Stephen Graham and Tamara Lawrance among big winners at RTS Programme Awards
The awards ceremony went ahead without an audience or nominees being present because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Virtues star Stephen Graham and The Long Song actress Tamara Lawrance were among the big winners at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards, which were held behind closed doors because of coronavirus.
Comedian Paul Merton hosted the ceremony without an audience or nominees being present and it was live-streamed on the internet.
Lawrance was the winner in the female acting category, while Graham picked up the equivalent male award.
In the comedy performance category, Derry Girls star Saoirse-Monica Jackson was named as the best female and Ncuti Gatwa got the gong for best male.
Wayne Garvie, chair of the RTS Programme Awards, said: “We are all facing an incredibly difficult time and rightfully have made responsible changes to the format of the RTS Programme Awards.
“Despite this, we would like to acknowledge the incredible contribution of all our nominees to the UK’s television output and celebrate our deserving winners.”
Other award recipients were Mobeen Azhar, who won the presenter award for the Hometown: A Killing documentary, while the Fleabag series was named best scripted comedy.
In addition to Lawrance’s award, The Long Song, which is about slavery in Jamaica, was also named best mini-series.
The best single documentary gong went to War In The Blood, which is about cancer treatment, while Casualty was named best soap and continuing drama.
Stormzy performing at last year’s Glastonbury was named as the winner of the best live event category, while the ICC Cricket World Cup Final was named as the best sports programme.
Channel 5 won the channel of the year award, beating nominees BBC Three and Sky Atlantic.
