And the winner is... warm and cosy comfort TV

In a year when we needed unchallenging viewing, the most uplifting shows won, says Michael Hogan

Has the Golden Globes ever addressed how we are feeling as much as it did on Sunday night? When it comes to TV, the ceremony has a habit of handing out gongs for the edgy and the provocative.

Look back at the past few years and you’ll find a winners’ roll-call which includes Fleabag, Chernobyl, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Assassination of Gianni Versace and A Very English Scandal, which focused on the sex-and-crime shenanigans surrounding Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe.

This year, however, was different. After a period in which we needed screen solace more than ever, comfort TV was the big winner at the

Winners: Anya Taylor-joy, top, Jason Sudeikis as Ted Lasso; Gillian Anderson 72nd annual ceremony. Who needs the edgy and the challenging when we can lose ourselves in lavish period drama or warm, cosy comedy?

The major TV drama accolades were monopolised by Netflix productions The Crown and The Queen’s Gambit – both immersive stories set in a visually stunning past. The comedy categories, meanwhile, saw victories for undemanding, uplifting fare like Schitt’s Creek (Netflix again) and Ted Lasso (Apple TV).

With the world outside a bleak, postapocalyptic hellscape of pandemics and political protests, our televisions increasingly became a window to escapism. It is no surprise that The Queen’s Gambit scored two wins – for Best Limited Series and Best Actress in a Limited Series (Anya Taylor-joy). The Fifties drama was addictive and enviably chic as viewers got swept along in the rags-to-riches tale of orphaned chess prodigy Beth Harmon. The show also gave us a sudden hankering for retro lamps.

After whisking us back to the Eighties for its much-talked-about fourth season, The Crown ran out a right royal winner. It won four accolades in total, including Best Drama Series.

Josh O’connor and Emma Corrin both scooped acting honours for their performances as Prince Charles and Princess Diana respectively, while Gillian Anderson was named Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

For all its perceived inaccuracies, this was a welcome reminder of an era when shoulders were padded, PMS were steely and princesses roller-skated through Buckingham Palace (well, possibly).

Both the big comedy wins showed our desire for the feelgood factor. Ted Lasso, the fish-out-of-water sitcom about an American football coach crossing the pond to work for a Premier League team, proved a whimsical sleeper hit with sceptics falling for its amiable charms.

Meanwhile, the final season of small-town Canadian saga Schitt’s Creek was beautifully played and often unexpectedly touching, Beneath its endearing absurdity lay a big beating heart.

In terms of omissions, there has been much talk of Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You and yet its absence even from nominations makes sense. The BBC’S sexual consent drama was many things, all of them great, but definitely not comforting.

Perhaps in an unsettling year, it was simply too confrontational for the Golden Globes judges.

Hopefully by next year’s ceremony, the world will have returned to normal and we’ll be ready to be challenged by our viewing again. Until then, a warm hug from the small screen will suffice.