NEW YORK, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Britain won seven out of the 10 awards at the 36th International Emmy Awards gala held Tuesday night at New York Hilton Hotel.

    The detective show "Life on Mars," directed by SJ Clarkson, Richard Clark and Andrew Gunn, was awarded the best drama series.

British actress Lucy Cohu celebrates after winning the Best Performance by an Actress for her work in "Forgiven" at the 36th International Emmy Awards in New York, Nov. 24, 2008.  (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    "Shaun The Sheep," produced by Julie Lockhart, won the Children& Young People award, while "Strictly Bolshoi," "The Beckoning Silence" and "The I.T. Crowd" won Britain Arts Programming, Documentary and Comedy awards, respectively.

    Jordan was the surprise winner in the newly established telenovela category with "Al-Igtiyah" ("The Invasion"), while "The Big Donor Show" of the Netherlands and "Television Por La Identidad" of Argentina netted the Non-scripted Entertainment and TV Movie/ Mini-series awards, respectively.

British actor David Suchet celebrates after winning the Best Performance for an Actor for his role in "Maxwell" at the 36th International Emmy Awards Gala in New York, Nov. 24, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    The 2008 International Emmy Founders Award -- for outstanding work which crosses cultural boundaries to touch common humanity --was presented to Dick Wolf, one of the television's most prolific writer/producers and the architect of the Law & Order brand.

    David Suchet took home the best actor Emmy for his portrayal of Robert Maxwell in the biography series, while the best actress award went to Lucy Cohu for her role in the true-life drama "Forgiven."

    Also at the gala, U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao presented the evening's other special honor, the Directorate Award, to Liu Changle, the founding chairman and CEO of Hong Kong-based Phoenix Satellite Television for his achievement in expanding the broadcasting in Mandarin to over 150 countries.