BBC thriller Killing Eve was the big winner at the Bafta TV Awards, scooping three trophies including best actress for Jodie Comer and best drama series.

I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here and Britain's Got Talent also picked up prizes, despite Ant McPartlin taking time out from both series last year.

BGT won best entertainment show and I'm A Celebrity won the reality prize.

Benedict Cumberbatch won best actor for his drama Patrick Melrose, which was also named best mini-series.

The ceremony took place at the Royal Festival Hall in London on Sunday.

In Killing Eve, Comer played offbeat assassin Villanelle, who was pursued by intelligence agent Eve, played by Sandra Oh. Both were nominated for best actress.

Accepting the award, a tearful Comer - who dedicated her award to her late grandmother - said: "Thank you so much. Sorry, I'm the only one who's turned on the waterworks."

Paying tribute to the show's writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge, she said: "I feel so lucky to say I worked with you, also to call you a friend. You're the most talented person I know, also an inspiration."

Fiona Shaw was named best supporting actress for playing spy boss Carolyn Martens, a role she said had been "probably the greatest pleasure of my life".

She also expressed gratitude to Waller-Bridge and her "glass-shattering genius and wayward imagination".

Killing Eve's inclusion this year was unusual, in that Bafta bent the rules to allow it to be nominated.

In the entertainment programme category, BGT triumphed despite the fact Declan Donnelly had to host the live shows solo after Ant McPartlin's drink-drive conviction.

Ant missed last year's I'm A Celebrity completely, with Dec joined by Holly Willoughby for hosting duties.

Speaking backstage, Dec said: "It's been a tough year personally and professionally. I was just trying to do my best, and just keep the shows warm for him for when he was ready to come back.

"And they have both won Baftas, so how cool am I?"

But the duo lost out on the best entertainment performance award to Lee Mack, who scooped the prize for his appearances on comedy panel show Would I Lie To You?

Benedict Cumberbatch (left) and winners of the mini-series award for Patrick Melrose

Benedict Cumberbatch won his first Bafta for Sky's Patrick Melrose, adapted from novels by Edward St Aubyn, 14 years after his first nomination.

Accepting the award, he said: "I think I'm going to fall over, I'm very used to being a bridesmaid not the bride."

Cumberbatch, who played a man grappling with the ghost of his abusive father, thanked his wife, writer and theatre director Sophie Hunter, saying: "You're my rock, I had to go pretty weird for this one and it was nice to come home and feel stable again.

"It's all right, I've got one [award] and I'm going to bring it home."

Other winners included:
Supporting actor - Ben Whishaw, A Very English Scandal (BBC One)
Soap and continuing drama - EastEnders (BBC One)
Scripted comedy - Sally4Ever (Sky Atlantic)
Male performance in a comedy programme - Steve Pemberton, Inside No 9 (BBC Two)
Female performance in a comedy programme - Jessica Hynes, There She Goes (BBC Four)
Comedy and comedy entertainment programme - A League of Their Own (Sky One)
Factual series - Louis Theroux's Altered States (BBC Two)

Earlier, Daisy May Cooper, who was nominated for the best female comedy performance award for This Country, turned up on the red carpet wearing a dress made from bin liners.

It cost "about £5", she said. "The reason I'm wearing this is if I wore a normal dress, that would cost a lot of money and I thought I'd donate that money to a local food bank and wear bin bags instead."

Journalist and broadcaster Baroness Joan Bakewell was honoured with the Bafta Television Fellowship.

She told the ceremony she had been inspired by Charlotte Bronte at the age of 12, and had been determined to make it in a male-dominated industry.

"It has been a long journey, and along the way I've had the encouragement and professional support of many, many women, making their own bid to [have] as much a chance as men. And possibly earn as much. That would be nice."

Happy Valley and Queer As Folk producer Nicola Shindler was presented with a special award in recognition of her contribution to the television industry.

The Bafta Craft Awards - which recognise behind-the-scenes talent like writers and sound editors - took place last month, with A Very English Scandal going home with the most trophies.

 

BBC

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