Image source, Trae Patton/NBC via Getty Images

A Taylor Swift Law & Order: SVU cameo, a tribute to Dolly Parton and multiple record-breakers were just some of the highlights of the 2026 Emmy awards, TV's biggest night of the year.

Here are the big winners of the night:

• Widow's Bay – won a total of 14 awards, including Best Comedy. Hiro Murai won best directing, best writing was won by creator Katie Dippold, and best supporting actress went to breakout star Kate O’Flynn
• Matthew Rhys – the Widow's Bay actor takes home two best lead actor awards – for a comedy series and limited series for the Best in Me – making him the first ever to win two lead acting categories on the same night
• The Pitt: the 24-hours in an emergency room drama was nominated for 25 Emmys, and ultimately got the gong for Best Drama Series, with Noah Wyle winning best lead actor in a drama
• Jean Smart: The Hacks frontwoman took best actress in a comedy, bagging her eighth Emmy in her studded-career – equalling the record set by Cloris Leachman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus
• Allison Janney: her priceless reaction stole the show when she won best supporting actress in drama

We also saw emotional tributes for late singer Dolly Parton, actors Catherine O'Hara and Hayden Panettiere.

And Michael J Fox was honoured with the Bob Hope humanitarian award for his foundations' efforts to eradicate Parkinson's disease.

We're ending our live coverage now, but you can read more of the BBC's wrap-up of the night here.

Regan Morris
Reporting from Los Angeles

Image source, Getty Images

Not every Emmy awarded is televised live in primetime. More than 100 were handed out in two other ceremonies earlier this month – including some acting categories.

The Creative Arts Emmys have been rebranded to include some acting awards, making the early shows a bit more glamourous.

Mariska Hargitay – who is hosting the primetime ceremony tonight – picked up two Emmys for her documentary My Mom Jane.

Rob Reiner won his third Emmy posthumously for his guest appearance on The Bear, nearly nine months after he and his wife were killed.

DTF St Louis won six awards in the limited series categories with actors David Harbour and Linda Cardellini each winning Emmys.

And some of the winners from the early Emmys continued with that trend this evening. Medical drama The Pitt won four early Emmys and horror comedy Widow’s Bay won eight in its debut season – taking home prizes for cinematography, sound, music and production design.

As we've seen they racked up more wins this evening.

That's a wrap for the 2026 Emmys.

Stick with us as we bring you more highlights of the evening.

Widow's Bay wins the award for best comedy series. The show received 19 total nominations this year, eight trophies at the early ceremony, and six wins tonight.

The nominations included:

• Abbott Elementary (ABC)
• The Bear (FX/Hulu)
• Hacks (HBO Max)
• Margo's Got Money Troubles (Apple TV)
• Nobody Wants This (Netflix)
• Only Murders In The Building (Hulu)
• Shrinking (Apple TV)
• Widow's Bay (Apple TV) - winner

After thanking everyone who worked on the show, Apple TV, and her mom, show writer Kate Dippold adds: "We'd also like to thank the evil entity on the island that trusted us with its story."

Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson presented the award.

Image source, Getty Images

Backstage, Sally Field says she found it hard not to cry during the tribute for her late friend Dolly Parton.

"As an actor, you spend a whole lot of time, especially me, trying to make yourself cry, and I was trying to make myself not cry," she says.

Field leaves tonight with an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for Remarkably Bright Creatures.

The acting world can make people feel like "being in battle together", Field reflects. Field starred in Steel Magnolias with Parton, along with other A-List actresses such as Julia Roberts and Shirley MacLaine.

"You save each other's lives and you got each other's backs and you scream 24/7 with each other. And we would go shopping together, all of us, and go to Walmart together," she says. "Can you imagine all of us coming into Walmart?

"I admired her. I loved working with her. I never stopped loving her."

You can read more about the Emmy tribute to Parton here.

Image source, Reuters

The Pitt wins for outstanding drama series.The series had 38 Emmy nominations tonight.

The nominees included:

• The Diplomat (Netflix)
• The Gilded Age (HBO Max)
• A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HBO)
• Paradise (Hulu)
• The Pitt (HBO Max) - winner
• Pluribus (Apple TV)
• Slow Horses (Apple TV)
• Your Friends & Neighbors (Apple TV)

R Scott Gemmill, the creator, showrunner and executive producer of The Pitt, accepted the award.

"We are just so grateful to be in this business. It takes hundreds of people to put on a TV show," he said. "Sometimes it's only the storytelling that allows us to understand and appreciate each other, and that's more important than ever."

The award was presented by Charlie's Angels stars Kate Jackson, Cheryl Ladd and Jaclyn Smith in celebration of their show's 50th anniversary.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

We have just watched the in memoriam segment of the evening's programme, which started with Home Alone actor MacCauley Culkin and Annie Murphy and Dan Levy of Schitt's Creek speaking of the late Catherine O'Hara, who who died in January.

It ended with a tribute to performer, writer, director and producer Rob Reiner, who last week won a posthumous Emmy, by actress Jamie Lee Curtis, whose voice cracked as she spoke.

As singer Noah Kahan performed Bridge Over Troubled Water, we saw photos of other television figures who passed away this year.

Image source, Getty Images

Other TV actors featured were Grey's Anatomy actor Eric Dane, who died in February, Sam Neill, the New Zealand actor who starred in British crime drama Peaky Blinders and died in July, andVincent Pastore who starred in The Sopranos and died in August.

Image source, NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Also honoured were Hayden Panettiere- star of TV shows Heroes and Nashville - as well as Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Anthony Head, actor Tim Curry, and Dawson's Creek star James Van Der Beek.

James Burrows, who directed sitcoms Cheers, Friends, Frasier and Will & Grace, was also acknowledged.

Speaking to reporters backstage, Welsh actor Matthew Rhys specifically calls on the BBC for the first question.

"The BBC, surely!" he says. The BBC's Nardine Saad asks if he can reflect on the momentous occasion of becoming the first person to win two Emmy awards for best lead actor in the same year.

"At the moment I genuinely can't quite believe what's just happened," said Rhys. "I hope to reflect on it tomorrow."

Commenting on his Welsh origins, Rhys later says, "I'm from a small country, and I'm glad we get moments to put our flag on the map and say 'we punch higher than our weight sometimes.'"

Image source, Getty Images

DTF St. Louis won outstanding limited or anthology series.

The nominees included:

• All Her Fault (Peacock)
• The Beast in Me (Netflix)
• Beef (Netflix)
• DTF St. Louis (HBO Max) - winner
• Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette (FX/Hulu)

Director Steven Conrad accepted the award.

Image source, Getty Images

During the show, actress Sally Field honoured the late Dolly Parton, calling her "genuine and humble, supportive, and blisteringly funny".

The country singer died last month at the age of 80.

Field, who starred in Steel Magnolias with Parton in 1989, called the late country star "a humanitarian whose contributions have made a profound difference in the lives of so many in her home state of Tennessee and across our country."

"God bless you, Dolly Parton, my friend. I am not the only one on earth that will love you forever," she added.

Reba McEntire performed a tribute, singing Parton's iconic song Smoky Mountain Memories.

Parton began her career on TV. Her breakthrough came in 1967 when she joined The Porter Wagoner Show which aired nationally.

Image source, Getty Images

Vince Gilligan wins the award for best writing for a drama series for Pluribus.

The nominations included:

• Debora Cahn - The Diplomat (Netflix)
• Kirsten Pierre-Geyfman, R. Scott Gemmill - The Pitt (HBO)
• Valerie Chu - The Pitt (HBO)
• Vince Gilligan - Pluribus (Apple TV) - winner
• Will Smith - Slow Horses (Apple TV)
• Brad Ingelsby - Task (HBO)

Speaking about the political climate of the last decade, Gilligan says in his acceptance speech: "We will never agree on everything, but we can show respect to one another, maybe even kindness, and we can stop listening to a relative few who...get their power from dividing us."

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

The audience cheered loudly for actor Michael J Fox while he accepted the Bob Hope humanitarian award.

"When it starts getting tough, you show up, you help, and if you get a little joy while you're doing it, that's even better," Fox said.

He reflected on his life, including wanting at first to keep his Parkinson's diagnosis a secret. Fox received that diagnosis in 1991, when he was 29, but did not share it with the world until 1998.

"I worried that it would affect my work and my relationships with audiences when they laughed if they knew I was sick," he said.

Fox then highlighted the efforts of the Michael J. Fox Foundation and its work to "eradicate" Parkinson's "forever."

The audience gave him a standing ovation as he left the stage.

Before the Michael J. Fox presentation, Hiro Murai won the award for best directing for a comedy series for Widow's Bay.

The nominations included:

• Randall Einhorn – Abbott Elementary ("Ballgame")
• Christopher Storer – The Bear ("Bears")
• Andrew DeYoung – The Chair Company ("Life Goes By Too F**king Fast, It Really Does")
• Lucia Aniello – Hacks (Finale)
• Mary Lou Belli – The Ms. Pat Show ("Give It Arrest")
• Hiro Murai – Widow's Bay ("Welcome To Widow's Bay!") - winner

"My job isn't to make the show; it's just to let the right people in the room," Murai said in his acceptance speech. "And we just had the most beautiful, kindest, most gifted people in our room on the show."

SNL's Marcello Hernández presented the award.

Image source, Getty Images

Nardine Saad
at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards

Actor Michael J Fox is getting the Bob Hope humanitarian award tonight. He was also nominated for a guest role in the Apple TV comedy Shrinking where he plays a Parkinson's patient, the condition he battles in real life.

That award was handed out at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony earlier this month and was posthumously presented to late actor and director Rob Reiner for his guest role in The Bear.

Fox, 65, is already a five-time Emmy Award winner, earning the prize for his work on the sitcoms Family Ties, Spin City and Rescue Me.

He's getting tonight's special award for his humanitarian efforts that "have brought credit to the industry and whose deeds and actions have had a lasting impact on society".

Right now, the awards attendees are watching a video explaining his work on Parkinson's research.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert won for outstanding variety series.

The nominees included:

• The Daily Show
• Jimmy Kimmel Live
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
• Saturday Night Live

"Thank you so much for watching," Stephen Colbert said to viewers of his show, which ended earlier this year, during his acceptance speech. "We hope you enjoyed the show. We had a great time doing it for you," he said standing alongside writers from his show.

We wrote earlier of the significance of a possible win for the show here.

Saul Metzstein wins the award best director of a drama series for Apple TV's Slow Horses.

The nominations included:

• Salli Richardson-Whitfield – The Gilded Age "My Mind Is Made Up" (HBO)
• Hanelle M. Culpepper – Paradise "Exodus" (Hulu)
• Noah Wyle – The Pitt "12:00 P.M." (HBO)
• Vince Gilligan – Pluribus "We Is Us" (Apple TV)
• Saul Metzstein – Slow Horses "Scars" (Apple TV) - winner
• Salli Richardson-Whitfield – Task "Out Beyond Ideas Of Wrongdoing And Rightdoing, There Is A River" (HBO)

"Everyone gets up here and says that they had the best crew ever," Metzstein says in his acceptance speech. "Simply not true because we had the best crew ever."

Image source, Gett

In a brief, humorous musical interlude, host Mariska Hargitay celebrated the legacy of the TV shows that are ending this year, accompanied by Andrew Rannells.

Image source, Reuters

While we wait for the next award, we share with you some of the pre-show fashion, with two actresses showing up in the same shade of purple.

Image source, NBC via Getty Images

Image source, Variety via Getty Images

Image source, NBC via Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Variety via Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Katie Dippold wins outstanding writing for a comedy series for Widow's Bay.

The nominations included:

• Abbott Elementary - Quinta Brunson
• The Chair Company - Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin
• The Comeback - Michael Patrick King and Lisa Kudrow
• Hacks - Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky
• Jury Duty - Anthony King
• Widow's Bay - Katie Dippold - winner

"I promise all of you that no one will ever step foot in my home without seeing this thing," Dippold jokes about her award in her acceptance speech.

LL Cool J and Scott Caan presented the award.

Image source, Getty Images

Welsh actor Matthew Rhys wins the award for best lead actor in a comedy series for Widow's Bay, making him the first actor in Emmy history to win two lead actor categories in the same year.

The nominations included:

• Yahya Abdul-Mateen II - Wonder Man (Disney+)
• Steve Carell - Rooster (HBO Max)
• Matthew Rhys - Widow's Bay (Apple TV) - winner
• Jason Segel - Shrinking (Apple TV)
• Martin Short - Only Murders In The Building (Hulu)

"To the great and good people of Wales," Rhys says in his acceptance speech, "We are a small but mighty nation."

He concluded by saying "Diolch yn fawr iawn" - "thank you very much" in Welsh.

Jon Hamm and Amanda Peet presented the award.