New Zealand director Jessica Hobbs is among this year’s Emmy winners, taking home Outstanding Directing For a Drama Series for her work on The Crown.
Hobbs, whose previous credits include episodes of Heartbreak High, Love My Way, All Saints, and Rake, won the award for the “War” episode of the Netflix series at Monday’s ceremony, beating out fellow director from the program, Benjamin Caron, as well as Bridgerton‘s Julie Anne Robinson, The Handmaid’s Tale‘s Liz Garbus, The Mandalorian‘s Jon Favreau, and Pose‘s Steven Canals.
After forging her career in Australia, Hobbs moved to the UK more than seven years ago to work on the second series of crime drama Broadchurch following a meeting with creator Chris Chibnall, and has since been behind the camera on BBC One series’ River, Apple Tree Yard, and The Split.
Hobbs accepted her award at a satellite event in London, where she thanked series creator Peter Morgan and while also paying tribute to her mother, Aileen O’Sullivan, who at 77 is still directing.
“Not a lot of women have won this award, so I feel I’m standing on the shoulders of some really extraordinary people and I’m very grateful for the path that they led,” she said.
There was less joy for the Australian nominees, with The Handmaid’s Tale’s Yvonne Strahovski losing to The Crown‘s Gillian Anderson for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
In Outstanding Main Title Design, creative director Patrick Clair and art director and lead compositor Raoul Marks were unable to add to their previous wins with their Ken Taylor collaboration for HBO’s Lovecraft Country, beaten by Efrain Montanez, Eduardo Guisandes, and Abigail Fairfax from Showtime’s The Good Lord Bird.
Elsewhere, Adelaide’s Rising Sun Pictures and VFX supervisor Julian Hutchens missed out in the Outstanding Special Visual Effects In A Season Or A Movie category for US series The Boys, with the award going to the team behind Disney +’s The Mandalorian.
Overall, it was a strong night for the Brits as The Crown dominated the drama categories, finishing with seven of the main awards, including Outstanding Drama.
British actors were also well represented within other programs, with Hannah Waddingham and Brett Goldstein winning Outstanding Supporting Actress and Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series for Apple’s Ted Lasso, which had four wins and was named Outstanding Comedy.
HBO Max comedy/drama Hacks and HBO drama Mare of Easttown each had three wins, with the latter upset by Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit in the Outstanding Limited Or Anthology Series category.
This year’s ceremony was held at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles.