The trouble with big US awards shows is that they all tend to kick off while we’re fast asleep, meaning that the morning after, you’re left sifting through a deluge of news while you try and figure out what actually went down.
Fortunately, this is where we’ve got you covered.
Last night saw the biggest names in TV gathering for the Emmy awards, where the year’s best (mostly...) shows are recognised for their work in entertaining us all around the world.
As ever, the show was a particularly long one, but here are all the biggest things you missed out on if watching on a dodgy stream until five in the morning isn’t your thing...
1. All the British winners
Obviously we’re always happy to see US awards shows dishing out prizes to the most deserving stars, but we can’t pretend we’re not roughly 10 times as excited when the recipient is a homegrown talent.
This year, it was Fleabag’s multiple wins that gave us that Brit-based endorphin rush, with Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s hit show scooping a total of four awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series.
Phoebe also took home Best Writing For A Comedy Series, while Harry Bradbeer scooped an award for directing.
Away from Fleabag, Jodie Comer finally got what she deserved for her work as Villanelle in Killing Eve, while Ben Whishaw’s performance in A Very English Scandal was also recognised.
British presenter John Oliver’s show was also awarded Outstanding Variety Talk Series, while Outstanding TV Movie went to the special Black Mirror episode Bandersnatch, marking the dystopian series’ eighth win since 2017.
And even though she didn’t actually take home Best Supporting Actress, there was a lot of love in the room for Gwendoline Christie when her name was called, which is a bit of a win in itself.
2. The Game Of Thrones love
It wasn’t just Gwendoline Christie that felt the love, though. There’s been so much negativity surrounding Game Of Thrones’ final season that it’s easy to forget the show is actually… incredibly successful and popular.
The fantasy series was the most-nominated of the night, eventually taking home Best Supporting Actor for Peter Dinklage and, perhaps controversially, Best Drama for the show itself.
Aside from the awards themselves, though, the cast made plenty of headlines, whether it was a lot of love for Gwendoline Christie’s outfit, Peter Dinklage’s sweary acceptance speech and even just fans’ pure joy at seeing the cast all back together.
The opening segment also managed to poke fun at that coffee cup gaffe too...
3. Billy Porter makes history (again)
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama was a tough category this year, and to many, Billy Porter’s historical nomination for his portrayal of Praytell in Pose was enough. Imagine our joy to discover that he’d actually won it, making him the first gay, black man in history to do so.
Acknowledging the significance of the moment in his acceptance speech, Billy said: “I am so overwhelmed to have lived long enough to see this day. James Baldwin said, ‘It took many years of vomiting up all the filth I’d been taught about myself, and half-believed, before I was able to walk on the Earth as though I had a right to be here.’ I have the right! You have the right! We all have the right!”
Referencing his Pose character, Billy also told the audience the “category is love, y’all. Love!”.
Excitingly, Billy’s Emmys win means he is now just one Oscar away from joining the EGOT hall of fame. We can only hope his agent is sifting through film roles as we speak...
4. Michelle Williams highlights the necessity for equal pay
In a night of impactful speeches, Michelle Williams – who has worked tirelessly as part of the Time’s Up movement, even before being caught in a pay gap row of her own – delivered what was unquestionably one of the most powerful.
After picking up the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress, she thanked the production companies behind Fosse/Verdon for “supporting me and paying me equally, because they understood that when you put value into a person, it empowers that person to get in touch with their own inherent value”.
“The next time a woman — and especially a woman of colour, because she stands to make 52 cents on the dollar compared to her white male counterparts — tells you what she needs in order to do her job, listen to her, believe her, because one day she might stand in front of you and say thank you for allowing her to succeed because of her workplace environment and not in spite of it,” she declared at the end of her speech.
5. Patricia Arquette pays tribute to the trans community, and her late sister Alexis
The actress gave a tearful speech when she collected her Supporting Actress award, for her role in The Act, in which she remembered her late sister, Alexis, who died in 2016.
“I’m grateful at 50 to be getting the best parts of my life and that’s great,” she began. “But in my heart, I’m so sad I lost my sister Alexis and that trans people are still being persecuted.”
Patricia continued: “I’m in mourning, Alexis, and I will be the rest of my life for you until we change the world, until trans people are not persecuted.
“And give them jobs, They’re human beings, let’s give them jobs, let’s get rid of this bias that we have everywhere.”
Patricia is renowned for never wasting an awards show speech, previously shining a light on the need for equal pay at the Oscars back in 2015.
6. Alex Borstein shares a heart-wrenching family story
Picking up her second Emmy for her role in the much-celebrated Amazon Prime comedy The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, Alex took the opportunity to pay homage to her late grandmother, sharing with the audience a story from her history.
Already having the audience chuckling with her aside that she wasn’t “wearing underwear”, Alex’s speech took a sudden serious turn as she remembered an important lesson taught to her by her grandmother.
Recalling her grandmother’s experiences from the Holocaust, Alex said: “My grandmother was in line to be shot into a pit... she turned to a guard and she said ‘What happens if I step out of line?’ and he said ‘I don’t have the heart to shoot you but somebody will’.
“And she stepped out of line, and for that I am here and for that my children are here. So step out of line ladies. Step out of line.”
7. Jharrel Jerome gets a standing-O from the “exonerated five”
Ava DuVernay’s Netflix miniseries When They See Us told the true story of the “Central Park jogger case”, which saw five men prosecuted on charges relating to the sexual assault of a young woman in 1989, only for the real attacker to be identified more than a decade later.
Jharrel Jerome plays Korey Wise, who was there alongside the rest of the “exonerated five” to congratulate the actor when he picked up the Outstanding Lead Actor In A Miniseries award.
“I’m here in front of my inspirations, I’m here in front of people I’m so motivated by,” he said. “Most importantly, this is for the men that we know as the exonerated five.
8. And finally…
Amazing.