Staff Writer, with CNA
The comedy series Mad Doctor (村裡來了個暴走女外科) was named the Best Television Series on Day 2 of the 58th Golden Bell Awards, a win that saw it tie with crime thriller Copycat Killer (模仿犯), political drama Wave Makers (人選之人-造浪者) and Shards of Her (她和她的她) for most honors with four prizes each.
Mad Doctor and its cast and crew received seven nominations, with director Lai Meng-chieh (賴孟傑), leading actress Janel Tsai (蔡淑臻) and supporting actress Su Ying (蘇瀅) winning Best Directing for a Television Series, Best Leading Actress in a television series and Best Newcomer in a Television Series, respectively.
The show tells the story of a surgeon who is sent to a tiny, underequipped hospital in a remote village, where she refuses to give up on her patients despite facing unimaginable difficulties.
Photo: CNA
Best Miniseries went to the Netflix political drama Wave Makers, whose director, Lin Chun-yang (林君陽) was named Best Director. The series also won Best Visual Effects for a Drama Series and Best Theme Song (A No is a No).
Shards of Her, meanwhile, shone in individual award categories, with Hsu Wei-ning (許瑋甯) winning Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film and Toby Lee (李程彬) named Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film and Charlize Lamb (林奕嵐) receiving Best Newcomer in a Miniseries or Television Film.
The show’s writer, Wen Yu-fang (溫郁芳), was recognized as Best Writing for a Television Series.
Copycat Killer, meanwhile, won Creative Award for a Drama Series, Most Popular Drama Series, Nest Cinematography for a Television Show and Best Art Direction for a Television Show.
The series, adapted from Japanese author Miyuki Miyabi’s 2001 novel, The Copycat, tells the story of a sneering, manipulative serial killer being pursued by a young, iron-willed prosecutor who goes to great lengths to bring the killer to justice.
Best Television Film went to The Mimicry (綠金龜的模仿犯).
Wave Makers is a fictional work that depicts the hectic and high-stress work of aides to politicians campaigning for public office in Taiwan and depicts the crises they must defuse and the tough decisions they have to make.
The Mimicry, adapted from the short story Proteges of the Green Scarab by author Kao Yi-feng (高翊峰) of the same Chinese title, tells the story of a scarab trying to imitate human behaviors after it metamorphosed into a human form.
In the Best Leading Actor in a Television Series category, Hsueh Shih-ling (薛仕凌) edged out Taiwan Crime Stories co-star Frederick Lee (李銘忠) to bag the award. The tightly contested category saw another set of nominees from the same show vying for the honor: Copycat Killer’s Wu Kang-ren (吳慷仁) and Yao Chun-yao (姚淳耀).
The Golden Bell Awards, known as “Taiwan’s Emmys,” was held as a two-night event in Taipei, with non-drama programs featured Friday and dramas showcased Saturday.
Following the conclusion of the awards on Saturday night, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in a social media post expressed gratitude to film and television workers in Taiwan, acknowledging the impact of their work on people’s lives, and called for more diverse and heart-touching programs.
She praised their consistent efforts to produce high-quality and diverse content, including entertaining variety programs, trendsetting reality shows and dramas that touched on many issues.
She cited the award-winning TV series, Wave Makers as an example. She said the series allows people to better understand how Taiwan’s democratic system works by depicting the daily lives of political figures.
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