Royal Television Society Awards 2024: Triumphant night for emotional Hannah Waddingham as she wins presenter gong while dramas Happy Valley and Time sweep ceremony

Hannah Waddingham was overcome with emotion as she won Best Entertainment Presenter at the Royal Television Society Awards at The Grosvenor House Hotel in London on Tuesday.

The Ted Lasso star won for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, which she co-hosted with Graham Norton, Alesha Dixon and Julia Sanina. 

Accepting her award, the 49-year-old actress shared: 'I feel like I'm going to look back at photos like, "Can you stop grinning like a Cheshire cat?" I'm very pleased. It's a little overwhelming. 

'As a live TV novice, BBC Studios grabbed me in, and, I don't mean to be cheesy, they absolutely made me believe I could do this. 

'When we finally went up, I can't tell you how supported we felt. I would not be here if BBC Studios hadn't reached out to me.' 

It wasn't the only gong the contest won as it also received the Live Event award. 

The top TV winners on the night went went to BBC dramas Time and Happy Valley.

Three-part series Time starred Jodie Whittaker, Tamara Lawrance and Bella Ramsey, as three inmates who all arrive at a Liverpool prison on the same day. 

Tamara, 30, took home the Leading Actor - Female award for her role in the prison drama with the jury praising her 'deep, layered performance'. 

Bella, 20, was also recognised, winning the Supporting Actor – Female award over fellow nominees Jasmine Jobson for Top Boy and Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo. 

The actor, who identifies as non-binary, spoke about the difficulty they had disconnecting from the role after work.

'I definitely got too into some of the scenes,' they said. 

'I went home and watched some fun kids movies sometimes to get me out of it and ate my vegan chicken out of the fridge. I'm not very good at disconnecting but I gave it a go.' 

Happy Valley, which stars Sarah Lancashire as Sgt Catherine Cawood and James Norton as murderer Tommy Lee Royce, beat out The Gold and Top Boy for the Drama award.

'It's game changing, top-of-the-class drama,' said the jury. 'Sometimes operatic in scale, but attentive to the tiniest detail.'

Stacey Solomon took home the award for Formatted Popular Factual show for her BBC series Sort Your Life Out which sees the presenter and her team transform people's homes.

The Loose Women star beat out fellow nominees Banged Up and The Piano, both on Channel 4.  

Speaking after her win, Stacey said: 'It's a ginormous crew that helps us out. There's so many runners, researchers, even our execs get involved making sure the floor pattern is in the right place and also making sure it's a nice experience for the family.

'The crew work for hours and hours meticulously putting everything into what you see. I love them so much.'

Alex Scott was honoured with the Sports Presenter award where she was nominated against Gabby Logan and Nasser Hussain.

She was praised as 'a broadcaster who offers balance, objectivity and truly exceptional expert analysis.'  

Chris Packham received the Presenter award for his programme Inside Our Autistic Minds with the jury praising him for his 'charisma and directness'. 

The Comedy Drama award went to BBC's Juice while Disney+ series Extraordinary won the Scripted Comedy award.

Hammed Animashaun received the Comedy Performance - Male gong for his role in Black Ops while his co-star Gbemisola Ikumelo won the Comedy Performance - Female award. 

Top Boy star Kane Robinson beat out Gary Oldman and Timothy Spall for the Leading Actor - Male award while the Supporting Actor – Male award went to Eanna Hardwicke.

It was a good night for true crime drama The Sixth Commandment which also received the Limited Series award and the Writer - Drama award for Sarah Phelps. 

The BBC had another success with EastEnders who beat out Casualty and Waterloo Road to receive the Soap and Continuing Drama award.