International Emmy Awards: ITV’s ‘Rivals’ Wins Best Drama, BBC’s ‘Ludwig’ Takes Best Comedy
Elsewhere, at the 53rd edition of the awards, Spain won two awards and Japan, Germany, Australia, Qatar, Canada, Denmark and Türkiye won one each.
The International Emmy Awards for 2025 were handed out on Monday night in a ceremony in New York City, and it was another big night for British television, with the U.K. picking up seven awards, including best drama, best comedy, best actress and best TV movie/mini series.
Elsewhere, at the 53rd edition of the awards, Spain won two awards and Japan, Germany, Australia, Qatar, Canada, Denmark and Türkiye won one each.
The best drama prize went to ITV Studios’ Disney+ 1980s-set dramedy Rivals that is based on Jilly Cooper’s raunchy books. The series stars David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Katherine Parkinson, Victoria Smurfit, Alex Hassell, Nafessa Williams, Bella Maclean, Emily Atack and Danny Dyer.
Best comedy was taken by the BBC comedy Ludwig, that stars David Mitchell playing a puzzle master whose identical twin brother, a police detective, goes missing, and so he pretends to be his brother to solve the case. Ludwig also stars Anna Maxwell Martin, who took the International Emmy for her performance in a different show, the harrowing ITV limited series Until I Kill You. In the latter drama, a true crime production based on the book Living with a Serial Killer by Delia Balmer, Martin plays a woman who is subjected to horrific abuse by her partner and how the system fails to protect her.
The U.K. picked up prizes for best kids live-action show (Fallen) and best TV movie/mini series (Lost Boys and Fairies). Fallen, a Silver Reel/Night Train Media production by Brazil’s Globoplay, is a romantic fantasy drama adaptation of Lauren Kate’s 2009 novel. Lost Boys and Fairies is a three-part BBC drama set in the Welsh capital Cardiff and tells the story of a gay couple going through the adoption process.
Also from the U.K., Channel 4’s Dispatches: Kill Zone: Inside Gaza won the Emmy for current affairs. The doc took a “raw and harrowing look at how the lives of Palestinians have been uprooted and destroyed,” following the Israeli military’s assault on Gaza,” as seen and told through the eyes of children, journalists and doctors.”
Gaza was also the subject of the best news Emmy winner, Al Jazeera’s Gaza, Search for Life. The Qatari production follows “the daily life of those who live in Gaza during the first two weeks of the war on Gaza” and “documents their struggle to stay alive during a relentless war.”
Spain’s two Emmy winners came from the Netflix sports documentary, It’s All Over: The Kiss That Changed Spanish Football and a best actor prize for Oriol Pla. It’s All Over chronicles the aftermath of the Rubiales scandal, which kicked off when the president of the Spanish soccer federation kissed one of the players after Spain won the 2023 Women’s World Cup Final. Catalan star Pla won his Emmy for his performance in the Disney+ drama I, Addict, about a man trying to get clean.
Also on the night, two special awards were given out. The Founders Emmy was presented to Dana Walden, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, to recognize her three-decade career in television that has included huge hits like 24, Glee, Grey’s Anatomy, Homeland and This Is Us. The Directorate Award was given to João Roberto Marinho, chairman and president of Brazil’s Grupo Globo, and honored his leadership in strengthening the group’s legacy of independent journalism and cultural impact.