Downton golden at the Globes

The international success of UK period drama Downton Abbey continued last night when it picked up an award at the Golden Globes.

Downton, produced by NBCUniversal-owned Carnival Films, fended off competition from Cinema Verite, The Hour, Mildred Pierce and Too Big to Fail to win the award for best miniseries or motion picture made for TV.

The prize follows the show’s success at the Emmys last September, where it won four awards including best miniseries, best direction, best writing for its creator Julian Fellowes and best supporting actress for Maggie Smith.

Downton is currently in its second season in the US, where it airs on pubcaster PBS. A third season has been ordered by UK commercial network ITV1, which is due to debut this fall.

Also winning television awards at the Golden Globes were Showtime’s Homeland and ABC’s Modern Family.

Fox 21-produced Homeland, about a CIA agent who suspects an apparent war hero has been turned by Al Qaeda, was named best TV drama series. It faced competition from American Horror Story, Boardwalk Empire, Boss and Game of Thrones.

Homeland is based on an Israeli series called Hatufim (aka Prisoner of War) and has been renewed by Showtime for a second season, due later this year.

Meanwhile, ABC’s Modern Family won best TV comedy or musical series. The mockumentary-style show produced by 20th Century Fox Television, now in its third season, was nominated alongside Enlightened, Episodes, Glee and New Girl.

Acting honours at the Golden Globes went to Kelsey Grammar for Boss (best actor – drama), Claire Danes for Homeland (best actress – drama), Matt LeBlanc for Episodes (best comedy/musical), Laura Dern for Enlightened (best comedy/musical), Idris Elba for Luther (best actor – miniseries) and Kate Winslet for Mildred Pierce (best actress – miniseries).

Peter Dinklage was named best supporting actor for Game of Thrones, and American Horror Story’s Jessica Lange won the award for best supporting actress.