The 68th Primetime Emmy Awards aired on 19th September. The awards marked a historic moment for Game of Thrones which broke the record for the highest number of Emmy Awards won by any fictional series.
The HBO fantasy drama won in three categories at Sunday’s ceremony, including outstanding drama series. The show’s total number of awards now stands at 38, which includes the nine trophies the series picked up at last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys. This means it has beaten Frasier’s previous record of 37 Emmys.
Maggie Smith, won outstanding supporting actress in a drama series for her role in Downton Abbey. BBC One’s Sherlock was named best made for TV movie for its special episode The Abominable Bride. Susanne Bier, the Danish director of the BBC’s spy thriller The Night Manager, won for best directing in a limited series.
John Oliver won best variety talk series for his HBO series Last Week Tonight, beating fellow British nominee James Corden, who was nominated for The Late Late Show.
Veep won the outstanding comedy series award for the second year in a row, while its star Julia Louis-Dreyfus won outstanding lead comedy actress for the fifth time. In her acceptance speech she dedicated her award to her father, who died on Friday.
The outstanding comedy actor gong went to Jeffrey Tambor, who plays a transgender woman in the Amazon series Transparent, for the second year in a row.
Rami Malek won outstanding lead actor in a drama series for his role in Mr Robot – the first time an actor from an ethnic minority has won the award since 1998. Tatiana Maslany from Orphan Black won the outstanding leading actress in a drama prize.
Other big winners of the night included The People vs OJ Simpson – a dramatisation of the OJ Simpson trial of the 1990s. Elsewhere, The Voice took home the award for outstanding reality competition series, beating Project Runway and Dancing With The Stars.
Host Jimmy Kimmel made several references to diversity during the ceremony in light of the “Oscars So White” controversy earlier this year. “Here in Hollywood the only thing we value more than diversity is congratulating ourselves on how much we value diversity,” he said in his opening monologue.
The Primetime Emmy Award is an American award bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television. First given in 1949, the award was originally referred to as simply the “Emmy Awards” until the first Daytime Emmy Award ceremonies were held in the 1970s, and the word “prime time” was added to distinguish between the two.The Emmy Awards are considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards (Oscars), Grammy Awards (music), and Tony Awards (stage).
