Emmys winners list: The Handmaid's Tale and Big Little Lies triumph as Black Mirror wins twice – read in full

The 69th Emmy Awards – hosted by late night host Stephen Colbert – has drawn to a close with trophies for The Handmaid’s Tale, Big Little Lies and Black Mirror in a politically-charged ceremony filled with a series of historic wins awarding diversity.

Outstanding Drama Series was awarded to The Handmaid’s Tale which served as a huge moment for Hulu which beat out both Netflix and Amazon Prime to become the first streaming service to win that category.

The dystopian Margaret Atwood adaptation had earlier seen perennial nominee Elisabeth Moss finally take home the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series award (she earned six nominations for Mad Men) with director Reed Morano becoming the first female director to win a Drama Directing Emmy in 22 years.

British Pakistani actor Riz Ahmed made Emmys history becoming the first person of Asian descent to win Best Actor for his work on HBO Limited Series The Night Of. As he collected the award, Ahmed – who gushed about sitting next to Oprah Winfrey – told the crowd: “I want to say it is always strange reaping the rewards of a story based on real-world suffering.“

The list of diverse winners didn’t end there: Donald Glover won for his directing work on FX comedy series Atlanta – the first African-American to do so – while Master of None’s Aziz Ansari and Lena Waithe took home the Comedy Writing award for the Netflix series’ oft-mentioned “Thanksgiving” episode.

It was also a big night for female stars with critically-acclaimed HBO Limited Series Big Little Lies scooping five awards. Hollywood stars Nicole Kidman and Laura Dern, who won Outstanding Actress and Supporting Actress, respectively – gave impassioned speeches with the latter lashing out at the lack of roles for women.

“I’ve been acting since I was 11 years old and I think I’ve worked with maybe twelve women so I just want to thank the television academy for honoring our show and working with this incredible tribe of fierce women,” she said to applause from the crowd.

Elsewhere, Julia Louis-Dreyfus admirably won her sixth consecutive Outstanding Actress trophy for comedy series Veep which itself won Outstanding Comedy for the third time.

This year’s ceremony was, as expected, politically charged with late night host Colbert surprising the audience by bringing former White House press secretary Sean Spicer on stage as part of his opening monologue – something which has since sparked criticism from viewers.

Sketch show winner Saturday Night Live earned big triumphs with both Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon receiving trophies for their renowned parody appearances as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton which have embedded themselves in the cultural spotlight ever since last year’s US election.

Baldwin used his acceptance speech to poke fun at the President and his past failure to win any Emmy Awards for his former reality series The Apprentice USA – something the President’s been vocal about in the past.

Charlie Brooker’s bold decision to move Black Mirror from Channel 4 to Netflix paid off in a big way following the anthology series’ double win for beloved season three episode “San Junipero” starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Mackenzie Davis. It beat out the likes of Sherlock, Fargo and The Wizard of Lies to take home its trophies.

Many were left confused as to why Game of Thrones and Twin Peaks – arguably two of the year’s biggest shows – had missed out on nominations. In actual fact, this is due to the majority of each series’ episodes airing outside of the Emmys’ eligibility period. Both shows will be in contention next year, Thrones in the drama category with David Lynch’s revival in the Limited Series category.

Below is a list of the evening’s biggest winners.

Outstanding Drama Series

Better Call Saul

The Crown

The Handmaid’s Tale – WINNER

House of Cards

Stranger Things

This Is Us

Westworld

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Viola Davis (How to Get Away With Murder)

Claire Foy (The Crown)

Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale) – WINNER

Keri Russell (The Americans)

Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld)

Robin Wright (House of Cards)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Sterling K Brown (This Is Us) – WINNER

Anthony Hopkins (Westworld)

Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul)

Matthew Rhys (The Americans)

Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan)

Kevin Spacey (House of Cards)

Milo Ventimiglia (This Is Us)

Outstanding Comedy Series

Atlanta

Black-ish

Master of None

Modern Family

Silicon Valley

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Veep – WINNER

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Pamela Adlon (Better Things)

Jane Fonda (Grace and Frankie)

Allison Janney (Mom)

Ellie Kemper (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt)

Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep) – WINNER

Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish)

Lily Tomlin (Grace and Frankie)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Anthony Anderson (Black-ish)

Aziz Ansari (Master of None)

Zach Galifianakis (Baskets)

Donald Glover (Atlanta) – WINNER

William H. Macy (Shameless)

Jeffrey Tambor (Transparent)

Outstanding Limited Series or Movie

Big Little Lies – WINNER

Fargo

Feud: Bette and Joan

Genius

The Night Of

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

Carrie Coon (Fargo)

Felicity Huffman (American Crime)

Nicole Kidman (Big Little Lies) – WINNER

Jessica Lange (Feud: Bette and Joan)

Susan Sarandon (Feud: Bette and Joan)

Reese Witherspoon (Big Little Lies)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie

Riz Ahmed (The Night Of) – WINNER

Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock)

Robert De Niro (The Wizard of Lies)

Ewan McGregor (Fargo)

Geoffrey Rush (Genius)

John Turturro (The Night Of)

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