Mr Bates vs The Post Office has triple win at National Television Awards
Mr Bates vs The Post Office took home three trophies at the National Television Awards on Wednesday night, welcoming former subpostmasters to the stage to honour the victims.
The ITV drama helped renew attention to the subpostmasters who were wrongly prosecuted during the Horizon IT scandal.
Toby Jones secured the best drama performance gong during the annual awards ceremony at The O2 in London.
Jones portrayed former subpostmaster Sir Alan Bates, one of more than 550 claimants who have brought legal action against the Post Office.
In his acceptance speech the actor said: “This means an awful lot, not just to me but to the extraordinary people who inspired our show.”
He also used the opportunity to congratulate the real Sir Alan on his recent marriage to his partner Suzanne Sercombe and hailed the drama as an “extraordinary project” to work on.
The four-part miniseries, also took home the prize for best new drama, beating out tough competition of the likes of Netflix hit Baby Reindeer, romantic drama One Day and thrillers Fool Me Once and Red Eye.
In emotional scenes, the subpostmasters gathered on stage, hugging the actors who acknowledged their bravery for sharing their stories.
The show also was given the Impact Award for creating a “huge cultural shift”.
Stacey Solomon picked up the first prize of the night for her reality show Sort Your Life Out.
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It beat Clarkson’s Farm, Gogglebox, The Martin Lewis Money Show Live and The Yorkshire Vet in the factual entertainment category.
TV presenter Solomon thanked the families who opened up their homes and hearts to her for the show as she collected the prize.
Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly kicked off what could be another successful night by picking up the Bruce Forsyth entertainment award for reality series I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!.
Good Morning Britain star Kate Garraway completed a hat-trick in the best authored documentary category and dedicated the award to her late husband Derek Draper.
She won the prize for Kate Garraway: Derek’s Story which followed the final year of Draper’s life before he died in January aged 56 after a lengthy battle with the long-term effects of Covid.
Garraway described the moment as "bittersweet", as she brought her son and daughter forward with her to collect the award, reflecting on how the family navigating the first year of "firsts" without Draper. She said “It’s so strange to be here – this one’s for you Derek, absolutely.”
It follows on from two other programmes about his battle with Covid and her struggles navigating the care system, which both picked up NTA gongs in the category in 2021 and 2022.
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