UK television sweeps International Emmys

British television shows including Little Britain and Life On Mars have swept the 34th Annual International Emmy Awards.

The UK picked up 6 of the 9 Emmys up for grabs. The BBC picked up 3, with Little Britain, Life On Mars and Hiroshima winning in the comedy, drama and documentary categories respectively. Channel 4 won two awards for Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (reality) and Sugar Rush (children and young people), while Ray Winstone's best actor win brought an Emmy to ITV's Vincent.

France, Germany and The Netherlands picked up the remaining three awards for best TV movie (Nuit Noire, October 17, 1961), best arts programme (Knowledge is the Beginning), and best actress (Maryam Hassouni for her role as Laila in Offers) respectively.

"We congratulate this year's winners for their outstanding achievement," said Bruce Paisner, president and CEO of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. "The Academy is proud to be the international television community's platform for recognising excellence in television programming worldwide."