The White Lotus sweeps the 2022 Emmy Awards with five trophies as British stars also win big

It was a triumphant night for HBO, less so for Netflix

The 2022 Emmy Awards have drawn to a close, after an especially big night for the cast and crew of HBO’s The White Lotus.

The wealth satire won awards in five categories, honouring stars Murray Bartlett and Jennifer Coolidge for their acting and creator Mike White for his writing and directing.

Coolidge should also have taken home the award for best speech of the night, telling the crowd that a preparatory lavender bath before the ceremony had bloated her like a balloon and made it difficult for her to speak.

Succession, meanwhile, won the top gong for Best Drama. While accepting the award, its creator, British writer Jesse Armstrong took the opportunity onstage to make a poorly received comparison between the show and King Charles III’s ascent to the throne following the death of Queen Elizabeth II – “Big week for successions,” he quipped.

The microphone picked up Logan Roy star Brian Cox telling him to “keep it royalist”, but it was too late.

The Brits did very well at the Los Angeles ceremony. Matthew Macfadyen picked up a Best Supporting Actor trophy for his role as the cuckolded Tom in Succession, while Ted Lasso’s Brett Goldstein and MJ Delaney won an acting and a directing award, respectively.

Armstrong was challenged for biggest boob of the night by Jimmy Kimmel, who committed to a bit too hard to one joke by lying across the floor while Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary) gave her acceptance speech – he was pretending to have passed out after drinking too many skinny margaritas upon losing in his own category.

Jennifer Coolidge on stage at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards (Getty Images)

Abbott Elementary star Sheryl Lee Ralph showed them how it should, or at least could, be done by belting out the lyrics to “Endangered Species” by US jazz singer Dianne Reeves, leaving the audience stunned.

It was, overall, a triumphant evening for HBO, which carries both The White Lotus and Succession, as well as Euphoria and Hacks – the actors of which, Zendaya and Jean Smart, respectively, picked up gongs for their work.

It was not such a successful evening for Netflix, whose flagship show Stranger Things failed to receive recognition for its fourth series.

The streamer was at least honoured via Squid Game, the breakout South Korean survival drama, which won in best acting and directing categories.

However, the show was used as another barb against Netflix by Emmy host Kenan Thompson, who said: “If you don’t know what Squid Game is, it is the contest you enter when you’re in massive debt and desperate for money.

“Joining the cast next season? Netflix.”

British writer Jesse Armstrong picked up the final award of the night, Outstanding Drama Series, for ‘Succession’ (AP)

Michael Keaton took the award for Best Actor in a Limited Series for his work in Dopesick, while Amanda Seyfried won Best Actress in a Limited Series for her lauded performance as Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout.

Showing consistency were John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight, which won the Best Talk Show category for the seventh year in a row, and Saturday Night Live, which won Best Variety Sketch Series for a sixth year straight.

Ted Lasso picked up three awards and, unlike his ex-wife Olivia Wilde, co-creator Jason Sudeikis was not handed divorce papers onstage.

You can catch up with everything that happened at the Emmys here and read the full winners list here.