THERE was a time when British television was watched in America only by the metropolitan elite.

At dinner parties in Manhattan and Beverly Hills, it showed superior taste to suffer through Lewis’s accent in Inspector Morse, or marvel at the corsets in the latest Jane Austen adaptation.

Even when British shows were adapted to appeal to US sensibilities — with ’Til Death Us Do Part, for example, becoming All in the Family — it was considered good form to prefer the original.

Not any more. This year’s Emmy Awards, to be held on August 27 in Los Angeles, prove that British television executives have become astonishingly good at selling Americans the shamelessly downmarket fare that we once imported from the US.

In the reality competitions category, three of the five nominations are of British origin: American Idol, the creation of Simon Fuller, with Simon Cowell on the panel of judges; Dancing With The Stars, an overhauled version of the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing; and Survivor, the brainchild of British expat Mark Burnett.

In contrast, the highbrow categories are full of American shows popular in Britain, such as The Sopranos, 24 and The West Wing, although there are nods to more traditional British offerings, such as Channel 4’s Elizabeth I and the BBC’s Bleak House, as well as the US version of The Office.

Switch on the television in America and it appears that Britain has hijacked prime time. On NBC, you can watch Cowell’s America’s Got Talent (which has 12 million viewers despite being described as “cheerfully stupid” by Variety magazine), and The Apprentice, which was created by a Briton and won this year by a Londoner, Sean Yazbeck. Viewers were astonished when Mr Yazbeck beat off competition from several Ivy League American contestants to land the coveted job with Donald Trump on a salary of $250,000 (£140,000).

According to Kate Coe, a producer who won a Peabody Award for the series Secret Intelligence, the BBC is now seen simply as a training ground.

Naturally, she works for a Briton, Fenton Bailey, who founded World of Wonder Productions with his partner Randy Barbato. “Americans keep recruiting them because they’re so well trained, and people think the accent’s classy,” she said. “You have to be pretty sure of yourself as an American to not feel put in your place by a really great British accent.”

For those who can get past the immigration desk at Los Angeles International Airport and find employment in the US, the financial rewards can be extraordinary.

Cowell earned $98,630 a day from American Idol (he is now worth $80 million). Taylor Hicks, the winner of this year’s contest, infamously got more votes than President Bush.

Indeed, many believe that Cowell’s arrogance reached its zenith when he offered to organise the next US election, and call it President Idol.

To some Britons it’s all too vulgar. Ricky Gervais said recently that the US networks virtually threw cash at him after The Office collected two Golden Globes. “The money being offered was criminal,” he said. “It’s embarrassing enough being an actor for a living — it’s a worthless job — but when people know you earn a thousand times what a nurse earns, it’s f**king embarrassing.”

But others have happily collected the cheques for their appearances, including the former Daily Mirror Editor Piers Morgan (on America’s Got Talent); the entrepreneur Peter Jones (American Inventor); the dancers-turned-judges Nigel Lythgoe and Len Goodman (So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing With the Stars respectively); the presenter Johnny Vaughan (My Kind of Town); and the actor Ed Sanders (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition).

As for the huge wealth being amassed by expat television executives, Americans generally wish them luck — with perhaps one exception. “I don’t think people begrudge Mark Burnett, because he employs a lot of people, he pays them well and takes care of them,” says Kate Coe. “But Simon Cowell? He seems to be such a prat.”