[1] He won the 1976 BAFTA Award for Best Entertainment Programme for The Two Ronnies, the 1985 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Variety or Music Program for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and the 1987 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for The Golden Girls.
Hughes has produced or directed BBC TV variety shows such as Val Doonican, Harry Secombe and Kenneth Williams and series such as Ripping Yarns.
In 1985, as part of his work in America, Hughes won an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Variety or Music Program for directing the televised version of the musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, starring George Hearn and Angela Lansbury.
He won an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series in 1987, for the season two episode "Isn't it Romantic?"
Other than television Hughes has also directed films such as Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (which he co-directed with Ian MacNaughton) and The Butcher's Wife.