Dr. Horrible Hijacks the 61st Emmys

Irish actor Brendan Gleeson was amongst the winners at last nights Primetime Emmy awards ceremony in Los Angeles. The star picked up the award for best lead actor in a miniseries for his role as Winston Churchill in Into The Storm. Gleeson gave a heart-felt thanks to the producers of the series who allowed his mother to see a first cut of his performance before her recent death.

Elsewhere in a night of few surprises the BBC emerged big winners with their adaptation of Charles Dicken’s lesser known work Little Dorrit nabbing 7 Emmy awards, more than any other show. Little Dorrit won for best mini-series as well as getting awards in outstanding writing, art direction, costumes and cinematography. In addition, Little Dorrit picked up an award for best direction with the Emmy going to Irish actress Dearblha Walsh. The BBC also won for its Iraq war drama House of Saddam, which was a co-production with US channel HBO.

Mad Men, the 1960′s period drama about Madison Avenue advertising executives, which airs on RTE 2, was named best drama for the second consecutive year, beating House (3e), Lost (RTE 2), Damages (RTE 2), Dexter (TV3), Breaking Bad and Big Love. The TV3 aired 30 Rock won big on the comedy side receiving 5 awards including best comedy series, where it beat out Entourage (RTE 2), Family Guy (3e), How I Met Your Mother (TV3), The US Office (TV3), Flight Of The Conchords and Weeds.

The highlight off the evening came in guise of host Neil Patrick Harris and his alter-ego Dr. Horrible (from Joss Whedon’s Emmy award winning online musical Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog) who hijacked the Awards ceremony mid-show. The self-confessed super-villian berated the audience and proceeded to tell them that TV was dead and that the internet was the future.

Full list of winners from the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards:

Drama Series: Mad Men
Comedy Series: 30 Rock
Actor, Drama Series: Bryan Cranston - Breaking Bad
Actress, Drama Series: Glenn Close - Damages
Actor, Comedy Series: Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock
Actress, Comedy Series: Toni Collette - United States of Tara
Supporting Actor, Drama Series: Michael Emerson - Lost
Supporting Actress, Drama Series: Cherry Jones - 24
Supporting Actor, Comedy Series: Jon Cryer - Two and a Half Men
Supporting Actress, Comedy Series: Kristin Chenoweth - Pushing Daisies
Miniseries: Little Dorrit
Made-for-TV Movie: Grey Gardens
Actor - Miniseries or Movie: Brendan Gleeson - Into the Storm
Actress - Miniseries or Movie: Jessica Lange - Grey Gardens
Supporting Actor - Miniseries or Movie: Ken Howard - Grey Gardens
Supporting Actress - Miniseries or Movie: Shohreh Aghdashloo - House of Saddam
Directing for a Comedy Series: The US Office: Stress Relief - Jeff Blitz
Directing for a Drama Series: ER: And in the End - Rod Holcomb
Directing for a Variety - Music - or Comedy Series: American Idol: Show 833 (The Final Three) - Bruce Gowers
Directing for a Miniseries - Movie - or Dramatic Special: Little Dorrit: Part 1 - Dearbhla Walsh
Variety - Music - or Comedy Series: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Reality-Competition Program: The Amazing Race
Writing for a Comedy Series: 30 Rock: Reunion - Matt Hubbard
Writing for a Drama Series: Mad Men: Meditations in an Emergency - Kater Gordon and Matthew Weiner
Writing for a Variety - Music - or Comedy Series: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Writing for a Miniseries - Movie - or Dramatic Special: Little Dorrit - Andrew Davies
Host - Reality or Reality-Competition Program: Jeff Probst - Survivor
Original Music and Lyrics: 81st Annual Academy Awards: Song Title: Hugh Jackman Opening Number