Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs Maisel won big at the Emmys, scooping four prizes in quick succession after the ceremony opened with jokes about Hollywood’s sexual assault scandal.
The Emmys are the most prestigious awards in US television and some of the biggest names in entertainment gathered in Los Angeles on Monday.
British stars including The Crown’s Claire Foy, Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown and Westworld’s Thandie Newton were all nominated for prizes.
The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards hosts, Michael Che and Colin Jost, opened the ceremony with jokes about alleged sexual abuse in Hollywood, following allegations against high-profile figures such as Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey.
Che said it was an “honour to be here sharing this night with many, many talented and creative people in Hollywood”, adding: “Who have not yet been caught.”
Jost said audience members were allowed to drink alcohol in their seats for the first time, adding: “Because the one thing Hollywood needs right now is people losing their inhibitions at a work function.”
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel won four award in the first portion of the show. The series, which features a housewife in 1950s New York City who discovers she has a talent for stand-up comedy, first won in the supporting actress in a comedy series category for Alex Borstein.
It scooped another two prizes moments later when Amy Sherman-Palladino won in the outstanding writing for a comedy series category and for directing for a comedy series.
Its leading star, Rachel Brosnahan, won the lead actress in a comedy series prize.
The American actress said the show is about a woman “finding her voice anew and it’s happening all over the country right now” before urging people to vote.
Former Happy Days star Henry Winkler won the first prize of the night.
Winkler, 72, was nominated three times in the 1970s for playing the role of Fonz in Happy Days but lost each time.
This year, he was up again in the supporting actor in a comedy series category for his portrayal of an acting coach in HBO’s series Barry.
Winkler won, seeing off competition from stars including Alec Baldwin and Tony Shalhoub.
Charlie Brooker won an Emmy for the USS Callister episode of Black Mirror.
The British writer, who won two of the awards last year for the same show, scooped the prize for writing for a limited series, movie or dramatic special along with William Bridge.
