BAFTA win for alumna Barunka O’Shaughnessy

Many congratulations to our alumna, writer Barunka O’Shaughnessy, who has won a BAFTA for her work on the hit BBC comedy series Amandaland.

The series, a spin-off of the series Motherland, was named best scripted comedy at the BAFTA Television Awards 2026, defeating tough competition including How Are You? It's Alan (Partridge).

The award is the second for Barunka (New Hall 1993), who scooped a BAFTA for Motherland in 2022.

Barunka, a writer for stage, film, TV and radio, was a guest speaker at the College’s International Women’s Day celebrations in March this year. She reflected on her creative journey from performing during her time at College to building an impressive career as a writer and creator. The conversation offered fascinating insight into the creative industries, women’s voices in comedy, and the realities of building a career in television writing.

It was at Cambridge that the idea of comedy as a career evolved for Barunka. 'I didn’t consider it until I met other people who were considering it at quite an early age,' she said in a recent interview.

She also revealed that having her daughter Maud, born in 2015, had been essential when it came to co-writing Motherland, which follows the struggles and rivalries of (mainly) mothers attempting to juggle the pressures of parenthood with working lives. 'It was a joy to be asked to do Motherland... I think you’d have to be a mother to write that show. There’s the whole conflict of emotions that didn’t mean anything to me when I didn’t have a child.'

College Acting President Dr Rachel Polonsky said: 'Barunka's return to Murray Edwards brought much joy and laughter to this year's International Women's Day celebrations. We proudly congratulate her on her well-deserved BAFTA award.'

After creating and writing both series of the sketch show School of Comedy for Channel 4, in 2012 Barunka teamed up with Jess Hynes to write two series of Suffragette sitcom Up The Women for BBC2.

Her love of all things past then led her to co-write both series of the BAFTA and Comedy Award-winning Hunderby for Sky Atlantic, continuing her collaboration with Julia Davis on BAFTA-nominated Camping and BAFTA-winning Sally 4 Eever in 2019.

In 2021 Barunka applied her talents to a new genre, co-creating and writing mini series The Teacher, starring Sheridan Smith. Her new adaptation of Molière’s THE MISER for Radio 3 earned its star Toby Jones a 2023 BBC Audio Drama Award nomination for Best Actor.

Her current projects include A Hole, a dark comedy series based on her Czech/Irish childhood; a feature in development with Screen Ireland; and a multi-generational family drama.

Image credit: BAFTA. Barunka is fourth from right.