Bridgerton isn't a romance, it's a workplace drama - Shonda Rhimes

Showrunner Shonda Rhimes was presented with the the inaugural Edinburgh fellowship at the TV festival

It began with an abandoned novel in a hotel room.

"I was sick, and in bed and I don't even like romance novels," says Shonda Rhimes.

"But I read it, and despite being ill, dragged myself out of bed and down to the nearest book shop to buy them all."

The book was The Duke and I by Julia Quinn. The first of eight novels about the children of a family in regency England, it was perhaps not the obvious choice for a woman of colour - but became the basis for Rhimes's hit series Bridgerton, starring Nicola Coughlan, Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley.

The showrunner's contribution to television was honoured on Wednesday when she was awarded the inaugural Edinburgh fellowship at the TV festival.

Rhimes said when she read the novels, she could see herself, as a black woman, in regency England, and Bridgerton was born

"I didn't see it as a romance," she says. "It was more of a workplace drama.

"The women don't have power in other areas of their lives, the power is in how they marry, so it becomes a workplace. And that's where the drama is.

"More importantly, I could see myself in them. If a black woman in 21st century America can see herself in regency England, it's a good story."

Speaking to Mishal Husain on stage at the festival, which is marking its 50th year, she told delegates she applied for film school rather than law school because she read an article that said it was harder to get in - and as the youngest of six children, she wanted to impress her parents.

On leaving film school, she worked as an office administrator but wrote in her spare time. Her first idea, a romantic comedy about an older white woman, accidentally matched to a younger black man, was sold but never made.

Shonda Rhimes was presented with her award by Bridgerton star Adjoa Andoh who plays Lady Danbury

The birth of her first child gave her time to watch lots of television.

"I watched all of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and started to realise, ah that's where the character development happens," she said.

"You also realise how important these TV characters are. You spend more hours with Meredith Grey, that you spend with your own family."

Meredith Grey is the titular character of Grey's Anatomy, the series Rhimes created in 2005 after a show about female war correspondents was rejected and she was told the head of Disney wanted a medical drama.

It became a huge hit.

"Every week, the ratings would go up and up and I had no idea what that meant because I'd never worked in TV before," she said. "And then the network started to send me presents."

Rhimes says she has spent more time with the character, Meredith Grey, than with her own family

Grey's Anatomy has racked up dozens of awards for Shonda Rhimes over the years

The network - ABC - relied on the show for their lucrative Thursday night slot and continue to make it today with season 22 and the 450th episode currently in production.

Shondaland, Rhimes's production company, was a play on Disneyland and is now one of the most influential television companies in the world.

It has offices in New York, Los Angeles and London, where Bridgerton is produced.

She admits the arrival of the show in Christmas 2020, when the world was in lockdown, boosted viewing figures - "my stories help people escape, rather than ground them in reality" - but even she is surprised by the extent of the fandom.

She said: "It wasn't just a global show. It became a lifestyle brand. People got Bridgerton tea sets, there were Bridgerton proms and weddings."

Bridgerton became an instant hit, sparking fan events and tours like this one, around Bath, where the series is shot

Each season concentrates on a different member of the Bridgerton family. She plans to make all eight books in the series, with season four which is focused on Benedict Bridgerton currently in post production.

As to her decision to reflect a diverse range of people on screen, she insists that she would never make a show "that didn't have me in it."

She said she wasn't aware of media criticism of the show as "woke" and and thought a headline saying it "pandered to woke culture" was "cute".

She said she was astonished to be the inaugural winner of the Edinburgh Fellowship award.

She said: "Most of the time, I'm alone and writing so it's moments like these that make you realise the impact of what you do."