British shows come out swinging at the Emmys

by Kirsty Walker

The 61st Primetime Emmy nominations were announced today, with British shows and talent well represented.

The BBC’s Little Dorrit is nominated for Outstanding Miniseries, Writing, Casting, Music, Cinematography, Direction, Hairstyling Costumes and Art Direction in a mini series or movie. House of Saddam is also nominated for casting and hairstyling and No.1 Ladies Detective Agency is nominated for costumes and original dramatic score.

Dancing With The Stars, a BBC Worldwide production, is nominated for it’s choreography, whilst Granada America gained a nod for Hell’s Kitchen (Art Direction in a multicamera series) and Little Britain USA is nominated for both best non-prosthetic make-up and prosthetic make-up.

In the acting categories, Ramsgate’s Brenda Blethyn is nominated for her guest role in Law and Order :

Special Victims Unit, while Hugh Laurie gains his fifth nomination for lead actor in a drama for his role as misanthropic Dr. Gregory House. Sir Ian McKellan racks up his fourth nomination in the category of lead actor in a miniseries for King Lear. He is up against fellow Brit Kenneth Brannagh for Wallander, which is also nominated in the directing category. Tom Courtenay and Andy Serkis battle it out for best supporting actor in a miniseries (Little Dorrit), while Janet McTeer is nominated for best supporting actress in a miniseries for her role as Clementine Churchill in Into The Storm.

The ceremony takes place on Sunday, September 20th, and will be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. NPH is nominated for best supporting actor in a comedy series for How I Met Your Mother, and Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog, in which he played the title role, is nominated for a special award which recognises short format online and other entertainment programming.