At the Emmys, the very-Jewy The Studio, about life behind the scenes in Hollywood, created by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, won the most for any comedy in the awards’ history. Hannah Einbinder also won for Hacks, but perhaps we should skirt over her “as a Jew” speech – and concentrate instead on Noah Wyle picking up his first-ever Emmy as the star of new medical drama The Pitt.
But the worthiest Emmy winner was surely We Will Dance Again, the searing, unforgettable documentary about the Nova festival, which was made by BBC commissioning editor Lucie Kon and producer Leo Pearlman – both British Jews – and Israeli director Yariv Moser, and took an award for Outstanding Current Affairs. The film also won a special prize – The Most Impactful Film To Society – at the International Emmys.
Fans of The White Lotus know that it was Jason Isaacs who stole the show in the third season with his performance as an almost impossibly stressed businessman. The British star claimed his first Emmy nomination for the role, although he was left empty-handed when it came it on the night. But not to worry – but he’s up for a Golden Globe too.
Jason Isaacs in The White Lotus (HBO/Sky)[Missing Credit]
Back in Britain at the Baftas, the JC’s own columnist Rob Rinder picked up a Best Factual Entertainment gong alongside pal Rylan Clark for their surprisingly sensitive and richly informative BBC One cultural travelogue Rob and Rylan’s Grand Tour.
On stage, Mark Rosenblatt’s acclaimed Roald Dahl antisemitism drama Giant picked up a clutch of Olivier Awards: Best New Play, and honours for John Lithgow as the children’s author and Elliot Levey playing his Jewish publisher Tom Maschler. The show is now due to head from the West End to Broadway in the spring.
Claudia Winkleman not only picked up a richly deserved MBE “for services to broadcasting” but can now be considered the official queen of television with the huge success of Celebrity Traitors reaching even more stratospheric levels. Yes, she has quit Strictly Come Dancing, but speculation is mounting that she will soon be hosting her own chat show. In the meantime, we can enjoy another season of Traitors which kicks off on New Year’s Day.
WINDSOR, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 9: Claudia Winkleman after being made a Member of the Order of the British Empire during an Investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle on December 9, 2025 in Windsor, England. (Photo by Ben Birchall - WPA Pool/Getty Images)Getty Images
Tracy Ann Oberman was another MBE winner, for Holocaust Education and Combatting Antisemitism. The indefatigable star of stage and screen also helmed an amazing year of Jewish theatre with her acclaimed performance in New York comedy-drama The Assembled Parties as Faye, matriarch of an Upper West Side family.
LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 12: Tracy-Ann Oberman attends the WhatsOnStage Awards 2023 at Prince Of Wales Theatre on February 12, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images)Getty Images
It was a year in which you could spend every evening for fortnight in theatre land watching Jewish or Jewy productions from old classics to modern hits, including The Producers, Fiddler on the Roof, Bad Jews, Faygele, The Wanderers, Clueless and Good Night, Oscar.
Plus there was the unadulterated comedy pleasure of Mock the Week creator Dan Patterson’s acapella retelling of Bram Stoker’s Dracula: yes, grab a ticket for Dracappella at the Park Theatre if you can.
And it was a year of firsts – with David Corenswet becoming the first Jewish actor to play Superman and Gal Gadot becoming the first Israeli to win a star on the prestigious Hollywood Walk of Fame. Ellie Goldstein won the hearts of millions as the first person with Down’s Syndrome to appear on Strictly Come Dancing with the Duchess of Edinburgh saying that she had “dispelled quite a number of perceptions of people with learning difficulties.”
Scarlett Johannson, meanwhile, broke records as the highest-grossing actor in Hollywood history thanks to the success of Jurassic World Rebirth on top of her roles in the Marvel movies. In total, her films have grossed a collective £11.3billion over her 20-year career. But the star will also have been delighted over the warm reception for her directorial debut, comedy drama Eleanor the Great, about an elderly woman who is mistakenly thought to be a Holocaust survivor.
The film’s release prompted Scarlett to start talking about antisemitism. The importance of this should not be underestimated in a year when the silence on the subject was sometimes deafening.
Many stars were vocal on one cause. Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Coleman, Javier Bardem and Susan Sarandon were among 1,300 filmmakers who said they would refuse to work with Israeli film companies “implicated in genocide”.
Some stars were forced to apologise after going down conspiracy holes. Gary Lineker went just a step too far, even for the BBC, sharing a post about Zionism with a rat emoji. Australian actor Guy Pearce had delivered a brilliant performance as an antisemite in The Brutalist. Now he apologised for “misinformation and falsehoods” after sharing posts which suggested Israel was behind 9/11, that Israeli officials were behind the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and that the “top three pornography companies are owned by Jewish people”. John Cleese also apologised for reposting the claim that Israel “controls global finance” while Dawn French said sorry for a video about the Gaza war that appeared to minimise the horror the October 7 attacks.
Here comes the bit where we smash the glass and remember the pain. It hasn’t been easy for Jews in showbusiness. For many, there is the silent cancellation – where it is impossible to know whether the people who had always loved them suddenly stopped calling because they were Jewish or for some other reason.
This cancellation – real or perceived – has a silencing effect with many too frightened to speak up against antisemitism. Those who do – such as Gal Gadot or American heavy metal singer David Draiman – are followed around by activists and sent death threats. Amid that kind of rancour, just wearing a hostage pin on a red carpet became an act of defiance.
And sometimes the cancelling is so loud it is shocking, such as for comics Rachel Creeger and Philip Simon whose Edinburgh Fringe shows were axed by one venue because staff felt ‘unsafe’. Both will feature at the Big Jewish Comedy Gala at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in January.
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But I feel like we are beginning to see a fightback. This is the bit where we click glasses and say ‘l’chaim’ because we must. Soon we will see the long-delayed fourth season of hit Israeli thriller drama Tehran on Apple. Fauda is coming back to Netflix, too, and I couldn’t be more excited.
Paramount, one of Hollywood’s biggest studios, has denounced the idea of boycotting Israelis, saying: “Silencing individual creative artists based on their nationality does not promote better understanding or advance the cause of peace.” This is an important move.
And even the attempt to cancel Israel from the Eurovision song contest failed despite the shrill histrionics of Ireland and Spain, among others. It has sometimes felt like the world of Jews in showbusiness has been a tragedy. At other times a comedy. But whatever happens next, the show will go on and Jews will be in it.
