Tuesday’s ceremony at the 31st National Television Awards brought tears to Alan Carr’s eyes during a special moment when he accepted the Special Recognition prize. Before the award was handed to him, the comic was surprised by a Traitors-themed musical performance staged in his honour, during which castmate Paloma Faith emerged from a coffin.
Before the event, Carr had played down his chances for his Changing Ends series. He made a joke about it, saying “Comedy is so subjective… Mrs Brown’s Boys wins every year, why am I even here?”.
That was accurate: Mrs Brown’s Boys took home the Comedy prize.
Carr’s tearful win
Carr had said there would be “ugly crying” if he took home a prize, and he kept his promise when he accepted the Special Recognition award — the sole category not voted for by the public.
Carr told BBC News that appearing on The Celebrity Traitors had given him more attention than anything else in his career. He described the show as a “phenomenon”, saying it was “I’ve never had popularity like it,”.
Singer Charlotte Church has praised the finale of the show, saying it drew in 15 million viewers within seven days. She described it as a “beautiful vignette of male tenderness and emotional expression”.
“Alan, Nick (Mohammed) and David (Olusoga), you were just absolutely sublime,” she added.
Attenborough wins at 100
At his 100th birthday year, Sir David Attenborough took the Best Presenter title, narrowly besting Ant and Dec. Gary Lineker had previously snapped Ant and Dec’s 23-year run at the top the previous year.
Mark Brownlow, who has worked alongside Attenborough for many years, collected the prize instead of the broadcaster. He delivered a message from Attenborough, asking people to do what they can to safeguard the natural world.
“Humanity has always needed the natural world for all the practicalities of life and for our mental wellbeing,” Attenborough wrote. “Now the natural world needs us too: surely we must not ignore that simple fact.”
Clarkson’s Farm wins again
The NTA went to Clarkson’s Farm for a second consecutive year, claiming the inaugural Celebrity-Led Reality Docuseries prize. That category also included entries from Stacey Solomon and Joe Swash, Tyson Fury, Kelvin Fletcher, and Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse.
The Authored Documentary category also saw shows led by celebrities, with entries from Sir Chris Hoy, the Olympic athlete, former Little Mix singer Jesy Nelson, and Sharon Osbourne’s film about her late husband Ozzy.
Their daughter Kelly Osbourne spoke to BBC News on the red carpet about the documentary about her father being listed, and she said her family were “honoured”. She described the listing as a “tragic but beautiful story”.
She said she had spoken to her mother Sharon just before arriving: “We are so close. I was on the phone with her before I got out of the car.”
The people picked Our Girls: The Southport Families over the other choice. That BBC series follows the lives of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, the children killed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport back in 2024.
Accepting the award, Elsie’s mother Jenni Stancombe told the audience: “We never expected to be stood up here, so I don’t know what to say.
“We know you didn’t vote for us, you voted for our three girls.”
McClure leads drama wins
Trigger Point’s lead actress Vicky McClure took home Best Drama Performance at the ceremony, with the prize marking a milestone for the category: its first all-female shortlist ever.
In the winners’ room, she spoke to BBC News about the category’s history with her team’s absence. She said: “Over the years it has not been our space, and here we are dominating that category.”
“I feel honoured to be amongst those wonderful women.”
ITV’s true crime drama I Fought The Law brought Sheridan Smith together with McClure, with Smith cast as campaigner Ann Ming. Though Smith came up short in the individual category, the show itself went on to claim the New Drama prize.
Norton’s Swift-Kelce suit
Away from the awards, nominee Graham Norton revealed his red carpet outfit had already had one high-profile outing this year. “This is what I wore to Taylor Swift’s wedding,” he told BBC News.
Norton said guests had agreed not to reveal details of the celebrations. “I had a wonderful time and we all agreed by saying yes to going, we weren’t going to blab about it.”
Norton, who also featured in Swift’s music video for Opalite earlier this year, said working with the singer showed him “what leadership is like at that level”. “It was such a happy set. Everyone was working as hard as they could for her,” he said.
The winners in full
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| Reality competition | The Celebrity Traitors |
| New drama | I Fought The Law |
| Authored documentary | Our Girls: The Southport Families |
| TV presenter | David Attenborough |
| Reality docuseries | Clarkson’s Farm |
| Comedy | Mrs Brown’s Boys |
| Special Recognition | Alan Carr |
Several other shows appear across a number of categories, though no winners are named. Among quiz show entries were Ant & Dec’s Limitless Win, Michael McIntyre”s The Wheel, Richard Osman’s House of Games, The 1% Club and The Chase. Drama entries that returned included Blue Lights, Bridgerton, Call the Midwife, Stranger Things and Trigger Point.
Other wins
- The Celebrity Traitors beat the original version of the show to win Reality Competition.
- I Fought The Law won New Drama over A Woman of Substance, Believe Me, Heated Rivalry and The Other Bennet Sister.
- Our Girls: The Southport Families won Authored Documentary.
- Clarkson’s Farm won Reality Docuseries.
- Mrs Brown’s Boys won the Comedy prize.
Carr had two reasons to be happy: The Celebrity Traitors won Reality Competition, which gave him cause for celebration.
Source: bbc.co.uk
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