Branagh, five-times nominated for an Academy Award, scooped the award for his lead role in hit BBC series “Wallander,” adapted from the best-selling Swedish detective novel series.
Friel won the best actress for her lead role in gritty drama “Marcella,” in which she plays a London police detective on the hunt for a serial killer while grappling with the breakdown of her marriage.
Irish-born Branagh, 56, is currently in movie theaters starring as another literary detective — Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot — in a remake of “Murder on the Orient Express” to mixed reviews.
“Wallander” has won numerous awards and contributed to huge global interest in Scandinavian crime and thriller novels dubbed Nordic noir.
Based on the books by best-selling Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell, the prickly character of Kurt Wallander has become a worldwide phenomenon after being made into the BBC series.
Anna Friel poses with award for best performance by an actress for her work in “Marcella” at the 45th International Emmy Awards
The 2016 ITV series “Marcella” was such a hit that it was commissioned for a second season, also starring 41-year-old Friel, which is to air in the United States on Netflix after being broadcast in Britain.
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