Emmys 2021: The Crown and Ted Lasso triumph – as it happened

A mixed bag of an evening that started with a lot of promise and ended with a lot of predictability. The most diverse set of acting nominees the Emmys has ever seen ultimately led to an all-white set of acting winners, most of whom are from The Crown.

What was most frustrating about the night, and it’s not the first time the TV Academy has done this, is that the ceremony was presented to us as if it was a diverse year with a black host (a likably loose Cedric the Entertainer), presenters of colour and references to diversity yet ultimately, it evaporated into more of the same. There were some signs of progress - RuPaul became the most awarded person of colour ever, Michaela Coel was the first black female winner of best writing for a limited or anthology series and, for the first time, two women won the comedy and drama directing trophies in the same year - but not quite enough.

There were deserving acting winners though - Kate Winslet and Julianne Nicholson for Mare of Easttown and Jean Smart for Hacks - but the dominance of Ted Lasso and The Crown felt a little too safe and a sign that those two shows might be dominant yet again this time next year, the Emmys known to stick too their faves time and time again.

Normality has returned, not just to the structure of awards ceremonies but also who they choose to reward. Here we go again.

Many might have been expecting a win for Mare of Easttown given its acting sweep but instead, some last minute love for the awards-friendly Netflix drama The Queen’s Gambit. It’s been a huge night for Netflix (who may have won more than any other channel/streamer, stay tuned) who will likely be putting even more money into prestige period content as a result of tonight and the awards season thus far. A shame for Mare and Michaela (both more deserving winners) but it’s over, we can breathe again.

While it was encouraging to see this category embrace three genre shows (!) which felt like a result in itself, this was only ever going to be a win for The Crown. It’s strangely the first time the show has won this award, with Game of Thrones hogging the limelight for so long and then Succession sneaking in last year. Remarkable energy in the London room given the hour, with Peter Morgan telling us that they actually start shooting in a couple of hours (!) suggesting a lot of sore heads in the morning. Just one award left. Thank heavens.

Well there it is, the TV academy’s favourite new comedy taking the baton from Schitt’s Creek which took it from Veep. It’s a huge first season result for Apple’s sleeper hit and even if there’s a huge dip in quality, knowing the Emmys this will likely be winning awards for seasons and seasons in the future.

Many nominations for this one but finally a win, moving from Tonys love to Emmys years later. Lin-Manuel Miranda isn’t in attendance but his cast are, collecting an award for a filmed version of the much-loved musical. A reminder of how many actors of colour haven’t been accepting individual awards tonight though ...

A strange award to be included so late or even included at all (why was this not in the Creative Arts Emmys) but hey, a nice consolation prize for Colbert who continues to miss out to John Oliver for the other awards they’re both nominated for.

The only actor from The Crown to actually be at the ceremony itself ends up winning the last acting award of the night and showing that The Crown continues to be a runaway train at the Emmys. Josh O’Connor, who starts by calling himself “a wreck”, reads a trembling speech about his gratitude and family, a short but sweet reminder of how these things should go. That does mean though that every single acting winner tonight has been white. Not a great sign of progress despite the show telling us how progressive things are ...

The question was never was an actor from The Crown going to win this but more which actor from The Crown was going to win this? And so voters ultimately went for Olivia Colman (still awake in London at 3.38am) over Emma Corrin. She gives a brief emotional speech about her dad, who died recently, not being there to see it. Colman is never not a deserving winner but a shame not to see MJ Rodriguez make history with the final season of Pose.

Bit of a “huh” win here for a show that no one has been talking about, ironic after presenter Taraji P Henson just talked about the importance of water-cooler moments. Ewan McGregor’s divisive performance in the Netflix miniseries was criticised by some but his celebrity sway edged him to the top of a category that was far less competitive and interesting than the female equivalent.

Arguably the toughest category of the night with a handful of heavyweights battling it out but the winner is the biggest name of them all: Oscar winner Kate Winslet for Mare of Eastttown. It was one of her greatest performances and while Coel and Taylor-Joy would also have been deserving choices, it’s hard to complain about this one. The impressive showing for Mare so far (it might still win the big one) means that those second season chats will surely get a boost starting from tomorrow.

It speaks to the nature of television right now that these categories, for limited or anthology series, are the most competitive but still there was no other more deserving winner than Michaela Coel for her shattering show I May Destroy You. “Write the tale that scares you,” she says at the start of a speech aimed at writers urging them to push their work to scary and uncomfortable places. She also dedicates it to survivors of sexual assault. It’s great to see recognition for Coel and her show but it’s a very small sign of diversity for one of the whitest Emmys in recent memory, at least so far. Nine awards left so here goes.

The first award of the night for a show that many had predicted to sweep its categories, the surprise Netflix hit The Queen’s Gambit. Scott Frank beat out two episodes of I May Destroy You and, gulp, Barry Jenkins, for his work on the show that he helped usher to the screen. One of the most visibly annoyed played off winners (by Time to Say Goodbye, cruelly) but he speaks through the many attempts and somehow gets the longest speech of the night (!). It’s a tough category that could have been justifiably won by any of the nominees but let’s hope Michaela Coel’s show doesn’t get snubbed for the next award which should really have her name on it ...

Another foregone conclusion here with the fourth win in a row in this category for RuPaul and his behemoth drag competition (which had already cleaned up at the Creative Arts Emmys recently). RuPaul has now also become the most awarded person of colour in Emmys history.

A rather funny intro from presenter Jennifer Coolidge (who will likely be on stage picking up an award for her role in The White Lotus) who gives the award to Jason Sudeikis, the most predictable of all the winners tonight for Apple’s breakout football comedy. As with Smart, I imagine he’ll be owning this category for the near future. Ted Lasso is not going anywhere.

Well, thankfully, there is no lead actress in Ted Lasso so the very deserving Jean Smart squeezes in for her role as a been-there-done-that comedian in the wonderful HBO Max comedy Hacks. It’s been a big year for the actor, who hasn’t always been given the roles she deserves, with another nomination for Mare of Easttown also at this ceremony. It’s the first major awards show for HBO Max (it’s not been a great night for their other hope, The Flight Attendant) and with the second season on the way, it feels like Smart might own this category for the next few years.

Oh wow, another upset here with another behind-the-scenes win for Hacks, nominated for just one episode in this category compared to three for Ted Lasso. Lucia Aniello is back on stage to take the award, a little surprised to be winning two in a row for a show that really has flown under the radar compared to most of the bigger comedies of the year. Go Hacks!

A refreshing change here from even more Ted Lasso love for the surprising dark horse of the category: HBO Max’s smart comedy about comedy Hacks. It’s, for me, the best comedy nominated tonight and for a show about the importance of women in comedy, it’s nice to see women get an award for writing it. Expect star Jean Smart showing up on stage later too ...

The team at Saturday Night Live pretty much own this category and even in a patchy year (but when is it not a patchy year for SNL), they have found themselves crowned winners yet again. This is the fifth win in a row and in another difficult 12 month period, it has been at least impressive on a technical level how the show has been able to vault itself back given the pandemic.

Aaaand again this is also the sixth win in a row of this award by a not-too-surprised John Oliver, who starts his speech by paying tribute to the recently retired Conan O’Brien, who was also nominated, then reminding everyone to look up clips of the late Norm Macdonald.

No surprise here with the sixth win in a row in this category for John Oliver and his extremely deserving team. It remains the smartest of its type, although with Apple bringing Jon Stewart back in the coming weeks, could he be here next year? (He was the most recent non-John winner of this award.)

A sad start to this award with a heartfelt tribute from Kerry Washington for one of the nominees who died recently, Lovecraft Country’s Michael K Williams. It would have made for a perfect final goodbye but it’s more love instead for The Crown and for Tobias Menzies, who couldn’t be there. Not even in London!

A category dominated by two shows - The Crown and The Handmaid’s Tale - with just one slot afforded to a newbie - Lovecraft Country. Predictably it was one of the actors from The Crown who won out - Gillian Anderson for her divisive portrayal of Margaret Thatcher. Back to not-quite-sleepy-yet London for Anderson’s acceptance speech, not the last we will be hearing from The Crown bunch tonight.

Back to London and a very excitable audience congratulating director Jessica Hobbs in a category that showed more diversity than usual (three women, three men). “Not a lot of women have won this award so I feel like I’m standing on the shoulders of some really incredible people,” Hobbs says.

Our first view of the London ceremony which looks pretty swanky, if a little tightly packed, with a win for one of the most -nominated shows of the night. More for The Crown on the way, if they can stay awake that long.

It’s going to be a big night for Mare then with Evan Peters beating out stiff competition from the stars of Hamilton for the HBO drama’s second award of the night. He thanks Kate Winslet “for BEING KATE WINSLET”, and this win will at least make up for the Hahn loss on Twitter given how loved the actor is online, thanks to his place in the Murphyverse (he was trending earlier just because of his nomination).

A bit of a surprise here given that, if at least Twitter were to be believed, Kathryn Hahn would scoop this for her devilish, viral turn in WandaVision. But an early sign here of the love for HBO’s Mare of Easttown given that Julianne Nicholson had a rather unshowy role in the grim crime drama. It was an excellent performance and nice to see recognition for a hard-working actor who hasn’t always received her due. A rather mean “play her off” musical moment though. More for Mare on the way.

Another category dominated by both SNL and Ted Lasso and given that the latter had four nominated actors, it’s no great surprise that one of them won. Brett Goldstein was their (sweary) pick (a slight shame given Nick Mohammed being the show’s MVP) but already a big start to the night for the show and for Apple, who sorely needed an awards player.

A very funny and very alarmed Seth Rogen introduced the award by expressing worry over the amount of people in such a small place (“I wouldn’t have come if I’d have known!”). A fiercely packed category here with three of the very finest SNL cast members but the award goes to Hannah Waddingham, one of many breakouts from the adored Apple comedy Ted Lasso (she beat out fellow cast member Juno Temple). “Jason, you’ve changed my life with this,” she says, shock followed by tears which is then followed by more shock. There will be many many more awards for Ted tonight.

Not the biggest fan of a montage intro but this year’s collection of clips did at least provide a reminder of just how impressive the last year has been. In a pre-recorded segment, Cedric the Entertainer follows said montage by telling us that this year will not be as subdued as might expect.

As we switch to live, it’s a musical opener (fun at least for a traditionally non-musical ceremony). LL Cool J helps out and then so does Lil Dickie and then so does, errrr, Rita Wilson rapping, which is a choice – although even when joking, she’s still a far more tolerable hip-hop star than her problematic son. It’s kind of a cheesy start but it’s kind of charming too in a silly, shaggy way. There’s some high energy at the outset for a ceremony which often lulls us to sleep.

After an understandably clumsy 2020 edition, the Emmys are back to (almost) normal and set to provide us with one of the most interesting ceremonies in years. In the last year, we’ve all been watching more TV than ever before and while it’s not exactly notably better than usual, we all have a lot more opinions on what should and shouldn’t be rewarded.

One of the buzziest seasons of The Crown, the birth of Bridgerton, Michaela Coel’s one-of-a-kind drama I May Destroy You, Netflix’s surprise sleeper hit The Queen’s Gambit, the all-consuming charm of Ted Lasso, Marvel’s breakout smash WandaVision, HBO Max’s buzzy thriller The Flight Attendant – to name but a few. It’s going to be a competitive evening.

We’ll be here all night to fill you in on who gets what and what that all means and whether this might be the first regular-ish awards ceremony we’ve seen since Covid and whether people still, ya know, care about these things (ratings for awards shows in the last 18 months have been catastrophic). Stay tuned!