Tudors Boosts Ireland's Movie Fame

There was a lot of Los Angeles glitz at the weekend as the critically acclaimed US television series The Tudors picked up two prestigious Emmy awards for Outstanding Costumes For A Series (for Joan Bergin) and Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-Camera Series (for Tom Conroy), at the 62nd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards which took place in LA over the weekend.

The Tudors, starring Irish Golden Globe winner Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry VIII, focuses on the turbulent years of his near 40-year reign as the King of England and has been shot entirely on location in Ireland over the last three years.

This is the third Emmy Award for Costume Designer Joan Bergin and her team, having been nominated in the same category for the last four consecutive years.

Joan and Wardrobe Supervisor Susan Cave, beat off stiff competition from U.S TV hit shows Glee, The Good Wife, Mad Men and 30 Rock at the ceremony.

Joan has previously worked on feature films including Veronica Guerin and In The Name Of The Father, and has been awarded two IFTAs and received three nominations at the Costume Designer Guild Awards in the U.S for her work on the show.

This is the first Emmy Award for Production Designer Tom Conroy, who has been nominated twice before in the category of Outstanding Art Direction and this time was up against True Blood, Heroes, Lost, Glee and Modern Family.

Tom has previously worked on successful Irish films Intermission and Breakfast on Pluto among many others and has scooped an IFTA in 2007 for The Tudors as well as a nomination for Excellence in Production Design at the Art Directors Guild.

A number of Irish directors have worked on the show including Emmy award-winner Dearbhla Walsh (Little Dorritt), IFTA winner Ciaran Donnelly (George Gently).

Broadcast on the Showtime channel in the US, the first series of The Tudors opened to the largest audience ever received by a Showtime series in the history of the channel, highlighting some of the Ireland's most beautiful and historical tourist locations to millions of viewers worldwide, providing promotional opportunities for Tourism Ireland to exploit Ireland as a tourist destination. The fourth and final series of the show was broadcast earlier this year.

The Tudors is produced by the Showtime Network in the US, and is co-produced by Morgan O'Sullivan and James Flynn of World 2000 Entertainment.

It is an official Irish/Canadian co-production and is co-financed by the IFB, Showtime and Peace Arch Entertainment.

The Emmy Awards are considered one of the most prestigious international awards for television entertainment and are regarded as the television equivalent to the Academy Awards for film.

(BMcC/GK)