The Borgias was the big winner Wednesday night at the Geminis in Toronto.

The Showtime/CTV drama beat out two homegrown cop dramas, Endgame and Flashpoint, the latter of which was aiming for more trophies after earning three earlier Geminis for best supporting actor, best guest actor and best dramatic writing.

Flashpoint came into Canada’s TV awards with a field-leading 17 nominations.

And The Borgias beat out another Showtime costume drama, The Tudors, and Skins, for top honours on the night.

On the comedy front, Rick Mercer Report grabbed the Gemini for best comedy, beating out a strong field that included the HBO Canada sitcom Call Me Fitz, the pay TV comedy Living In Your Car, and perennial Gemini winner This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

The Jason Priestly-starring Call Me Fitz did snag best comedy actress Gemini for Tracy Dawson, after the homegrown sitcom earlier picked up six trophies during pre-live telecast prize-giving, including best comedy direction for Scott Smith, and best comedy writing for Pat Bullard.

Call Me Fitz came into the Geminis with 16 nominations in all.

Michelle Thrush surprised by taking the best dramatic actress Gemini for her work in the APTN drama Blackstone.

“Oh my god, I’m so freaked out now!,” an emotional Thrush said when accepting her awards.

Thrush beat out fellow Blackstone thesp Carmen Moore, Being Erica’s Erin Karpluk, and Lauren Lee Smith from The Listener for the acting crown.

Callum Keith Rennie (pictured) was named best dramatic actor for his star-turn on the crime series Shattered and Peter Keleghan was named best comedy actor for his work on CBC’s 18 to Life.

As well, James Duthie earned the Gemini for best sports show hosting for NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft.

Another big winner on the night was the Geminis band, which endlessly struck up a tune to whisk winners off stage before they went long with acceptance speeches.

“That’s too quick,” Rennie called out to the Geminis band when they struck up a tune to encourage an exit.

Rennie did leave the stage,  but only after he gave a shout-out to his mother.

The Geminis live telecast on the CBC was preceded by the web series @TomGreenLive, hosted by Tom Greene.

[nggallery id=17]

Rick Mercer Report