Golden Globes - Only The Brits Won!

I was in America during the '92 Olympics. It was a surreal experience for a sports fan. In Britain we get to see pretty much all the coverage going. Doesn't matter if a final is made up of a Swiss, a Nigerian, a Japanese, a Pole, a Luxembourger, a Venetian and a Finn we'd still get to see it.

In America the coverage was a little different. Only events that included Americans were televised. No Americans in the event - the event doesn't exist.

I mention this because yesterday morning I woke up to the news on BBC 5Live. When they got to the item about who'd won what at the Golden Globe I turned up the radio. I heard that Idris Elba had won for Luther, Kate Winslett - slumming on TV in a magnificent adaptation of Mildred Pierce - had got the top prize in her category, that this Brit had won this and that Brit had won that and well done to Downton Abbey. And that was it.

Idris Elba, Golden Globe winner for Luther

According to BBC radio If it wasn't British it wasn't worth including. Well, hello! Some of us were interested in the rest of the winners.

Thank God for the internet.

When I logged on and tracked down the information the BBC didn't want to give me I discovered that George Clooney won best actor for his role in The Descendants, which also won Best Drama. That

French black-and-white silent film, The Artist, - fabulous, fabulous, fabulous, really if you haven't seen it you must - picked up three awards - Best Comedy or Musical Film, Best Original Score and Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical Film, for its star, Jean Dujardin.

Uggie, the Jack Russell terrier who appears in the mostly silent film, almost upstaged the acceptance speech by performing several tricks on stage at the Beverley Hilton Hotel, including playing dead. 

On a night that also saw Morgan Freeman honored with the Cecil B. Demille Award for his outstanding contribution to film, it was again the host of the show British comic Ricky Gervais who was causing controversy. Watching the show later I wish Ricky Gervais had played dead - that 'I'm a smug bastard and the funniest man in the world act' is wearing horribly thin. 

Meryl Streep won Best Actress in a Drama for her portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady and therefore got a mention on the BBC. But I'm not sure I heard them say congratulations to Michelle Williams, who won Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn.

Even the fact that Martin Scorcese received a standing ovation from his peers after he won Best Director for Hugo didn't warrant a mention.  

In the television awards, Modern Family won Best Musical or Comedy, Homeland won Best Drama, and Downton Abbey won Best Mini-Series.Claire Danes won Best Actress in a Drama for her role as Carrie in Homeland, Matt LeBlanc won Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical for Episodes - where he plays a fictional version of himself. LeBlanc paid tribute to the show's writers, saying they "write a Matt LeBlanc who is way more interesting and fun. I wish I was him." Jessica Lange won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Constance in horror-drama American Horror Story, Laura Dern won Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical for her role as whistleblower Amy in Enlightened.

Kelsey Grammer, who earlier today announced his wife Kayte Walsh Grammer was pregnant with their first child, won Best Actor in a Drama for his portrayal of Tom Kane in Boss, Peter Dinklage won Best Supporting Actor for character Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones (hooray).

Wow all those other ‘non- British’ people won things.

On to the Oscars, the best bit of which is the opening twenty minutes. You can be assured it'll knock your socks off - it's always the best bit and always the bit the BBC chop off so they can show us 'the highlights' of who won what. That's like showing us Match of the Day but editing out the goals. 

I was going to write about the final episode of Sherlock - but I'm still trying to work out the ending. There's lots of clues you just need to be Sherlock Holmes to put them all together.