UK has modest success at Golden Globes with wins in six categories

The UK enjoyed modest success at this year’s Golden Globes, with wins in six of the 27 awards up for grabs: three for individual performers and three for co-productions with other countries.

The three performers were Matthew Macfadyen, who won best male supporting actor in a television series for his role in the drama Succession; Ricky Gervais, who picked up the award for best performance in stand-up comedy on television for his one-off show Armageddon; and Christopher Nolan, named best director for the biographical blockbuster Oppenheimer.

It is the first major directing award for Nolan, despite a long career in the film industry and a host of Oscar, Bafta and Golden Globe nominations for films such as Memento, Inception and Dunkirk.

Oppenheimer, which traces the life of the eponymous American physicist who played a key role in developing the atomic bomb, was also one of the UK’s three joint wins.

The film, a US-UK co-production, was named best motion picture drama.

Poor Things, a dark comic fantasy co-produced by Ireland, the UK and the US, won the award for best motion picture musical or comedy.

And the highest grossing film of 2023, Barbie – another US-UK co-production – picked up the inaugural award for cinematic and box office achievement.

The Golden Globes has long been an event dominated by the US, with British talent typically picking up fewer than half the awards on offer.

The UK’s tally of six wins this year is the highest since 10 in both 2020 and 2021 and is an improvement on last year, when the total was just two.