Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries

The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries represents excellence in the category of miniseries that are considered either six hours or more, or more than two parts.

What has been unique about this award in recent years is that there almost always has been at least one nominee that is a British miniseries originating from Great Britain. For example, the 2005 winner was The Lost Prince, which happened to be that year's British entry. The 2006 winner, Elizabeth I, was also a British miniseries, although it was a co-production with American television network HBO. Likewise, the 2009 winner, Little Dorrit, was a co-production of British and American companies (in this case, the BBC and PBS). In 2011, due to a limited amount of numbers of miniseries in recent years, the academy merged this and the made for television movie category together by calling it Outstanding Miniseries or Movie.

Award winners and nominations

1970s

• 1973: Tom Brown's Schooldays (PBS)
  • The Last of the Mohicans (PBS)
  • The Life of Leonardo da Vinci (CBS)

• 1974: Columbo: Double Exposure (NBC)
  • The Blue Knight (NBC)
  • McCloud (NBC)

• 1975: Benjamin Franklin (CBS)
  • Columbo (NBC)
  • McCloud (NBC)

• 1976: Upstairs, Downstairs (PBS)
  • The Adams Chronicles (PBS)
  • Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (PBS)
  • The Law (NBC)
  • Rich Man, Poor Man (ABC)

• 1977: Roots (ABC)
  • The Adams Chronicles (PBS)
  • Captains and the Kings (NBC)
  • Madame Bovary (PBS)
  • The Moneychangers (NBC)

• 1978: Holocaust (NBC)
  • Anna Karenina (PBS)
  • I, Claudius (PBS)
  • King (NBC)
  • Washington: Behind Closed Doors (ABC)

• 1979: Roots: The Next Generations (ABC)
  • Backstairs at the White House (NBC)
  • Blind Ambition (CBS)

1980s

• 1980: Edward & Mrs. Simpson (SYN)
  • Disraeli (PBS)
  • The Duchess of Duke Street (PBS)
  • The Scarlett O'Hara War (NBC)

• 1981: Shōgun (NBC)
  • East of Eden (ABC)
  • Masada (ABC)
  • Rumpole of the Bailey (PBS)
  • Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (PBS)

• 1982: Marco Polo (NBC)
  • Brideshead Revisited (PBS)
  • Flickers (PBS)
  • Oppenheimer (PBS)
  • A Town Like Alice (PBS)

• 1983: Nicholas Nickleby (SYN)
  • Smiley's People (SYN)
  • The Thorn Birds (ABC)
  • To Serve Them All My Days (CBS)
  • The Winds of War (CBS)

• 1984: Concealed Enemies (PBS)
  • Chiefs (CBS)
  • George Washington (CBS)
  • Nancy Astor (PBS)
  • Reilly: Ace of Spies (PBS)

• 1985: The Jewel in the Crown (PBS)
  • Ellis Island (CBS)
  • Robert Kennedy & His Times (CBS)
  • Space (CBS)
  • A Woman of Substance (OPT)

• 1986: Peter the Great (NBC)
  • Dress Gray (NBC)
  • The Long Hot Summer (NBC)
  • Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy (PBS)
  • On Wings of Eagles (NBC)

• 1987: A Year in the Life (NBC)
  • Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (NBC)
  • Nutcracker: Money, Madness & Murder (NBC)
  • Out on a Limb (ABC)
  • The Two Mrs. Grenvilles (NBC)

• 1988: The Murder of Mary Phagan (NBC)
  • Baby M (ABC)
  • Billionaire Boys Club (NBC)
  • The Bourne Identity (ABC) Rumpole of the Bailey (PBS) ruled ineligible moved to drama.
  • Gore Vidal's Lincoln (NBC)

• 1989: War and Remembrance (ABC)
  • I Know My First Name Is Steven (NBC)
  • Lonesome Dove (CBS)
  • A Perfect Spy (PBS)
  • The Women of Brewster Place (ABC)

1990s

• 1990: Drug Wars: The Camarena Story (NBC)
  • Blind Faith (NBC)
  • Family of Spies (CBS)
  • The Kennedys of Massachusetts (ABC)
  • Small Sacrifices (ABC)

• 1991: Separate But Equal (ABC)
  • Decoration Day (NBC)
  • The Josephine Baker Story (HBO)
  • Paris Trout (Showtime)
  • Sarah, Plain and Tall (CBS)
  • Switched at Birth (NBC)

• 1992: A Woman Named Jackie (NBC)
  • The Burden of Proof (ABC)
  • Cruel Doubt (NBC)
  • Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel (NBC)
  • In a Child's Name (CBS)

• 1993: Prime Suspect 2 (PBS)
  • Alex Haley's Queen (CBS)
  • Family Pictures (ABC)
  • The Jacksons: An American Dream (ABC)
  • Sinatra (CBS)

• 1994: Prime Suspect 3 (PBS)
  • Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (CBS)
  • The Stand (ABC)
  • Tales of the City (PBS)
  • World War II: When Lions Roared (NBC)

• 1995: Joseph (TNT)
  • Buffalo Girls (CBS)
  • Children of the Dust (CBS)
  • Martin Chuzzlewit (PBS)
  • A Woman of Independent Means (NBC)

• 1996: Gulliver's Travels (NBC)
  • Andersonville (TNT)
  • Hiroshima (Showtime)
  • Moses (TNT)
  • Pride and Prejudice (A&E)

• 1997: Prime Suspect 5: Errors of Judgement (PBS)
  • In Cold Blood (CBS)
  • The Last Don (CBS)
  • The Odyssey (NBC)
  • The Shining (ABC)

• 1998: From the Earth to the Moon (HBO)
  • George Wallace (TNT)
  • Merlin (NBC)
  • Moby Dick (USA)
  • More Tales of the City (Showtime)

• 1999: Hornblower: The Even Chance (A&E)
  • Great Expectations (PBS)
  • Joan of Arc (CBS)
  • The '60s (NBC)
  • The Temptations (NBC)

2000s

• 2000: The Corner (HBO)
  • Arabian Nights (ABC)
  • The Beach Boys: An American Family (ABC)
  • Jesus (CBS)
  • P.T. Barnum (A&E)

• 2001: Anne Frank: The Whole Story (ABC)
  • Further Tales of the City (SHO)
  • Hornblower: Mutiny (A&E)
  • Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (ABC)
  • Nuremberg (TNT)

• 2002: Band of Brothers (HBO)
  • Dinotopia (ABC)
  • The Mists of Avalon (TNT)
  • Shackleton (A&E)

• 2003: Taken (Sci-Fi)
  • Hitler: The Rise of Evil (CBS)
  • Napoléon (A&E)

• 2004: Angels in America (HBO)
  • American Family: Journey of Dreams (PBS)
  • Hornblower: Duty (A&E)
  • Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness (PBS)
  • Traffic (USA)

• 2005: The Lost Prince (PBS)
  • The 4400 (USA)
  • Elvis (CBS)
  • Empire Falls (HBO)

• 2006: Elizabeth I (HBO)
  • Bleak House (PBS)
  • Into the West (TNT)
  • Sleeper Cell (Showtime)

• 2007: Broken Trail (AMC)
  • Prime Suspect: The Final Act (PBS)
  • The Starter Wife (USA)

• 2008: John Adams (HBO)
  • The Andromeda Strain (A&E)
  • Cranford (PBS)
  • Tin Man (Sci-Fi)

• 2009: Little Dorrit (PBS)
  • Generation Kill (HBO)

2010s

• 2010: The Pacific (HBO)
  • Return to Cranford (PBS)

• 2011: Downton Abbey (PBS)
  • Cinema Verite (HBO)
  • The Kennedys (ReelzChannel)
  • Mildred Pierce (HBO)
  • The Pillars of the Earth (Starz)
  • Too Big to Fail (HBO)

See also

• Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film