Entertainment

Madden and Colman help Britain notch up most Golden Globe wins in a decade

Ben Whishaw and Christian Bale were among the other stars taking the top prizes.
Ben Whishaw and Christian Bale were among the other stars taking the top prizes. Ben Whishaw and Christian Bale were among the other stars taking the top prizes.

Britain has notched up the most number of wins at the Golden Globe Awards in a decade, bagging a total of six awards.

Olivia Colman and Richard Madden were among the big winners at the ceremony in the most successful year since 2009, the year of Slumdog Millionaire, when Britain had a total of seven wins.

Broadchurch star Colman took home the best actress in a comedy or musical prize for her role as Queen Anne in black comedy The Favourite, while Madden was awarded the best actor in a TV drama prize for the BBC series Bodyguard.

Christian Bale scored the best actor in a musical or comedy for his role as the former vice president Dick Cheney in Vice, and Ben Whishaw was honoured in the best supporting actor in a limited series or TV movie category for playing Norman Scott in A Very English Scandal.

Music producer Mark Ronson won the best original song prize for Shallow from A Star Is Born, which he co-wrote with Lady Gaga and American musicians Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt.

British wins at the Golden Globes
British wins at the Golden Globes (PA Graphics)

Bohemian Rhapsody, a British-American co-production, won the best drama film accolade.

Colman thanked her co-stars Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz, who she referred to as “ma bitches”, while telling the audience: “I would like to tell you how much working on this film meant to me but I can’t remember because I’m too excited.”

Scottish actor Madden paid tribute to the cast and crew of TV hit Bodyguard as he collected his prize, including co-star Keeley Hawes and writer Jed Mercurio.

Richard Madden
Richard Madden Richard Madden paid tribute to the cast and crew of Bodyguard (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Bale jokingly thanked “Satan” in his acceptance speech, quipping he would play Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell following his role as Mr Cheney.

He said: “Thank you Satan, for giving me inspiration for this role.”

Meanwhile, Whishaw thanked the BBC for continuing to make “idiosyncratic and powerful work”.

Christian Bale and Sibi Blazic
Christian Bale and Sibi Blazic Best actor in a musical or comedy winner Christian Bale and Sibi Blazic (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody was one of the biggest winners of the night, with Rami Malek winning the best actor in a drama prize for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury.

Ben Whishaw
Ben Whishaw Ben Whishaw was honoured for his role in A Very English Scandal (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

He also thanked Queen and the band’s late frontman, saying: “Thank you to Freddie Mercury for giving me the joy of my lifetime. I love you, you beautiful man. This is for – and because of – you, gorgeous.”

Another big winner was Green Book, which tells the story of jazz pianist Don Shirley’s concert tour through the segregated Deep South in the 1960s.

The film won the best musical or comedy award, as well as best screenplay and best supporting actor for Mahershala Ali, who portrays Shirley.

Glenn Close triumphed in the best actress in a drama category for The Wife, while Regina King won best supporting actress for If Beale Street Could Talk.

Rami Malek
Rami Malek Rami Malek portrayed Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

It was a disappointing night for A Star Is Born, with Gaga and Bradley Cooper losing out in the acting categories and Cooper losing out on the directing prize to Roma filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron.

The ceremony was hosted by Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg, who largely stayed away from political topics.

They joked they had been chosen to host due to being the only people left in Hollywood who have not got in trouble for “saying something offensive”.

While last year’s ceremony saw the majority of women wearing black for the launch of the Time’s Up movement for gender equality, this year a smaller number of women wore wristbands for Time’s Up X 2, encouraging companies to double the number of women in decision-making positions.

Lady Gaga and Mark Ronson
Lady Gaga and Mark Ronson Lady Gaga and Mark Ronson who picked up the best song award (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Oh also enjoyed a moment at the winner’s podium, as she collected the gong for best actress in a TV drama for Killing Eve and thanked her parents in Korean before bowing to them.

The show, written by Briton Phoebe Waller-Bridge, was also nominated for best drama series, alongside Bodyguard, but lost out to The Americans, which picked up the prize for its final series.

Sandra Oh
Sandra Oh Sandra Oh co-hosted the show and picked up an award (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Elsewhere in television, Michael Douglas won best actor in a TV comedy for his Netflix series The Kominsky Method, which also took the best TV comedy prize.