Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Olivia Colman are among the British stars who were honoured at the Golden Globes, alongside Sir Sam Mendes, Taron Egerton and Sir Elton John.
The Fleabag creator and star won the best actress in a TV comedy prize, while her BBC show was also named best comedy TV series during the star-studded ceremony in Los Angeles, which was hosted by an acid-tongued Ricky Gervais.
Colman appeared shocked when she was named winner of the best actress in a TV drama prize for her role as the Queen in the third series of The Crown and admitted she had got a “bit boozy” beforehand because she did not expect to win.
She said: “I had money on this not happening. For the last year I feel I’ve been living someone else’s life and now I feel I’ve won someone else’s award.”
She added she was “completely stumped,” but offered a shout-out to her other award-winning show, saying: “Fleabag, yay!”
Meanwhile Waller-Bridge thanked former US president Barack Obama for naming the show on his list of best film and TV of the 2019 and made a cheeky reference to his unexpected appearance in the first series.
She said: “Personally I would like to thank Obama for putting us on his list, as some of you may know, he has always been on mine.
“And if you don’t get that, please watch season one of Fleabag really, really quickly.”
The 77th Golden Globes kicked off in explosive fashion after Gervais lived up to his reputation for controversy.
His opening monologue contained jokes about paedophilia, Prince Andrew and James Corden, as well as a lewd gag about Dame Judi Dench.
Discussing Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood, Gervais claimed it was too long before saying its star Leonardo DiCaprio “attended the premiere and by the end, his date was too old for him”.
Gervais added: “Even Prince Andrew is like, ‘come on Leo mate, you’re nearly 50, son’.”
Gervais then turned his fire onto the box office bomb Cats, saying: “The world got to see James Corden as a fat pussy. He was also in the movie Cats, but no one saw that.”
He also made an explicit gag at the expense of Corden’s Cats co-star Dame Judi.
Sir Sam, who was given a knighthood in the New Year honours, was named best director for his war epic 1917 and the film was named best picture – drama.
Congratulations to 1917 (@1917) – Best Motion Picture – Drama. – #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/SzPeW8iVOW
— Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) January 6, 2020
Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood was named best picture – comedy/musical and its writer and director Quentin Tarantino won the best screenplay prize.
Egerton appeared emotional as he was named best actor in a comedy/musical for playing Sir Elton in Rocketman, saying: “This role has changed my life, it’s been the best experience of my life, it’s been such a joyous thing.”
He also thanked David Furnish for believing “I could play your husband” and added: “To Elton John, thank you for the music, for living a life less ordinary and thank you for being my friend.”
Sir Elton took to the stage with his writing partner Bernie Taupin as they won the best original song prize for I’m Gonna Love Me Again from Rocketman.
Joaquin Phoenix was named best actor in a drama for Joker, while Renee Zellweger was named best actress in a drama for playing Judy Garland in Judy and Awkwafina won best actress in a comedy for The Farewell.
Brad Pitt won the best supporting actor prize for Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood and Laura Dern won best supporting actress for Marriage Story.
Media satire Succession also bagged top prizes, as it was named best TV drama, beating The Crown, and Scottish actor Brian Cox was named best actor in a TV drama, while Succession was named best limited series and Stellan Skarsgard won the supporting actor prize.
US TV host Ellen DeGeneres was the recipient of the Carol Burnett Award in recognition of her trailblazing career, while Tom Hanks received the Cecil B. DeMille award.
Korean film Parasite won best foreign language film, while Missing Link fended off competition from Disney heavyweights Frozen 2 and Toy Story 4 to take the animated film prize.