Hold Your Horoscopes, Darling: ITV’s ‘Rivals’ and BBC’s ‘Ludwig’ Shake Up the International Emmys in a Twist Even Mercury Retrograde Didn’t See Coming!
Added on November 25, 2025 inTV News Cards
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So, the stars aligned just perfectly for British TV at the 2025 International Emmy Awards in New York City—a night where the U.K. didn’t just take home awards, it basically cleaned house, snagging seven Emmys across top categories like best drama, comedy, actress, and TV movie/mini-series. Now, I can’t help but wonder—did Mercury pulling a little retrograde mischief make those plot twists in BBC’s Ludwig even more dazzling? Or maybe David Mitchell channeled some Scorpio mystery vibes playing a puzzle master pretending to be his missing twin! Beyond the Brit sweep, Spain also dazzled with two wins, while countries like Japan, Germany, Australia, Qatar, Canada, Denmark, and Türkiye each snagged one—reminding us that good storytelling is truly universal regardless of zodiac sign or geography. Highlights include ITV’s 1980s dramedy Rivals setting the drama bar high and Channel 4’s Dispatches offering a gritty peek into Gaza from a child’s perspective… quite the emotional orbit, right? If you’re curious to unpack the full constellation of winners and want all the juicy details, why not dive in? LEARN MORE
The International Emmy Awards for 2025 were handed out on Monday night in a ceremony in New York City, and it was another big night for British television, with the U.K. picking up seven awards, including best drama, best comedy, best actress and best TV movie/mini series.
Elsewhere, at the 53rd edition of the awards, Spain won two awards and Japan, Germany, Australia, Qatar, Canada, Denmark and Türkiye won one each.
The best drama prize went to ITV Studios’ Disney+ 1980s-set dramedy Rivals that is based on Jilly Cooper’s raunchy books. The series stars David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Katherine Parkinson, Victoria Smurfit, Alex Hassell, Nafessa Williams, Bella Maclean, Emily Atack and Danny Dyer.
Best comedy was taken by the BBC comedy Ludwig, that stars David Mitchell playing a puzzle master whose identical twin brother, a police detective, goes missing, and so he pretends to be his brother to solve the case. Ludwig also stars Anna Maxwell Martin, who took the International Emmy for her performance in a different show, the harrowing ITV limited series Until I Kill You. In the latter drama, a true crime production based on the book Living with a Serial Killer by Delia Balmer, Martin plays a woman who is subjected to horrific abuse by her partner and how the system fails to protect her.
The U.K. picked up prizes for best kids live-action show (Fallen) and best TV movie/mini series (Lost Boys and Fairies). Fallen, a Silver Reel/Night Train Media production by Brazil’s Globoplay, is a romantic fantasy drama adaptation of Lauren Kate’s 2009 novel. Lost Boys and Fairies is a three-part BBC drama set in the Welsh capital Cardiff and tells the story of a gay couple going through the adoption process.
Also from the U.K., Channel 4’s Dispatches: Kill Zone: Inside Gaza won the Emmy for current affairs. The doc took a “raw and harrowing look at how the lives of Palestinians have been uprooted and destroyed,” following the Israeli military’s assault on Gaza,” as seen and told through the eyes of children, journalists and doctors.”
Gaza was also the subject of the best news Emmy winner, Al Jazeera’s Gaza, Search for Life. The Qatari production follows “the daily life of those who live in Gaza during the first two weeks of the war on Gaza” and “documents their struggle to stay alive during a relentless war.”
Spain’s two Emmy winners came from the Netflix sports documentary, It’s All Over: The Kiss That Changed Spanish Football and a best actor prize for Oriol Pla. It’s All Over chronicles the aftermath of the Rubiales scandal, which kicked off when the president of the Spanish soccer federation kissed one of the players after Spain won the 2023 Women’s World Cup Final. Catalan star Pla won his Emmy for his performance in the Disney+ drama I, Addict, about a man trying to get clean.
Also on the night, two special awards were given out. The Founders Emmy was presented to Dana Walden, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, to recognize her three-decade career in television that has included huge hits like 24, Glee, Grey’s Anatomy, Homeland and This Is Us. The Directorate Award was given to João Roberto Marinho, chairman and president of Brazil’s Grupo Globo, and honored his leadership in strengthening the group’s legacy of independent journalism and cultural impact.
The full list of International Emmys winners for 2025 is below.
Drama Series
WINNER: Rivals, Happy Prince part of ITV Studios / Disney+ (United Kingdom)
Las Azules [Women in Blue], Lemon Studios / Apple TV+ (Mexico)
Bad Boy, Sipur Studios / North Road Company / Tedy Production / Hot (Israel)
Koek [Cake], Wolflight (South Africa)
Comedy
WINNER: Ludwig, Big Talk Studios / That Mitchell & Webb Company (United Kingdom)
Chicken Nugget, Studio N / Plusmedia Entertainment / Netflix (South Korea)
Iris, Les Films Entre 2 Et 4 / Canal+ (France)
Y Llegaron de Noche [They Came at Night], 3Pas / Visceral / ViX (Mexico)
Best Performance by an Actor
WINNER: Oriol Pla, for Yo, adicto (I, Addict) (Spain)
Diljit Dosanjh, for Amar Singh Chamkila (India)
David Mitchell, for Ludwig (United Kingdom)
Diego Vasquez, for One Hundred Years of Solitude (Colombia)
Best Performance by an Actress
WINNER: Anna Maxwell Martin, for Until I Kill You (United Kingdom)
Charlotte Hope, for Catch Me a Killer (South Africa)
Carolina Miranda, for Mujeres Asesinas – Season 2 (Mexico)
Maria Sid, for Smärtpunkten (Pressure Point) (Sweden)
TV Movie/Mini-Series
WINNER: Lost Boys and Fairies, Duck Soup Films (United Kingdom)
Amar Singh Chamkila, Window Seat Films / Netflix (India)
Herrhausen: The Banker and the Bomb, Sperl Film (Germany)
Vencer o Morir [Victory or Death], Amazon MGM Studios / Parox S.A. (Chile)
Telenovela
WINNER: Deha [The Good & The Bad], Ay Yapim (Türkiye)
Mania de Vocȇ [Crazy About You], TV Globo (Brazil)
Regreso a Las Sabinas [Return to Las Sabinas], Diagonal TV / Disney+ (Spain)
Valle Salvaje, Studio Canal (Spain)
Documentary
WINNER: Hell Jumper, Expectation Entertainment for the BBC (United Kingdom)
King of Kings: Chasing Edward Jones, Abelart Productions (France)
O Prazer é Meu [It’s My Pleasure], Amana Cine (Brazil)
School Ties, IdeaCandy (South Africa)
Non-Scripted Entertainment
WINNER: Shaolin Heroes, Metronome Productions / Banijay / TV 2 Danmark (Denmark)
Big Brother: Canada – Season 12, Insight Productions (Canada)
Love Is Blind: Habibi, Imagic / Netflix (United Arab Emirates)
¿Quién es la Máscara? – Season 6 [The Masked Singer], TelevisaUnivisión / Endemol Shine Boomdog (Mexico)
Sports Documentary
WINNER: It’s All Over: The Kiss That Changed the Spanish Football, Netflix/You First Originals (Spain)
Argentina ‘78, Disney+ Original Productions / Pampa Films (Argentina)
Chasing the Sun 2, T+W (South Africa)
Sven, Whisper / Up & Away Film Entertainment / Prime Video (United Kingdom)
Arts Programming
WINNER: Ryuichi Sakamoto: Last Days, NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) (Japan)
Art Matters With Melvyn Bragg, Oxford Films / Sky Arts (United Kingdom)
DJ Mehdi: Made In France, Ultra Magnetic / 360 Creative / Unité / Arte France (France)
Herchcovitch; Exposto [Herchcovitch; Exposed], Mood Hunter (Brazil)
Current Affairs
WINNER: Dispatch: Kill Zone: Inside Gaza, Basement Films (United Kingdom)
Philippines: Diving for Gold, Keyi Productions / Arte G.E.I.E (France)
Repórter Record Investigação: Desaparecidos Forçados [Enforced Disappearances], Record TV / Playplus (Brazil)
Walk the Line, Mediacorp Pte Ltd (Singapore)
News
WINNER: Gaza, Search for Life, Al Jazeera News Directorate (Qatar)
Fantástico: El Salvador: Safety’s Somber Side, Globo (Brazil)
The Gangs of Haiti, Sky News (United Kingdom)
Syria – The Truth Coming Out, TV4 (Sweden)
Kids: Animation
WINNER: Bluey, Ludo Studio (Australia)
Lamput – Season 4, Warner Bros. Discovery / Vaibhav Studio / Robot Playground Media / Lil Critter Workshop / The Monk Studios / Tribe Audio / The Tuning Folk / Inspidea / Shapeshifter Studio (Singapore)
Lupi e Baduki, Flamma / Elo / Birdo (Brazil)
Muumilaakso – Season 4 [Moominvalley], Gutsy Animations / YLE / SkyOne (Finland)
Kids: Factual & Entertainment
WINNER: Auf Fritzis Spuren – Wie war das so in der DDR? [On Fritzi’s Traces – What was it like in the GDR?], Balance Film GmbH / MDR / WDR (Germany)
Bora, O Pódio é Nosso, Globo / Sentimental Filmes (Brazil)
Kids Like Us, Echo Velvet (United Kingdom)
Playroom Live, Eclipse Television Productions (South Africa)
Kids: Live-Action
WINNER: Fallen, Globoplay / Night Train Media / Silver Reel / Hero Squared / Umedia (United Kingdom)
Luz, Floresta (Sony) (Brazil)
Prefects, Peripheral Vision International (Kenya)
Shut UP, Alfredfilm / Feelgood SFT / Snowreel / Rabbit Films (Norway)
Short-Form Series
WINNER: La Médiatrice [The Mediator], KOTV (Canada)
Beyond Dancing, Radio Television Hong Kong (Hong Kong SAR, China)
My Dead Mom, LoCo Motion Pictures (Canada)
Todo se Transforma – Season 4 [Change is Everything], Warner Bros. Discovery / Buffalo Producciones (Argentina)
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