From Grey's Anatomy to Scandal and
Bridgetton, Shondaanda Rimes has created
some of the most popular television
shows of the past two decades. Her vast
contribution to television recognized
here at this year's Edinburgh TV
Festival. But there's something
inherently condescending about the
sniffy way critics get their corsets in
a twist, using terms like guilty
pleasure to describe her shows. There
are certain people for whom the world of
women will never be considered as
serious or as complex or as interesting
as the world of men. So to me, I take it
at face value. Her first huge hit was
medical drama Grey's Anatomy, now on its
22nd season. But finding an abandoned
novel in a hotel room would motivate her
to write the Regency drama Bridgetton,
Netflix's biggest show.
>> When I read the books, it became clear
to me that Bridgetton is a workplace
drama. These are women in their
workplace because in a world in which
they have no power, they have no ability
to do anything on the outside with a
career or anything else when their only
value is who they marry and their only
worth is sort of focused into that.
Newspapers have dedicated quite a few
column inches to raking over her
decision to reflect a diverse range of
actors in its cast. The Telegraph
accusing it of pandering to woke
culture.
>> I mean, is it almost sort of puzzling
that people want to kind of comment on
on it in the first place? I think it's I
will say this. I think there's something
a little bit bizarre for me in the idea
that I am writing the show looking like
I look and that it wouldn't occur to me
that there should be more people in the
show who look like me. You know, I I
feel like that's an obvious point. Why
would I write something that doesn't
include me in any way? Given how
prolific her work is, like other
writers, there's a high chance that AI
is scraping her scripts as we speak to
figure out how to write like her. I
definitely think there's a danger of AI
learning from my episodes. Um, maybe I I
will learn to be better at what it does.
Maybe. But I feel like most importantly,
I don't think that there's any
substitute for that germ of creativity
that comes from a human imagination. I
really don't.
>> What does she watch? Well, she's a
massive fan of Doctor Who and writer
Russell T. Davies.
>> Oh my god, I've loved Doctor Who
forever. Forever.
>> How did that even sort of come about?
Quite niche, isn't it?
>> It is. It's quite niche. And for a
while, people were like, "What's wrong
with you?" Because they didn't know the
show. But I've been watching it forever.
I fell in love with the David Tennant
years and the years, you know, all of
those. And it's been fun. I haven't been
able to let it go because I don't The
writing is so Russell's amazing.
>> Yeah,
>> Russell's really amazing and really
talented. Could we ever suggest one day
a crossover between a special episode of
Bridgetton meets Doctor Who? Are you
>> I don't know if there's a Bridgetton
meets Doctor Who, but I would work with
Russell at any time.
>> The showrunner says she certainly
enjoyed being in the UK more with both
Bridgetton and its spin-off Queen
Charlotte filmed here
>> as well. What do you
>> I' I've been spending a little bit more
time over here. I'm going to try to
spend a little bit more even more um if
I can swap my kids into a British
school. I'm trying to figure that part
out. But I do really love being here and
it's always been such a great
experience. The suggestion that she
might move here, a real life plot twist
that British Bridgetton fans would
certainly welcome.