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Ricky Gervais among winners at 2019 Rose d’Or Awards

Ricky Gervais said he was “truly flattered” as he led a raft of British winners at the 2019 Rose d’Or Awards.

The actor and comedian was honoured with the performance of the year prize for his work in Netflix series After Life.

He was presented with the gong by his co-star Diane Morgan at a gala event in London, which was hosted by Sir Lenny Henry.

Gervais said: “I can’t believe I was chosen from all the amazing performances in both drama and comedy from all over the world this year. Truly flattered.

“This might be my favourite honour of my career.”

British talent scooped almost half of the awards, which celebrate international excellence in entertainment programming.

Michael McIntyre’s Big Show won studio entertainment, The Repair Shop took home the prize for reality and factual entertainment and 13 Minutes To The Moon won audio entertainment.

It was a big night for critically acclaimed series Chernobyl, which was honoured with the Golden Rose Award as the outstanding entertainment show of 2019.

The Sky Atlantic and HBO series also won in the drama category, coming ahead of Killing Eve, Succession, Years And Years, 8 Days and Escape At Dannemora.

Lenny Henry
Sir Lenny Henry (Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA)

This year, winners and recipients hailed from eight different countries – the UK, Spain, Canada, Holland, Norway, America, Brazil and Germany.

The Rose d’Or Lifetime Achievement Award was given to the first lady of German TV, Maren Kroymann.

She said: “My vision of female strength has not always been shared by the mainstream.

“Getting rewarded for my attitude – as well as for my vivid but sometimes unexpected career – is more than compelling.”

Brazilian drama Orphans Of A Nation won in the soaps and telenovelas category, while the children and youth award was presented to Norwegian series ZombieLars.

Canadian series Baroness von Sketch Show won the comedy category and the comedy drama and sitcom award went to Spanish series Arde Madrid. Arts was won by Holland’s The Greenaway Alphabet, and the prize for social media video series was presented to Dutch series Swipe.

The winners were voted for by 60 international judges made up of media industry professionals, chaired by The Bridge star Sofia Helin.

Sofia Helin
Sofia Helin (Yui Mok/PA)

Helin said: “We’re delighted to hold The Rose d’Or awards in London this year, it has been a fantastic evening celebrating international entertainment programming, with the winners rightly recognised for their outstanding contribution over the last year.

“Our congratulations to all of tonight’s winners and nominees – the commitment and creativity that has gone into making these works is inspiring to all and we can’t wait to see what the next year brings.”

Host Sir Lenny said: “As a previous winner of the Golden Rose, it’s a huge privilege to be invited to host on this incredibly auspicious occasion.

“It’s a bumper for the programmes. Huge congratulations to all the nominees.”