By Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Netflix Inc's British royal drama "The Crown," which focused its most recent season on the troubled marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, led the television honors at Hollywood's Golden Globe awards on Sunday.
"The Crown" was named best TV drama, one of four awards in total, including best actress for Emma Corrin, who played the young Diana struggling to adapt to life in the royal family.
"Most of all, thank you so much to Diana," a surprised Corrin said as she accepted her award at the largely virtual ceremony via video. "You have taught me compassion and empathy beyond any measure that I could ever imagine."
Josh O'Connor, who played Prince Charles, won best drama actor, and Gillian Anderson was named best supporting drama actress for her turn as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Feel-good comedy "Schitt's Creek" landed the Golden Globes trophy for best TV comedy series, along with best comedy actress for Catherine O'Hara. And Netflix's "The Queen's Gambit," about a female chess champion battling drug and alcohol addiction, won best limited series and best actress for Anya Taylor-Joy.
In total, Netflix topped all distributors with six television honors and four movie awards at the Golden Globes, the annual accolades handed out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association .
The television competition was heated this year as streaming TV emerged as a main source of entertainment in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced movie theaters to close and kept many people largely confined to their homes.
"Schitt's Creek" found new viewers in its sixth and final season. The show aired on small U.S. cable network Pop TV, owned by ViacomCBS Inc , and Canada's CBC, and the series gained widespread buzz as audiences discovered older episodes on Netflix.
The show created by father-and-son team Eugene and Dan Levy tells the story of a once-wealthy family who lose everything and are forced to move to a small town called Schitt's Creek they had bought as a joke. Local residents welcome them and turn out to celebrate a gay wedding in the final episode.
"This acknowledgement is a lovely vote of confidence in the messages 'Schitt's Creek' has come to stand for: the idea that inclusion can bring about growth and love to a community," Dan Levy said as he accepted the comedy award.
Among other TV awards, Jason Sudeikis was named best comedy actor for playing a charming American who coaches an English soccer team in "Ted Lasso" on Apple TV+ .
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
((lisa.richwine@thomsonreuters.com; Follow me on Twitter @LARichwine; 1-424-434-7324; Reuters Messaging: lisa.richwine.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))