Quality | 2009.09.21
Little Dorrit sweeps the Emmys
Dickens adaptation beats advertising drama Mad Men and sitcom 30 Rock to win awards for writing and cinematography
The BBC\'s Dickens adaptation Little Dorrit outshone the best of US talent to snatch seven Emmys at a star-studded Hollywood television awards night tinged with black humour over the challenges facing quality broadcasting.
Hosted by the actor Neil Patrick Harris, the Emmys were dotted with quips about the changes facing television as traditional networks face competition from online services and from a rapidly expanding cable universe.
Little Dorrit, starring Matthew Macfadyen and Sir Tom Courtenay, was named best mini-series and won a brace of awards for writing, directing, art direction and costumes, chalking up more prizes than any other programme. But many of the most prestigious Emmys went to familiar US favourites. The sitcom 30 Rock, starring Alec Baldwin as an egotistical television executive, was named top comedy for the third consecutive year while Mad Men, a critically acclaimed depiction of politically incorrect 1960s advertising executives, won best drama for the second year in a row.
Picking up a gong for 30 Rock, the comedian Tina Fey aimed a tongue-in-cheek jibe at NBC, which has been attacked by creative types for replacing drama with a peak-time Jay Leno chatshow in the US every weeknight at 10pm.
"We want to thank our friends at NBC for keeping us on the air," said Fey. "Even though we\'re so much more expensive than a talk show."
In a similar vein, a song and dance number to open the Emmys called "put down the remote" pleaded "don\'t touch that dial", urging viewers: "Don\'t jump online."
Other victors at the ceremony, held at the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, included the veteran actress Glenn Close for her role as a ruthless lawyer in the drama Damages. Australia\'s Toni Collette was rewarded for her performances as a housewife with an identity disorder in the comedy The United States of Tara.
The Amazing Race was named best reality show and the satirical news programme The Daily Show took an award as best variety programme. Ricky Gervais presented the Daily Show\'s Emmy to host Jon Stewart, stealing one of the biggest laughs of the night by comparing himself favourably to celebrities in the audience including Tom Hanks.
"The thing about the Golden Globes and the Oscars is that they have film stars with their jaw lines and chiselled looks," said Gervais. "But in this room, I\'m probably above average."
The US version of Gervais\'s creation, The Office, won a single Emmy for best comedy directing and the medical series ER, which recently came to an end after a 15-year run, received a valedictory award for drama directing.
For the BBC, Little Dorrit\'s sweep vindicated a co-production with the US network WGBH of one of Charles Dickens\' lesser known works. The novel\'s storyline recounts the changing fortunes of the Dorrit family, who emerge from Marshelsea prison for debtors to discover that they are heirs to a great deal of money. Executive producer Anne Pivcevic said: "We\'re thrilled that Little Dorrit has gone down so well this side of the Atlantic."
It was not the only British-linked success. The broadcaster won an Emmy for its Iraq war drama House of Saddam, which was a joint venture with HBO, while the Irish actor Brendan Gleeson took home an acting Emmy for his role as Winston Churchill in the television film Into The Storm, another BBC and HBO co-production.
In an emotional speech, Gleeson described his win as a "turn-up for the books" and thanked Into The Storm\'s producers for allowing his mother to see a first cut of his performance before her recent death: "It meant a huge amount to me."
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2[...]-little-dorrit-30-rock-mad-men
