Larry Emdur wins Gold Logie, Boy Swallows Universe sweeps TV’s awards night

Larry Emdur won the Gold Logie for most popular performer on television, while the Netflix drama series Boy Swallows Universe emerged as the biggest winner on Australian television’s so-called night of nights.

Emdur, co-host of Seven’s The Morning Show for the past 17 years and host of game show The Chase for the past three, is one of television’s great survivors, and perhaps one of the least likely winners of the Australian industry’s highest accolade.

Larry Emdur at the 64th Logie Awards.Credit: Getty Images for TV WEEK Logie Awards

Emdur has spent his entire life in the media. He dropped out of school aged 15 to join The Sydney Morning Herald as a copy boy, and at 19 became a newsreader on Seven’s overnight weekend news bulletin.

Describing himself as “television’s most axed man”, and claiming Red Symons had once told him “Mate, if your eyes were any closer together they’d be in the one socket”, Emdur said he had thought his chances of victory were so slim he had promised to have “all the nominees’ initials tattooed on my arse live tomorrow morning”.

Emdur aside, it was a case of boy swallows Logies as the Netflix series based on Trent Dalton’s semi-autobiographical novel won five awards, more than any other show, and more than any network except the ABC.

Felix Cameron holds his Graham Kennedy Award for most popular new talent.Credit: Sam Tabone

The national broadcaster picked up six wins from 51 nominations. Deborah Mailman won best actress – her sixth career Logie – for the third season of Total Control; Utopia won for best comedy, best actor in a comedy (Rob Sitch), and best actress in a comedy (Kitty Flanagan); Australian Story was judged best current affairs program; and Bluey won its third Logie as best children’s program.

Despite competition from a number of other high-profile, popular and critically lauded series – including Deadloch, The Newsreader, The Clearing and The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart – Boy Swallows Universe stole the limelight at the ceremony on Sunday night at the Star in Sydney.

As well as winning the best miniseries/telemovie category, Boy Swallows Universe won individual awards for three of its cast.

Fifteen-year-old Felix Cameron won both best lead actor and most popular new talent, while veteran Bryan Brown won best supporting actor, and Sophie Wilde – who also won the AACTA award for best lead actress for the horror movie Talk To Me in February – collected the best supporting actress award.

Nine, which was the long-standing broadcaster of the Logies until last year, won the award for best news coverage or public affairs report for the 60 Minutes story “Ben Roberts-Smith: The Truth”. Reported by Tom Steinfort, the story covered the defamation trial between former soldier and Seven senior executive Roberts-Smith and The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, and followed journalist Nick McKenzie’s reporting allegations of war crimes committed by the soldier.

Nine also won best news or public affairs presenter (Ally Langdon for A Current Affair) and best lifestyle program (Travel Guides).

For the first time, the majority of awards this year were for “best”, a category that encompasses both public and peer voting. This replaced the previous categories of “most popular” (public voted) and “most outstanding” (industry voted).

Host broadcaster network Seven collected awards for best drama for RFDS, best entertainment program for The Voice Australia, best sports program for its coverage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup soccer, and best documentary for John Farnham: Finding The Voice.

The telecast included a tribute to Farnham, with Guy Sebastian and Jessica Mauboy joining the John Farnham Band onstage to cover Burn For You and You’re The Voice (and to cross-promote The Voice).

Ten’s Have You Been Paying Attention? – on which Logies host Sam Pang is a regular presence – won best comedy entertainment program, while the network’s MasterChef was best competition reality program (giving it a record sixth win in the category), and Gogglebox – a co-production between 10 and Foxtel – was judged best structured reality program.

Hosting the ceremony for a second time, Pang began with a now-customary quip about the bloated run time of the event.

“I’m not officially hosting for the second time,” he said. “Last year’s ceremony just hasn’t finished.”

It was both joke and prediction: By the time the broadcast wrapped, the run time had passed the four-hour mark. A full 20 minutes of that was dedicated to Rebecca Gibney’s induction into the Hall of Fame. A further five minutes were given to Red Symons eulogising the late John Blackman at the top of the In Memoriam segment.

Pang’s survey of the shows, performers and characters ditched by the networks over the past year was genuinely funny, and rattled along at a far greater clip than the other prepared packages.

The most pointed of Pang’s gags on the night was aimed at Seven, which spent much of the past year embroiled in legal battles relating to Roberts-Smith and Bruce Lehrmann.

“I stand before you safe in the knowledge that whatever I say, this network will defend me in court. And with their impeccable record in defamation cases over the last 12 months I reckon I’ll be fine,” Pang joked to loud laughter.