Entertainment Desk :
Game of Thrones has broken the record for the highest number of Emmy Awards won by any fictional series.
The HBO fantasy drama triumphed in three categories at Sunday’s ceremony, including outstanding drama series.
The show’s total number of awards now stands at 38, which means it has beaten Frasier’s previous record of 37.
This year’s British winners included Dame Maggie Smith, who won outstanding supporting actress in a drama series for her role in Downton Abbey.
It is the third time Dame Maggie has won an Emmy for her portrayal of Violet Crawley, but she has never attended the ceremony in person.
Host Jimmy Kimmel joked: “We’re not mailing this to her. Maggie, if you want this, it will be in the lost and found.”
BBC One’s Sherlock was named best made for TV movie for its special episode The Abominable Bride.
Accepting the award, Sherlock creator Steven Moffatt made reference to the The Great British Bake off, currently shown on BBC One but bought by Channel 4 last week.
Susanne Bier, the Danish director of the BBC’s spy thriller The Night Manager, won for best directing in a limited series.
Bier, who was the only female nominee in the category, told BBC Breakfast: “This is such a traditional men’s world, and I hope the fact a woman director has won this prestigious prize is going to mean that more non-conventional series and movies are going to be directed by women.”
John Oliver won best variety talk series for his HBO series Last Week Tonight, beating fellow British nominee James Corden, who was nominated for The Late Late Show.
Veep won the outstanding comedy series award for the second year in a row, while its star Julia Louis-Dreyfus won outstanding lead comedy actress for the fifth time.
In her acceptance speech, Louis-Dreyfus said: “Our show started out as political satire but now feels like a sobering documentary.” She dedicated her award to her father, who died on Friday.
The outstanding comedy actor gong went to Jeffrey Tambor, who plays a transgender woman in the Amazon series Transparent, for the second year in a row.
Accepting the award, Tambor encouraged the industry to offer more opportunities to the trans community.
