Little Dorrit steals the show with seven Emmys

The BBC's Little Dorrit proved to be a big winner at the annual Emmy Awards.

The Charles Dickens adaptation took home seven trophies, including that of outstanding miniseries. Meanwhile, Irish actor Brendan Gleeson was named outstanding lead actor in a miniseries or movie for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in the acclaimed biopic Into The Storm.

Accepting the award, the 54-year-old said: "Now there's a turn-up for the books."

He went on to give an emotional speech, thanking the production team for giving his parents the chance to see an early cut of the film. His mother died shortly afterwards.

In taking the title, he got the nod ahead of a short list that included Sir Ian McKellen, Kenneth Branagh and Kiefer Sutherland.

Into The Storm, a joint BBC/HBO venture won a second gong for its musical score. But it missed out on the best TV movie title to Grey Gardens, starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange. Lange won a leading actress award for the role.

Little Dorrit proved to be the big British winner of the night.

Even before the televised segment of the award show began, the series could brag a handful of trophies, including those for art direction, costumes and cinematography.

More success was to come as the evening progressed, with Dearbhla Walsh taking home the gong for outstanding directing of a miniseries, movie or a dramatic special.

Writer Andrew Davis also won an award for penning the script.

Its success culminated with being named best miniseries - one of the event's blue ribband awards.

Accepting the gong, executive producer Anne Pivcevic said: "We are thrilled that Little Dorrit has gone down so well this side of the Atlantic."

But not everything went the way of the BBC drama. Actors Sir Tom Courtenay and Andy Serkis - both nominated for supporting roles in Little Dorrit - lost out to Grey Gardens' Ken Howard.

Other notable winners during the evening included Alec Baldwin who took home an Emmy for best actor in a comedy. It was one of a slew of gongs taken home by the 30 Rock crew, including that for outstanding comedy.

Glenn Close took home the title for lead actress in a drama, with Bryan Cranston taking the male title for his role as Walter White in Breaking Bad.

In so doing, Cranston beat British comedian-turned-actor Hugh Laurie, who was nominated for his portrayal as Dr Gregory House in the medical series that shares the character's name.

House also missed out in the category of best drama, this time to popular series Mad Men.

The 61st Emmy Awards opened with a glitzy song routine by host Neil Patrick Harris.

The former Doogie Howser MD star wasted no time before making jokes at rapper Kanye West's expense.

The hip hop star was forced to apologise after ruining singer Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at last week's MTV video music awards.

"Here's hoping Kanye West likes 30 Rock," the host quipped, in reference to the Tina Fey sitcom which was up for 22 Emmys.

During a poignant break from the award giving, the star-studded audience paused to pay tribute to stars of TV who had died in recent months. Those remembered included Golden Girl Bea Arthur and British actress Natasha Richardson.

The biggest round of applause was saved for Patrick Swayze, whose death was announced just days before today's ceremony.