Veteran shows were the stars at Sunday night’s Emmy awards, with White House drama The West Wing taking home its third gong in a row, and hit comedy Friends finding itself a winner for the first time on the eve of its ninth season.
It was fifth time lucky for the superstar cast of the show, which finally took home an outstanding comedy Emmy after four previous nominations. "This is so amazing, after the last eight years and three hours and 10 minutes," said executive producer David Crane. "This is so worth the wait."
Though Brad Pitt lost out in his category for his one-off appearance on the programme, his wife Jennifer Aniston won her first ever Emmy for her work as Rachel Green. “This has been the greatest nine years of my life,” she said as she accepted her gong just moments after a congratulatory kiss from her proud hubby.
Six Feet Under had led the Emmy pack with 23 nominations, but it was The West Wing who came out on top, winning its third consecutive award for best drama series and sweeping three of four acting categories. The hit show beat out the funeral parlour series as well as Law & Order, 24 and CSI for outstanding drama. “We are just as surprised as you are,” said the show’s creator Alan Sorkin, who thought Six Feet Under would take the prize. “God knows they and all the other shows in the category deserved this as much as we.”
West Wing star Alison Janney won best actress in a drama series, while her co-stars John Spencer and Stockard Channing scooped the supporting actor categories.
Several UK names were up for gongs this year, with Albert Finney winning the best actor in a miniseries or movie category for The Gathering Storm against nominees Michael Gambon and Kenneth Branagh. However, Albert’s The Gathering Storm co-stars Vanessa Redgrave and Jim Broadbent lost in their acting categories to Wild Iris’s Laura Linney and James Dean actor Michael Moriarty.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
