Dystopian TV series The Handmaid’s Tale has scooped the top drama honours at this year’s Emmy Awards.
The show won five awards including best drama series, best actress for Elisabeth Moss and best-supporting actress for Ann Dowd.
Big Little Lies took five prizes in the limited series categories, including wins for Nicole Kidman and Laura Dern.
The British winners included Riz Ahmed, who took best lead actor in a limited series or movie for The Night Of.
Other British winners included Charlie Brooker, who won best writing for a limited series for his Netflix show Black Mirror.
One of the episodes, San Junipero, also won the trophy for best TV movie. Brooker said it “was a story about love, and love will defeat hate, it will win”.
British comedian John Oliver and his writing team scooped two prizes for satirical show Last Week Tonight.
The Handmaid’s Tale’s win for best drama series means Hulu has become the first streaming service to win that award, beating the likes of big hitters Netflix and Amazon.
Bruce Miller – who won two trophies as the show’s writer and executive producer – thanked author Margaret Atwood, “who created this world for all of us”. The show is adapted from Atwood’s 1985 novel.
In the limited series categories, HBO’s Big Little Lies won best lead actress, (Nicole Kidman), supporting actress (Laura Dern), supporting actor (Alexander Skarsgard), director (Jean-Marc Vallee) and best limited series.
Accepting the award for best limited series, Kidman, who played an abused wife, said that “as much as the show has the entertainment value, it’s about the issues”.
Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon star in Big Little Lies
She told the Emmys audience: “We’ve shone a light on domestic abuse. It’s a complicated, insidious disease. It exists far more than we allow ourselves to know.”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus won best actress in a comedy series for Veep for the sixth year in a row – breaking the record for the most Emmys won by a lead actor for the same role.
Veep, which was created by Armando Iannucci, also won one the prize for best comedy series.
Sterling K Brown’s win for best lead actor in a drama series marked the first time an African-American actor had won in the category in almost 20 years.
Atlanta star Donald Glover scored another historic first by becoming the first black person to win an Emmy for directing a comedy show, while Master of None’s Lena Waithe became the first African-American woman to win for comedy writing.
Political references became a running theme during the night – with host Stephen Colbert and several winners poking fun at US President Donald Trump.
“At long last, Mr President, here is your Emmy,” said Alec Baldwin as he collected his prize for supporting actor in a comedy series, mocking the president’s frustration at never having won for The Apprentice.
Baldwin regularly portrays President Trump on comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live, which won four awards including best variety sketch series and best supporting actress in a comedy series for Kate McKinnon. Sean Spicer at the Emmys
And after he was named best lead actor in a comedy series, Glover said: “I want to thank Trump for making black people number one on the most oppressed list.”
Jaws also dropped when Mr Trump’s former press secretary Sean Spicer came on stage to joke that the ceremony would attract “the largest audience to witness an Emmys” – a reference to disputed claims he made over numbers attending the president’s inauguration in January.
In the competition, several high-profile series failed to live up to expectations, including Westworld and Stranger Things, which both went home empty-handed.
Spicer appeared with a podium resembling the one he used to use as press secretary
Game of Thrones, a big winner at previous Emmys, wasn’t eligible this year because episodes from its last series didn’t air during the Emmys eligibility window.
Likewise, the new series of Twin Peaks will have to wait until next year to be considered.
