What Really Happened - Votes for Women

In September 1893 New Zealand became the first country to grant all women the right to vote in parliamentary elections. This fly-on-the-wall docudrama reimagines this major achievement, following Kate Sheppard (played by Sara Wiseman) throughout the final push of her campaign. The 70-minute TV movie follows the template set by director Peter Burger and writer Gavin Strawhan in their 2011 docudrama on the Treaty of Waitangi, with key characters directly addressing their 21st century audience. At the 2012 NZ TV awards, Wiseman won for Best Performance by an Actress.

When ladies choose to meddle in politics there will always be unscrupulous men poised to take advantage.

– Sir George Whitmore (Stuart Devenie)

Key Cast & Crew

Gavin Strawhan

Co-Producer, Writer, As: Agitator's sidekick

Peter Burger

Director, As: Vicar

Sara Wiseman

As: Kate Sheppard

Carmen J Leonard

Producer

Robin Scholes

Producer

Pip Hall

As: Documentary maker