Julie Walters and Dr Who star lead British success at the Emmy awards
Christopher Eccleston and Julie Walters won the main acting awards as British TV productions won five international Emmys today.
The former Doctor Who star won the best actor award for his role in an episode of BBC drama series Accused which also won writer Jimmy McGovern an award.
Walters was chosen best actress for the drama Mo. She portrayed the late Mo Mowlam as she fought a brain tumour which she concealed from then prime minister Tony Blair while working to forge the 1998 Northern Ireland peace accord. Gareth Malone Goes To Glyndebourne won in the arts programming category for its account of the staging of a new opera by untrained teenagers at the renowned British opera house.
The Emmy for non-scripted entertainment went to The World's Strictest Parents, which takes unruly British teenagers and sends them abroad to spend 10 days living with a disciplinarian host family.
The international Emmy founders award went to Nigel Lythgoe, executive producer of American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. Lady Gaga presented Lythgoe with his award and thanked him for "all of the early opportunities he gave me to perform on TV". She added: "He has always helped to nurture and foster my ideas, no matter how crazy or demographic-unfriendly they may have been."
Forty nominees from 20 countries were competing in 10 categories for international Emmys, honouring excellence in TV show outside the US.
