A fluent German speaker, Hardiman earned a master's degree in visual communications from the Universität der Künste (University of the Arts) in Berlin.

[7] In 2004, Hardiman was one of the directors of Imagining Ulysses, a documentary film that aimed to explores the themes of James Joyce's seminal novel, whilst remaining accessible to a contemporary audience.

[15][16] She felt working on Holby City to be "fantastic" describing the series as "emotional, ethical dilemmas, politics, power struggles, all human life".

[17] After completing work on In The Club, Hardiman was approached to direct the two-part finale (2014) of the ITV1 crime drama Scott & Bailey, also produced by Red Production Company.

She described series leads Lesley Sharp and Suranne Jones as "actors at the top of their game" and appreciated their willingness to experiment with her ideas.

[20] Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter praised the direction of both Hardiman and Wainwright, noting that their heavy use of close-ups helped bind viewers to the fate of series protagonist Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire).

[27] In spite of the difference in genre, Hardiman found the experience of filming Jessica Jones similar to her previous work, noting that both Happy Valley and Z: The Theory of Everything were expressed using fully cinematic narrative techniques.

[28] Sea Fever is described a science-fiction thriller set off the coast of Ireland, and depicts a group of fishermen along with a science student who are threatened by a deadly water-based parasite.