Robyn Malcolm’s After The Party lands TV Bafta nomination

• After the Party, created by multi-award-winning actor Robyn Malcolm and Dianne Taylor, has received a Bafta nomination.
• The show, praised for its storytelling, won nine awards at the 2024 NZ Television Awards.
• Malcolm described the nomination as “mindblowing” and highlighted the hard work of the crew.

The hit Kiwi show After the Party, created by renowned actor Robyn Malcolm, is in the international spotlight after scooping up a nomination in the upcoming Bafta (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) television awards.

The show, written by Dianne Taylor, found success in the UK last November after it was released on free streaming services.

It tells the story of a family’s crisis that evolves after a husband is accused of inappropriate behaviour at drunken party.

In a post to Instagram, Malcolm said just to be named in the category was “utterly crazy, mindblowing and just plain joyous”.

Robyn Malcolm and Dianne Taylor at the NZ TV Awards where 'After the Party' won a record nine awards.

“Am wandering about Liverpool in a daze thinking about all our ATP crew who worked like maniacs, rain wind and shine over those weeks back in Te Whanganui a Tara Aotearoa (Wellington New Zealand).

“Lads this is a testament to all our work together. I’m f’ing proud of all of us. We are in a seriously classy category with seriously classy competition.”

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She shares the category with FX’s Shōgun which stars New Zealand-born Japanese actress Anna Sawai.

The Bafta ceremony will take place on April 28.

Earlier this week, Malcolm became our first local actor to take home an award from the Series Mania Forum in France for her performance in After the Party.

The show was widely hailed as one of the best shows of 2023 and garnered widespread local acclaim including scooping up a record-breaking nine awards at the 2024 NZ Television awards.

It broke the record of eight wins previously set by two other series: 2020 fantasy The Luminaries, which was based on Eleanor Catton’s 2013 Man Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name, and 2022’s The Panthers.

It has been lauded for its inventive storytelling, with the plot told partly in flashbacks and partly in the present day.

Robyn Malcolm in 'After the Party'.

Besides winning the overall title of New Zealand On Air Best Drama, it also won Best Editing, Best Script, Best Cinematography and Best Director.

The series was produced by Lingo Pictures and Luminous Beast and was filmed on location in Wellington.

Speaking to NZ Women’s Weekly, Malcolm revealed she enjoyed the experience of sitting down with her friend Taylor and creating a realistic character from scratch.

She said it was her “scariest role yet”.

“We knew we wanted to put a woman in her 50s at the centre of it. And we knew we wanted to make sure she was somebody that we’ve not seen on screen before.

“At her age, women are supposed to be wise and sage, but often we’re not. I’m so pleased that note is striking a chord with so many women who are getting alongside the story.”