Gary Oldman confirmed his position as Oscar frontrunner by collecting the best actor award for his portrayal of Winston Churchill but the 2018 Golden Globes awards will be remembered for the way women dominated the ceremony, both protesting at injustices in the movie industry and scooping a string of major prizes.
Films and TV shows with strong female leads such as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Lady Bird, The Handmaid’s Tail and Big Little Lies captured much of the attention.
Women also used the night to demand justice in an industry reeling from the fall-out of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
No-one spoke more powerfully than Oprah Winfrey, who became the first black woman to win the Cecil B DeMille award for her contribution to the world of entertainment.
She brought the audience to an ovation by describing the story of a black woman raped in the old South by six white men and who never received justice.
“For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men,” she said.
“But their time is up. Their time is up. Their time is up.”
Oldman was one of the few British successes on the night, along with Ewan McGregor who won for his role in the TV drama Fargo.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, about an enraged woman seeking vengeance for her murdered daughter in a small town, won the Golden Globe award for best drama film, completing an impressive night with four awards.
Its star Frances McDormand, supporting actor Sam Rockwell, its writer-director, Martin McDonagh, were all honoured.
The night was shot through with references – joking and pointed – to the sexual harassment scandal that has enveloped Hollywood ever since the unmasking of Weinstein.
Seth Meyers opened his stint as host with a string of well received jokes about the “elephant not in the room”.
He started by saying: “Good evening ladies and remaining gentlemen,” before adding it would be the first time in months that men won’t be terrified to hear their names read out loud, before singling out Kevin Spacey and Woody Allen for particular attention.
