BBC2 enjoyed a champagne popping evening at a TV awards ceremony last night, with the critically acclaimed comedy, The Office, and comedian Johnny Vegas sharing the glory.
The Royal Television Society awards in London, presented by Graham Norton, will have provided welcome relief for the BBC, which has been criticised recently for abandoning quality programming in the search for ratings.
BBC1 shows including The Way We Live Now, EastEnders and Clocking Off won awards.
Winners for Channel 4 included Banzai, Faking It and Kumbh Mela
The Office, which was shot in an unconventional documentary style, was voted best comedy. It beat off competition from Channel 4's Brass Eye satire about the media portrayal of paedophilia and its comedy Phoenix Nights.
The central performance in The Office by Ricky Gervais, who co-wrote the show, was singled out for special praise.
Johnny Vegas won best network newcomer for his role in the BBC2 comedy Happiness. He gave a typically rambling but endearing acceptance speech.
"It wasn't down to me, it was down to the BBC, who had the strength to audition a fucking pisshead," he told the award ceremony audience.
Other BBC2 winners included Anne Robinson's daytime quiz show The Weakest Link, an Arena documentary about the American crime writer James Ellroy, and natural history series Congo.
In one of the surprises of the night, Congo beat the much lauded BBC1 documentary The Blue Planet to win the science and natural history award.
EastEnders won the society's inaugural soap award, in recognition of a year in which the denizens of Walford provided both strong ratings and storylines, in the judges' view.
There were also awards for BBC1's factory set drama Clocking Off and a best actor award for David Suchet in its adaptation of Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live Now.
Channel 4's satirical gambling show, Banzai, was named the best entertainment show, while Faking It - a reality format in which, for instance, a classical musician becomes a dance DJ - won the prime time features award.
Cumbh Mela, Channel 4's nightly coverage of an Indian religious festival, was voted the best team production.
ITV had a disappointing night, although Ant and Dec were named best presenters for their work on the Saturday morning children's show SM:TV Live.
Other ITV winners included the single documentary, Kelly and Her Sisters, and the children's drama, My Parents Are Aliens.
The only cable and satellite winner of the night was Nick News, a wised-up production for Nickelodeon, which beat BBC1's Newsround in the children's factual category.
The winners are...
Best situation comedy and comedy drama The Office (BBC2)
Best network newcomer Johnny Vegas (Happiness, BBC2)
Best presenters Ant and Dec (SM:TV Live, ITV)
Best soap EastEnders (BBC1)
Best daytime programme The Weakest Link (BBC1)
Best entertainment programme Banzai (Channel 4)
Best features programme, prime time Faking It (Channel 4)
Best drama series Clocking Off (BBC1)
Best science and natural history programme Congo (BBC2)
Best serials and single drama Perfect Strangers (BBC2)
