Robbins.^[4]

From 1988, McFadyen created, produced and appeared in multi-award winning Australian satirical sketch series The Comedy Company. The show ran for 80 episodes across three seasons,^[5][6] from 16 February 1988 to 11 November 1990,^[7] and starred Mary-Anne Fahey, Glenn Robbins, Mark Mitchell, Russell Gilbert and Kim Gyngell.^[6] While short-lived, the series went on to out-rate current affairs show 60 Minutes and launched numerous iconic catchphrases and characters, including Kylie Mole, Con the Fruiterer and Col'n Carpenter.^[4] One of McFadyen's most memorable characters on the show was 'David Rabbitborough', a parodic impersonation of British naturalist David Attenborough.^[7]

McFadyen next directed, wrote episodes for and performed in spoof soap opera Let the Blood Run Free (based on the hit stage show of the same name), opposite Jean Kittson and Peter Rowsthorn.^[8][9] The series was, in part, a send up of medical soap opera The Young Doctors.^[4] From 1992 to 1993, he wrote, produced and directed comedy series Bingles, starring Shane Bourne and Russell Gilbert.^[10] He was also a writer on 1992 Crawford Productions sitcom Newlyweds, starring Sandy Gore, Annie Jones and Cathy Godbold. The series ran for four seasons, until 1994.^[11]

During this time, McFadyen also hosted the Australian version of 'whodunnit' game show Cluedo,^[12] which ran from 1992 to 1995, for 26 episodes.^[13] In 1995, he was a writer on Terror, a telemovie episode of The Feds, a series focused on investigations of the Australian Federal Police, starring Robert Taylor and Angie Milliken.^[14][15] That same year, McFadyen began starring in children's series The Genie from Down Under, as Roderick 'Bubbles' Ackrington-Smyth, reprising his role in the second season three years later.^[16]

In the mid-1990s, with television sketch shows beginning to fall out of favour and little demand for new shows, McFadyen relocated to Queensland to work on a film and a sitcom.^[17]

In 2000, McFadyen wrote animated series Wicked!, based on the children's bestseller by Morris Gleitzman and Paul Jennings. The series ran for 26 episodes.^[17] Further writing continued with animated series Mormel Spots in 2003. ^[18]

In 2006, McFadyen created the Network Ten sketch comedy show The Wedge,^[12] which starred Rebel Wilson. He also wrote a 2010 episode of K-9 (a Doctor Who spin-off sci-fi series, focusing on the adventures of the robot dog K9), called "The Bounty Hunter". The same year, he played a vampire in an advertisement for Australian Lotteries.^[19]

McFadyen most recently appeared in children's series Rock Island Mysteries from 2022 to 2024, playing the role of Old Faraz.^[20]

McFadyen has also authored numerous books, including Mind Wars: The Battle for Your Brain (2000), published by Allen & Unwin.^[21] He co-wrote the satirical novel Going Out Backwards (2015) with Ross Fitzgerald,^[22] part of the pair's Grafton Everest series, which also includes The Dizzying Heights (2019), The Lowest Depths (2021) and Pandemonium (2023).^[23] His most recent collaboration with Fitzgerald is the satirical novel, Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication (2025).^[7][24]

McFadyen was once married to actress, comedian and former collaborator Mary-Anne Fahey, with whom he had a son James McFadyen, born on 12 July 1990. The couple parted ways in 1992.^{[citation needed]}

In the mid-1990s, McFadyen and his wife Jo relocated to Brisbane,^[17] where he taught for nearly a decade, before working at Masters Timber and Hardware until his retirement in 2015.^[2] At the age of 58, he resumed his hobby of painting, while working on talkback radio, on 4BC.^[2]

• Ian McFadyen at IMDb