Extras, the comedy about a struggling background actor who turns into a sitcom celebrity which was written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, has won a Golden Globe award.

The sitcom was named "Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy" at a press conference in Los Angeles. But the lavish red carpet ceremony was cancelled because of the ongoing writers' strike, meaning Gervais and Merchant were not there in person to pickup the award.

The BBC comedy, which was co-produced with American cable network HBO, was up against American sitcoms 30 Rock, Californication, Entourage and Pushing Daisies for the award.

The Golden Globe Awards are run as a fundraiser by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). The judging is conducted by 86 mostly part-time journalists living in Hollywood and affiliated with media outside of America.

Although Extras picked up the 'Best Comedy' award, Ricky Gervais missed out on the 'Best Actor' gong to David Duchovny, who took the honours for Californication. Duchovny later revealed he had been too nervous to watch the televised announcement.

In 2004 Ricky Gervais famously won two Golden Globes in the one year for The Office. Incidentally, Canal 13 in Chile has bought the rights to remake the hit sitcom in Latin America. This will become the fifth re-make - the show having previously been re-worked for American, French, German and French Canadian viewers.