The ITV co-production was named best mini-series in the Emmy awards.

The awards, given out each year by the 9,500-member Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, are considered US TV's highest honours.

Ioan Gruffudd, aged 25, from Cardiff, plays the title role in the historical sea drama, which is set during the Napoleonic wars.

Blockbuster

Gruffudd previously came to prominence due to his role in the James Cameron blockbuster Titanic, in which he played an officer who rescued survivors of the ocean liner disaster.

He has also recently starred in the romantic drama Solomon and Gaenor, in which he plays a Jewish boy who falls in love with a Welsh girl.

The film was made in both English and Welsh-language versions. Gruffudd, who attended Welsh-medium schools in Cardiff, is a fluent Welsh speaker.

He is the latest British actor being tipped to make it big in Hollywood, according to reports.

He has been reported as being in line to star opposite fellow Welsh actress Catherine Zeta Zones in The Tenth Victim, a big-budget remake of a 1960s Italian sci-fi adventure.

He also starred in the BBC's Great Expectations, which was also nominated for an Emmy award.