Huh? The Queen drama that was mostly, and rightfully, loathed by critics has won the night’s biggest award in a shock finale.

Quite how it beat out A Star is Born, which seemed destined to win, is a head-scratcher – and the far more deserving Black Panther as well. This is a real surprise and they’re hard to come by in this season. Noticeably no reference to Bryan Singer in the speech yet again ...

Beating out Bradley Cooper, who many thought would win, is Rami Malek, who was undoubtedly the best thing about the rather underwhelming Queen biopic.

Malek is an intense speech-giver and interestingly, reassuringly after thanking everyone involved in the film, he decided not to thank the director, Bryan Singer, who has been accused of sexual assault. And now for the big one ...

It felt like Lady Gaga might scoop in here and win, especially given how much the Globes loves her, but a nice semi-surprise to see Glenn Close win for her powerful performance in The Wife.

It’s a small film and Close’s speech is easily the night’s most effective. She talks about women needing to find personal fulfillment outside of what they achieve in the home or in a marriage, referencing her mother who gave so much of herself to her husband without looking out for herself. It’s tearful and rousing and it would take a bullet train to derail her chances of winning the Oscar as well.

Another win here for a film that’s starting to receive quite a backlash: the crowd-pleasing road trip comedy Green Book.

It’s a crowd-pleaser for sure and its broad moments surely appealed to voters more than the misanthropic humour of The Favourite. It’ll definitely score a host of Oscar nominations but can the growing collection of voices against it eventually derail its chances of winning?

Finally The Favourite wins something, and happily for Olivia Colman’s tragic and bizarro lead turn, beating out Emily Blunt and Constance Wu. Firstly, Colman thanked someone for the sandwiches, who we assume must have been Melissa McCarthy, who smuggled in some ham sandwiches for anyone who was hungry.

She’s infectiously happy to be up there and thanks her “bitches” before swearing, which is bleeped out but makes total sense given how bawdy The Favourite is. Whoever wins the best actress in a drama category is about to be her greatest competition next month.

A rather divisive choice, since it’s a show that left some cold – unlike, say, Sharp Objects or A Very English Scandal, which lost out – but again Ryan Murphy leaves an awards ceremony as the undisputed king of TV.

There’s a rather great speech about the importance of LGBT representation and fighting back against hatred against the community: “Our show is a period piece but those forces are not historical.”

Oof, quite a shock here for a show that really didn’t make much of an impact when Netflix launched it last year. It’s the second award of the night, after Michael Douglas won best actor in a comedy series, and it revealed the HFPA yet again to be rather out of sync with critics and audiences.

With Roma and this though, it’s quite the night for Netflix.

Yet again, proof that awards voters love Amazon’s period comedy more than critics seem to, with Rachel Brosnahan winning her second Globe for her role as a stand-up comic.

She beat out a rather weak category, adding yet another trophy to Maisel’s shelf after it won big at last year’s Emmys. In her speech, she praises the female-heavy crew of the show and speaks with the same speed as her character as she’s told to wrap it up. More awards coming literally straight after ...

Phew. This was a category with some serious potholes (no thanks, Adam McKay!) but Cuarón is the entirely deserving winner for his splendid work on the Netflix drama.

He comments that he feels he cheated as he was just watching great women exist on screen and that the film was really directed by his family. Tonight couldn’t have been better for Roma and sets it on track to win big at the Oscars next month.

Damn, a category full of big names that was taken down by Darren Criss. Beating out Hugh Grant, Antonio Banderas and Benedict Cumberbatch is the ex-Glee star who received plaudits for his role as a killer in the second season of American Crime Story.

It wouldn’t be a TV awards night without at least one Ryan Murphy actor picking something up and while Gianni Versace hasn’t been quite the trophy magnet that OJ Simpson was, Murphy continues to showcase his ability to lead actors up on stage.

Another foregone conclusion of the night and an entirely fitting win for Alfonso Cuarón’s black and white Netflix masterpiece. Given the Globes’ rather strange rules, foreign language films aren’t eligible for the main best picture categories, which took Roma out of the big races.

Cuarón praises the importance of cinema for breaking down walls and building bridges in the middle of a very personal speech. Could he be back on stage to pick up best director later tonight?

Gosh, a weak category here and no real surprise that Christian Bale won out as a result. Vice is the most-nominated film of the evening and even though it’s losing critical steam, even its harshest detractors have praised the performances of Bale and his co-star Amy Adams.

Bale is on enthusiastic form, not always the case, and he’s quipping like there’s no tomorrow, thanking his wife for stopping him from saying too much “dumb crap” while also thanking Satan for inspiring him to play Dick Cheney. He also jokes that he’s playing Mitch McConnell next. A suitably funny speech for a comedic winner.

A tough category here, but making up for that Amy Adams snub earlier is a deserving win for Patricia Clarkson, who gave great gothic in HBO’s sweaty thriller Sharp Objects.

“You demanded everything from me except sex, which is exactly how it should be in our industry,” she says to her director.

Poehler and Rudolph remained on stage for another wonderful skit involving a fake proposal that Bradley Cooper didn’t seem to appreciate.

Wow, a surprise here given that, ya know, The Favourite was nominated. Two awards in a row for Green Book, a film that does seem like catnip for the HFPA given its crowd-pleasing emotional notes. Could it continue on and win best picture as well?

It’s been a strange skit-free night for the presenters, but here to put an end to that are Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph, who delivered some genuine laughs on the importance of supporting actors (footage to follow).

A deserving win here for Mahershala Ali, in a film that’s been getting some flak lately for those questioning how true its story is. It’s a big year for Ali, with his True Detective season about to start, and this pushes him to the top of a category that’s a tad under-powered this year.

In an ultra-competitive category, the host Sandra Oh has won out for her role in a series that has received passionate acclaim ever since it aired last year. Oh seemed surprised and delivered a genuinely emotional speech, ultimately devoting it to her parents, who were in attendance.

It’s been a rather special night for Oh even without this victory, showcasing her often under-seen comic chops on stage. This will undoubtedly lead to a boost in her onscreen presence in the future.

Another one of tonight’s awards that was a tad easier to predict: Regina King has received universal acclaim for her role in Barry Jenkins’ James Baldwin follow-up. It’s a heartfelt, tender performance and she’s now going into the Oscars as the favourite in this category (even in one with two actors from The Favourite).

Rather awkward music playing her off as she starts to talk about Time’s Up; the music was then rather sensibly turned off. When she was then given a chance she revealed that with everything she is producing in the future, she will insist on 50% of the crew being female, similar to a promise made by Michael B Jordan recently.

One of the most foregone conclusions tonight was that Gaga would win for her show-stopping song from A Star is Born. Firstly, it’s worth rewatching the moment that Taylor Swift goes in for a second kiss with Gaga and misreads the situation.

Secondly, Mark Ronson mostly grabs the mic for this one but Gaga will probably be able to give another speech later in the evening ...

It’s been a skit-free night for presenters tonight and that continues here with Idris Elba and Taylor Swift essentially appearing on stage to open an envelope and nothing else. Justin Hurwitz is the big winner here for his work on First Man, a film that’s struggled a bit during this season. It’s criminal that If Beale Street Could Talk wasn’t nominated but hey.

Quite a competitive category here and quite a shock result. Amy Adams was seen as the frontrunner for her career-best work in the HBO miniseries Sharp Objects but flying under the radar is the Ben Stiller-directed fact-based drama Escape From Dannemora.

Patricia Arquette is an expert speech-giver and she delivers yet more sterling work here helping to sell a show that needed the boost and will likely lead to a lot of people now Googling just where they can watch it. She went on a bit too long for the producers, who had to cut her speech short with music. A fair few surprises so far, which is nice on a night like this.

Many had expected Henry Winkler to win this one for Barry but wow, a lovely surprise given how wonderful Ben Whishaw was in the brilliant BBC drama. He devotes the award to the character he played for being a true queer hero and an icon. It’s looking like a good night for the Brits thus far.

... or maybe not. The final season of the critically adored FX thriller has won the big dramatic TV award of the night (announced insanely uncharacteristically early) and it makes sense. It was predicted to win given that it was the show’s last season and could be seen as a way of rewarding the show as a whole. Can Keri Russell also win best actress in a drama series for her work in the final season? Given how manic and speedy tonight has been so far, I imagine we’ll find out in about three seconds.

Quite a surprise here for a show that’s been endlessly talked about but was still something of an outsider against bigger American shows from Homecoming to The Americans. Madden also seems incredibly surprised but very grateful and it suggests the show could be grabbing some more later on.

Ooh, this is a deserving winner. Sony’s thrilling, funny, heartfelt animated Spidey spin-off was a rather lovely surprise when it was released last month. It’s also pretty major that Sony Animation has won out over Disney and could well do the same at the Oscars.

But oof the music came in early to cut off the last of the winning group and it happened just as he was talking about the importance of diversity. Not a great look.

A very worthwhile reminder here that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is obsessed with big stars above all else. Michael Douglas winning for a show that has had roughly zero impact with critics and audiences says quite a bit, especially over Bill Hader in Barry (a show everyone loves) and Donald Glover in Atlanta (a show everyone adores).

Let’s see how many other big stars win in categories they don’t deserve to...

It’s here! After a burgundy-coloured red carpet, Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg are on stage. Within a few minutes, they’ve already made two Kevin Hart-based jokes about how hard is it to find an Oscars host.

The pair is also ridiculing the fact that they’re not exactly known for saying mean things so they’re going around the room saying nice things about celebrities. They have chemistry but the joke is a tad overplayed, making one relive Poehler and Fey’s brilliant, acidic monologues of years past.

There’s a bizarre garbled Black Panther joke that was followed by a very confused Ryan Coogler which seems like the stuff of gifs. Slightly more successful is a jab at Lady Gaga’s much-repeated A Star is Born interview quote about there being 100 people in the room.

They find a rhythm soon after going through nominated films and performances with lightning-fast jokes (a jab about Emma Stone playing an Asian character in Aloha led to her shouting “I’m sorry”). Lots of references to how diverse this year’s nominees are (not always the case with the Globes) but we’ll have to see how diverse the winners are (remember the Emmys last year).

And so it begins, once again.

The 76th Golden Globes ceremony is mere hours away from kicking off this year’s awards season and unlike the more sedate Oscars, it can be a sprightly, often raucous evening. Alcohol is served aplenty, leading to a looser atmosphere, and the host or hosts are usually allowed to insert some more daring jabs.

The evening has few foregone conclusions. It’s a strange race this year with a number of possible contenders but without a clear frontrunner. On the film side, Vice may lead with most nominations but it’s losing steam with underwhelming box office and, more importantly, a lack of interest from critics. Could The Favourite scoop up the comedy awards instead?

On the dramatic end, A Star is Born feels like the more Globe-friendly choice to win out and Lady Gaga may see herself taking home two awards, for actress and song.

Without Big Little Lies (which returns next year) and The Handmaid’s Tale (which was deservedly snubbed for its dull second season), the small screen trophies are likely to be spread between Sharp Objects, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel and The Assassination of Gianni Versace.

What other excitement might the evening provide? The hosts, Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg, have promised a “crazy-pants” atmosphere so that could mean a lot of things. We’ll be here with red carpet commentary and then full coverage of the ceremony and the aftermath, so loosen up that bowtie and stay tuned.