TV’s great and good descended on Los Angeles last night to celebrate the best shows of the past year. And there’s a lot to celebrate: the industry is undergoing somewhat of a boom right now, with standout shows such as Slow Horses, The Bear, Baby Reindeer and Shogun all up for awards across dozens of categories.
In addition to watching celebs walk the red carpet dressed in their finery, there were plenty of standout moments from the show: here’s our pick of the best.
Baby Reindeer took the prize
What a night for the Baby Reindeer team. After all the months of legal and media turmoil, Richard Gadd’s brilliantly unhinged Netflix stalker story – based on his real life experiences – came good on the night. Not only did Gadd scoop two awards (for writing and directing the show) but Jessica Gunning’s Martha, whose performance anchored it, took an award home on the night too.
"Oh my goodness me, blinking heckers," she said, accepting her speech, but Gadd went one better.
"Ten years ago, I was down and out, right?” he said on the podium. “I never ever thought I'd get my life together. I never ever thought I'd be able to rectify myself for what had happened to me, and get myself back on my feet again.
"And then here I am, just over a decade later, picking up one of the biggest writing awards in television.
"I don't know much about this life... but I do know that nothing lasts forever, and no matter how bad it gets, it always gets better."
The Bear lost out once more
Was this destined to be the year The Bear finally triumphed on the Emmys stage? Um, no: it lost out in the best comedy category to Hacks, something that hosts Eugene and Dan Levy got plenty of mileage out of. After all, it was up for 23 nominations, making it the most nominated ‘comedy’ in history – despite not really being a comedy at all.
"I love the show, and I know some of you may be expecting us to make a joke about whether The Bear is really a comedy, but in the true spirit of The Bear we will not be making any jokes," Eugene joked.
That’s not to say the Hacks team didn’t appreciate the win. "Please support comedy. It speaks truth to power. It really does," showrunner Lucia Aniello added on the stage. "So support your local comedian, and we have to go because we start shooting the next season in five days."
There was a slap joke… because of course there was
When Will Smith (not that one, the comedian and screenwriter) took to the stage to accept his award, he wanted to make one thing very clear.
"First of all, relax. Despite my name, I come in peace," he joked at the start of his speech, referencing the infamous Smith-Chris Rock moment in 2022.
Shogun won big
FX/Disney show Shogun dominated the awards, breaking the record for the most Emmy wins in a single year – and became the first non-English language show to scoop the best drama series prize. How many awards did it win? A stonking 18.
Hiroyuki Sanada, who played Yoshii Toranaga and produced the series, also delivered part of his acceptance speech in Japanese.
"We would like to express our deepest gratitude to all the crew, directors and masters who have inherited and supported our samurai period dramas up until now," he said.
"The passion and dreams that we have inherited from you have crossed oceans and borders. Thank you so much!"
Jodie Foster won her first Emmy
Yes, you read that right: the wildly famous Jodie Foster received a standing ovation last night when she picked up her first ever Emmy Award for her performance in True Detective: Night Country.
She went onto thank the "incredible, incredible Icelandic crew", her cast and crew, and "mostly the indigenous people, the Inupiat and Inuit people, of Northern Alaska who just told us their stories and they allowed us to listen and that was just a blessing."
And John Oliver paid tribute to his… dog?
Man’s best friend? Comedian and broadcaster John Oliver’s acceptance speech paid tribute first to his son – calling him “husband” before correcting it to “Hudson… that’s going to come back to haunt me” – and then his dog.
“We had the most fantastic dog, and she was at our wedding, and she got us through a pandemic. She was with us for two pregnancies, and… we had to say goodbye to her."
"This isn't just for her. This is for all dogs. All dogs, you're all very good girls. You're very good boys. You all deserve a treat."
