David Farnor | On 10, Sep 2021

This week saw the National Television Awards announce its winners for 2021, and It’s a Sin and Line of Duty came out leading the pack.

The Channel 4 series took home the prize for New Drama, which has been heralded as a game-changing moment for the UK TV landscape, as the AIDS drama raised awareness and won over hearts across the country. Creator Russell T Davies accepted the award at the ceremony on Thursday night, paying tribute to those who had died during the AIDS pandemic in the 80s.

Jed Mercurio’s police drama, meanwhile, won two awards, taking home both the Returning Drama prize and the Special Recognition Award.

ITV’s Des won the best Drama Performance prize for David Tennant, while Channel 4’s The Great British Bake Off was named the best Challenge Show. Coronation Street was named this year’s best Serial Drama, with Mollie Gallagher, who plays Nina in the soap opera, also taking home the prize for best Serial Drama Performance.

On a night that was typically dominated by traditional, linear TV, however, Netflix also made a splash, with Ricky Gervais’ After Live being named best Comedy, seeing off competition from The Vicar of Dibley, Friday Night Dinner and another Netflix series, Sex Education.

Here’s the list of the full winners:

New Drama

It’s a Sin (Channel 4)

Returning Drama

Line of Duty (BBC One)

Drama Performance

David Tennant (Des Nilsen, Des – ITV)

Comedy

After Life (Netflix)

Challenge Show

The Great British Bake Off (Channel 4)

Talent Show

Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One)

Quiz Game Show

Beat the Chasers (ITV)

The Sir Bruce Forsyth Entertainment Award

I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here

Serial Drama

Coronation Street (ITV)

Serial Drama Performance

Mollie Gallagher (Nina Lucas, Coronation Street – ITV)

Newcomer

Jude Riordan (Sam Blakeman, Coronation Street – ITV)

Daytime

This Morning (ITV)

Authored Documentary

Kate Garraway: Finding Derek (ITV)

TV Presenter

Ant & Dec

Factual

Gogglebox (Channel 4)

Special Recognition Award

Line Of Duty (BBC One)

 

NTA 2021: Line of Duty leads 2021 award nominees

18th August 2021

The National Television Awards will return this September, and Line of Duty is leading this year’s nominees, despite serious competition from streaming programmes.

After a longer than usual 20-month wait, the star-studded ceremony will be broadcast live on ITV on 9th September 2021 at 7.30pm, with host Joel Dommett leading the celebrations.

Can anything beat the ratings juggernaut that is Jed Mercurio’s cop drama? That’s the big question when it comes to Returning Drama, where the latest run of the anti-corruption thriller is up against the shocking and emotional Unforgotten, the tenth anniversary series of Call the Midwife, as well as the acclaimed Charles-and-Diana-focused episodes of The Crown.

The four New Drama contenders each became word-of-mouth hits. Des offered a glimpse into the mind of a murderous narcissist while Normal People had us rooting for an intense young romance. Regency-era Bridgerton provided welcome escapism and It’s a Sin moved the nation to tears.

Five famous faces who showcased their personal plights are competing for the inaugural Authored Documentary award. The powerful state-of-the-nation shows are the Covid-19-focused Kate Garraway: Finding Derek, Katie Price: Harvey and Me, Rob Burrow: My Year with MND, Roman Kemp: Our Silent Emergency, plus a programme by a man whose campaigning made political waves: Marcus Rashford Feeding Britain’s Children.

The hidden-identity hilarity of The Masked Singer faces stiff rivalry from current award-holder Strictly Come Dancing, entertainment powerhouse Britain’s Got Talent and cult favourite RuPaul’s Drag Race UK in the Talent Show category. Which show will rank highest in the affections of viewers?

Ant and Dec are aiming to bag their 20th award in a row for TV Presenter, but although they face competition from Holly Willoughby and first-time nominee Alison Hammond, with Bradley Walsh also in the chase for the prize.

AC-12’s finest have all been rewarded for their service to anti-corruption policing, with Adrian Dunbar, Martin Compston and Vicky McClure up for Drama Performance. They’re up against It’s a Sin’s breakout star Olly Alexander and David Tennant, who starred in Des.

The Bruce Forsyth Entertainment Award honours four shows that didn’t let social distancing prevent them from entertaining viewers: Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway unveiled its virtual wall, I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! decamped to Wales, Taskmaster was a big success in its new home on Channel 4 while The Graham Norton Show continued to bring us guests from the celebrity A-list.

The Gogglebox stars now feel like part of our own families and their competition for the Factu-al award are two hit series – Gordon, Gino and Fred: American Road Trip and previous winner Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs – as well as a tragic exploration of the darker side of fame, Caroline Flack: Her Life and Death.

Our soaps innovated and adapted on an unprecedented scale, with Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Eastenders and Hollyoaks becoming pioneers for the industry at large as they re-entered production following lockdown. All four are up for Serial Drama, with Emmerdale hop-ing to retain the trophy it won in 2020.

A quartet of stand-out actors who tackled gritty social issues are up for Serial Drama Performance. There’s a strong showing for Coronation Street’s hate-crime storyline, with Mollie Gal-lagher and Sally Carman both nominated. Competition comes from Danny Dyer, who tackled historic sexual abuse on EastEnders, while Billy Price is singled out for his work on Hollyoaks’s County Lines plotline.

Fresh formats and old favourites vie for supremacy in the new Quiz Game Show category. Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel goes up against some familiar teatime faces who were sent into primetime as Beat the Chasers turned out to be a big hit. They’re up against two Stephen Mulhern-fronted series: Celebrity Catchphrase and In for a Penny.

The Newcomer category honours the stars of soapland whose arrivals have made a big impression. The debut performers are 10-year-old Jude Riordan (Sam Blakeman on Coronation Street), Emile John (aka new Emmerdale legal eagle Ethan Anderson), Olivia D’Lima (forthright paramedic Fenisha on Casualty), Rose Ayling-Ellis (the Carter clan’s newest addition Frankie Lewis on EastEnders) and Rhiannon Clements (who plays Hollyoaks schemer Summer Ranger).

The Repair Shop has earned recognition in the category of Daytime, but can it triumph against three well-established staples of the schedules: Loose Women, This Morning and The Chase?

Love Island is nominated for best Challenge Show against Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins and Great British contests Sewing Bee and Bake Off.

The old guard takes on the new for the Comedy award, with Dawn French returning to her parish as The Vicar of Dibley, while Ricky Gervais headed into Netflix’s After Life. Sex Education continued to push boundaries on the streaming service and a decade of Friday Night Dinner became a poignant celebration following the tragic death of the much-missed Paul Ritter.

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