Sheridan Smith, Toby Jones and Lenny Henry were among the winners at the Broadcasting Press Guild awards on Friday.
Smith and Jones both won for biopics – Smith for her role as Cilla Black in ITV’s Cilla, Jones for his role as Stoke City kit man Neil Baldwin in BBC2’s Marvellous. Smith also starred in ITV’s The Widower and Jones in BBC4 comedy, Detectorists.
It was a double win for Marvellous which won the best single drama prize, picked up by its writer, Peter Bowker.
Lenny Henry was awarded the BPG’s highest honour, the Harvey Lee award for outstanding contribution to broadcasting, in recognition of his campaign for greater diversity in the industry and for his role in Comic Relief, which also takes place today.
Other winners at the awards at London’s Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, included Hugo Blick’s BBC2 drama The Honourable Woman, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Sally Wainwright, who won the writer’s award for BBC1’s Happy Valley.
The writers of another BBC1 drama, The Missing, Harry and Jack Williams, won the breakthrough award, while the innovation in broadcasting prize went to Vice News for The Islamic State and other original commissions.
Gogglebox and Benefits Street, both on Channel 4, were also winners, as was BBC1 comedy W1A, BBC1 documentary Baby P: The Untold Story and UKTV’s Crackanory.
Woman’s Hour presenter Jane Garvey won the radio broadcaster of the year award, while Radio 4’s Germany: Memories of a Nation, made in partnership with the British Museum and its director, Neil MacGregor, who presented it, won radio programme of the year.
The awards, sponsored by the Discovery Channel, are voted for by journalists who write about TV and radio.
Broadcasting Press Guild awards - full list of winners
Best Factual Entertainment
Gogglebox (Studio Lambert for Channel 4)
Best Single Drama
Marvellous (Fifty Fathoms/Tiger Aspect for BBC2)
Best Drama Series
The Honourable Woman (Drama Republic and Eight Rooks for BBC2)
Best Single Documentary
Baby P: The Untold Story (Sandpaper Films for BBC1)
Best Documentary Series
Benefits Street (Love Productions for Channel 4)
Best Multichannel Programme
Crackanory (Tiger Aspect for UKTV Dave)
Radio Programme of the Year
Germany: Memories of A Nation (BBC Radio Production in partnership with the British Museum for BBC Radio 4)
Radio Broadcaster of the Year
Jane Garvey - Woman’s Hour (BBC Radio & Music Production for BBC Radio 4)
Best Entertainment/Comedy
W1A (BBC2)
Writer’s Award
Sally Wainwright (Last Tango In Halifax and Happy Valley for BBC1)
Best Actress
Sheridan Smith (Cilla Black in Cilla & Claire Webster in The Widower)
Best Actor
Toby Jones (Neil Baldwin in Marvellous & Lance in Detectorists)
Breakthrough Award
Harry and Jack Williams, writers of The Missing (New Pictures, Company Pictures and Two Brothers Pictures for BBC1)
Innovation in Broadcasting Award
Vice News for The Islamic State and other original commissions
Harvey Lee Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting
Lenny Henry
