Tehran, Call My Agent, Tennant among International Emmy Award winners

Israeli drama series Tehran

Shows from Israel, France, Thailand, China, Norway, New Zealand and the UK were among the winners at the International Emmy Awards last night.

Tehran, the Israeli drama series that airs locally on Kan 11 and internationally on Apple TV+, won best drama series, while the fourth season of France Télévisions’ Call My Agent was named best comedy.

The 49th edition of the International Emmys, which returned as an in-person black-tie gala event in New York City, also recognised Hope Frozen: A Quest to Live Twice as documentary, marking the first time a show from Thailand has won an Emmy.

David Tennant accepted the Emmy for best performance by an actor for his role as serial killer Dennis Nilsen in Des on ITV, while Hayley Squires accepted the Emmy for best performance by an actress for her role as British porn star Jolene Dollar in Adult Material on Channel 4.

Other winners on the night included the UK version of The Masked Singer in non-scripted entertainment, Atlantic Crossing in TV movie/miniseries and Chinese scripted series The Song of Glory in the telenovela category.

Inside, from New Zealand and set during lockdown, was named best shortform series, while Arte’s Kubrick by Kubrick took home the award in the arts programming category.

Elsewhere, former NBA player and champion with the Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, presented the International Emmy Directorate Award to Dr Thomas Bellut, director general of German public broadcaster ZDF.

“The diversity and geographic spread of tonight’s winners demonstrate once again the universal power of great storytelling and performances,” said International Academy president and CEO Bruce Paisner.

The gala was attended by television professionals from around the world and hosted by actress and comedian Yvonne Orji at the Great Hall of Casa Cipriani.