After The Party loses to Shōgun at BAFTAs, but 'mind-blowing' to be in the mix

Wellington-based drama After the Party has lost in the Best International TV Series category to Shōgun at the British Academy Television Awards (BAFTAs).

The Japanese drama, which stars New Zealand-born Japanese actress Anna Sawai, beat the other contenders in the category, including Australian comedy Colin from Accounts, Irish drama Say Nothing and American drama True Detective: Night Country.

After the Party co-writer Dianne Taylor said although it would have been great to receive the award, it was a well-deserved win for Shōgun.

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“To be nominated, to be here [at the BAFTA TV Awards], is phenomenal and both Robyn and I have been here over the last week doing meetings and the feedback and just the love for the show is just incredible," Taylor told Morning Report.

"It’s mind-blowing really, that a show from New Zealand that we didn’t expect to travel this far has just had such incredible love for it, such great feedback."

Kiwi actress Robyn Malcolm, who plays the lead role of a woman whose world implodes when she accuses her ex-husband of a sex crime, said they never imagined the show plotted out in her living room would even get made, let alone nominated for a BAFTA.

"We were sitting there and I was thinking ‘God, I really hope we don’t win, because I’m desperate to go to the loo and my feet hurt, I don’t think I’m going to make it’. And then when Shōgun wins, you go ‘ohhh no, that’s a shame’.”

She hopes the nomination opens more doors for New Zealand drama and writers.

"I felt so proud tonight that we were up there on that screen, with our New Zealand accents, having made a show on a pretty low budget, that was just doing the business the way it did," Malcolm told Morning Report.

“It’s not easy in New Zealand at the best of times, but it’s not easy anywhere at the moment. The one thing I would say, particularly to dramatists and writers in New Zealand, just break the rules and follow your gut. There are a lot of people who are telling you that you can only make TV one way, or that story happens one way, and it really, really doesn’t."

Malcolm said people in Liverpool come up to her to praise the show just as they do in Auckland.

"People don’t want to come up and say 'I saw you on the show, it was great', they want to stop and talk about it. It hit people hard. Amazingly here [in the UK], it hit them really hard.

"So many people have said to me ‘we haven’t seen anything like it’, and I think that’s got something to do with the Kiwi-ness of it, I haven’t quite worked it out yet."

Taylor told RNZ's Saturday Morning she and Malcolm created the show partly out of frustration about the lack of decent roles for middle-aged women.

Taylor, whose previous credits include the 2017 film Beyond The Known World, said it was gratifying After The Party had won over not only women but also men and young people.

While the show didn't take home the BAFTA, it had a record haul at last year’s NZ Television Awards.

The show was produced by Lingo Pictures and Luminous Beast and written by Taylor, along with Emily Perkins, Martha Hardy-Ward and Sam Shore.

Drama series

Winner: Blue Lights

Sherwood

Supacell

Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light

Limited drama

Winner: Mr Bates Vs The Post Office

Baby Reindeer

Lost Boys And Fairies

One Day

Scripted comedy

Winner: Alma's Not Normal

Brassic

G'Wed

Ludwig

Leading actress

Winner: Marisa Abela - Industry

Anna Maxwell Martin - Until I Kill You

Billie Piper - Scoop

Lola Petticrew - Say Nothing

Monica Dolan - Mr Bates vs The Post Office

Sharon D Clarke - Mr Loverman

Leading actor

Winner: Lennie James - Mr Loverman

David Tennant - Rivals

Gary Oldman - Slow Horses

Martin Freeman - The Responder

Richard Gadd - Baby Reindeer

Toby Jones - Mr Bates vs The Post Office

Supporting actress

Winner: Jessica Gunning - Baby Reindeer

Katherine Parkinson - Rivals

Maxine Peake - Say Nothing

Monica Dolan - Sherwood

Nava Mau - Baby Reindeer

Sue Johnston - Truelove

Supporting actor

Winner: Ariyon Bakare, Mr Loverman

Christopher Chung, Slow Horses

Damian Lewis, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light

Jonathan Pryce, Slow Horses

McKinley Belcher III, Eric

Sonny Walker, The Gathering

Female performance in a comedy

Winner: Ruth Jones - Gavin & Stacey: The Finale

Anjana Vasan - We Are Lady Parts

Kate O'Flynn - Everyone Else Burns

Lolly Adefope - The Franchise

Nicola Coughlan - Big Mood

Sophie Willan - Alma's Not Normal

Male performance in a comedy

Winner: Danny Dyer - Mr Bigstuff

Bilal Hasna - Extraordinary

Dylan Thomas-Smith - G'Wed

Nabhaan Rizwan - Kaos

Oliver Savell- Changing Ends

Phil Dunning - Smoggie Queens

Soap

Winner: EastEnders

Casualty

Coronation Street

Entertainment programme

Winner: Would I Lie To You?

The 1% Club

Michael McIntyre's Big Show

Taskmaster

Entertainment performance

Winner: Joe Lycett - Late Night Lycett

Anthony McPartlin, Declan Donnelly - Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway

Claudia Winkleman - The Traitors

Graham Norton - The Graham Norton Show

Romesh Ranganathan, Rob Beckett - Rob & Romesh Vs

Stacey Solomon - Sort Your Life Out

Factual entertainment

Winner: Rob And Rylan's Grand Tour

In Vogue: The 90s

Race Across The World

Sort Your Life Out

Reality

Winner: The Jury: Murder Trial

Dragons' Den

Love Is Blind

The Traitors

Daytime

Winner: Clive Myrie's Caribbean Adventure

Loose Women

Morning Live

Richard Osman's House Of Games

International

Winner: Shōgun

After The Party

Colin From Accounts

Say Nothing

True Detective: Night Country

You Are Not Alone: Fighting The Wolfpack

Live event coverage

Winner: Glastonbury 2024

D-Day 80: Tribute To The Fallen

Last Night Of The Proms

Current affairs

Winner: State of Rage

Life and Death in Gaza - Storyville

Maternity: Broken Trust - Exposure

Ukraine's War: The Other Side

Single documentary

Winner: Ukraine: Enemy In The Woods

Hell Jumper

Tell Them You Love Me

Undercover: Exposing The Far Right

Factual series

Winner: To Catch A Copper

American Nightmare

Freddie Flintoff's Field Of Dreams On Tour

The Push: Murder On The Cliff

Specialist factual

Winner: Atomic People

Billy & Molly: An Otter Love

Children of the Cult

Miners' Strike 1984: The Battle For Britain

News coverage

Winner: BBC Breakfast: Post Office Special

Channel 4 News: Inside Sednaya – The Fall Of Assad

Channel 4 News: Undercover Inside Reform's Campaign

Sports coverage

Winner: Paris 2024 Olympics (BBC Sport/BBC One)

Euro 2024 (BBC One)

Wimbledon 2024 (BBC Sport/Wimbledon Broadcast Services/BBC One)

Memorable moment

Winner: Strictly Come Dancing - Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell Waltz to You'll Never Walk Alone

Bridgerton - "THE" carriage scene where Colin admits his true feelings for Penelope

Gavin & Stacey: The Finale - Smithy's Wedding: Mick Stands Up

Mr Bates Vs The Post Office - Jo Hamilton phones the Horizon helpline

Rivals - Rupert Campbell-Black and Sarah Stratton are caught in a game of naked tennis

The Traitors - "Paul isn't my son… but Ross is!"

Short form

Winner: Quiet Life

Brown Brit

Peaked

Children's: Scripted

Winner: CBeebies As You Like It At Shakespeare's Globe

Horrible Histories

Ready Eddie Go!

Tweedy & Fluff

Children's: Non-scripted

Winner: Disability And Me - FYI Investigates

BooSnoo! Production Team

Operation Ouch! Production Team

Reu & Harper's Wonder World