Italian Disney+ drama The Good Mothers has won the inaugural Berlinale Series award for best TV drama at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival. The U.K.-Italy co-production tells the true story of three women inside the notorious Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate who worked with a female prosecutor to bring down its empire.
Produced by House Productions in the U.K. and Italy’s Wildside, a Fremantle company, The Good Mothers is based on the eponymous novel by Alex Perry. Stephen Butchard adapted the book, and Julian Jarrold (Kinky Boots, Brideshead Revisited) and Elisa Amoroso (Fidelity) directed.
The first two episodes of the six-part series screened at the Berlinale as part of the festival’s sidebar for high-end TV drama.
The first-ever Berlinale Series Award Jury trio of former Yes Studios boss Danna Stern, Moonlight and The Eddy star André Holland, and Danish screenwriter Mette Heeno, said Good Mothers “captured us with its multi-layered characters that have been treated with care and allowed to evolve before our very eyes. The series creators have been meticulous in recreating an authentic and detailed world, presented by a stellar cast, with performance that made our hearts skip a beat.”
The jury gave a special mention to Viaplay series Arkitekten (The Architect), a dark satire about a near-future Copenhagen, from screenwriting duo Nora Landsrod and Kristian Kilde and director Kerren Lumer-Klabbers.
