After the Party follows a schoolteacher who is hell-bent on proving her husband is guilty of abuse.
The New Zealand-set drama, which is airing on Channel 4 in the UK, follows fiery Penny (Black Bird and Top of the Lake star Robyn Malcolm), who, five years ago at a drunken party, accused her husband, fellow teacher Phil (Mum’s Peter Mullan), of a sexual crime against teenager Ollie (Ian Blackburn), a friend of their daughter Grace (Tara Canton).
Penny wasn’t believed and, as their marriage ended, Phil moved away. But now he is back in their hometown of Wellington, a horrified Penny goes to extreme lengths in her determination to expose him. But as Penny continues on her dogged mission, loyalties shift and discoveries are made. Can the truth finally be established?
Here, in an exclusive interview, Robyn Malcolm, who has co-created the series, tells What To Watch all about After the Party...
After the Party goes to some challenging places. What compelled you to co-create the drama?
“We began with Penny, because we were really interested in telling a complex story about a middle-aged woman but a ‘proper’ one. Penny’s deeply fallible but she doubles down. Righteous people can be dangerous…”
What was Penny’s marriage like before she made this accusation against Phil?
“The marriage was a good one to a certain point and they have a similar sense of humour but it's about looking in the right place… There was a a healthy competitiveness in terms of them both being teachers and basketball coaches. He's more of a superstar teacher, while Penny's a really great teacher, but she's a bit grumpy!”
How does all this affect their daughter Grace?
“The real collateral in this is Grace and and by relation her son Walt. She is torn apart. And in the middle of it all was Grace's dear friend, Ollie, and so she carries the raw emotion, or the raw grief, because she's terrified. She feels like she's lost one parent and she's losing another. Grace has already put up a big wall between herself and her mother, so she has a lot to lose if she questions her father at all. And the love there is really genuine.”
Will our loyalties shift between Penny and Phil as the series progresses?
“This show is really about trying to exist as we all do in the morally grey area. It's a simple story – did he do it, or didn't he do it, and is she right or is she wrong? But we didn’t want to give simple answers. As in real life, the rug gets pulled out from underneath you, and suddenly, the tectonic plates have moved.”
The show has already aired in New Zealand, what reaction have you had to the characters?
“It was brilliant. I'm a bit like old living room furniture in New Zealand because I’ve worked so much there, so people often come and say, 'G’day Rob.' But I would get a lot of people coming up and going, 'I'm really disturbed, I don't want to have to hate you, but I feel like you're about to make me hate you!'
"What fascinates me about this show is the investment that people seem to have in that story. Despite the fact that it's a tricky subject matter, it's about something bigger too, and it seemed to have some kind of weird, emotional, universal hook for people, which I'm really proud of.”
Is it good to be able to showcase a New Zealand drama to British audiences as well?
“Yes! I love Australian drama, but there's something very special about New Zealand stories that's very different. This is so Kiwi, this story, and Wellington is a unique town. It sits on fault lines, and so all the hills are precarious, so there's an emotional tension to the place because of that. It’s one of the windiest cities in the world, and has some of the steepest roads in the world, which just made it a great place to tell that particular story.”
And did you enjoy the physical side of the role as we see Penny kayaking and cycling?
“I loved it! In one scene she jumps overboard off a boat and that was the first scene we shot. It was cold, and I was told I had to stay in for one more shot in the middle of the Cook Strait. And then, just on my eyeline, I saw a huge school of dolphins and I was suddenly surrounded by them, and I felt like that was the best omen for the rest of the shoot!”
After the Party airs in the UK on Channel 4 on Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21st November at 9pm, and continues on Wednesdays and Thursdays each week. The box-set of all six episodes is available on Channel 4’s streaming site.
