Entertainment

Michaela Coel and David Tennant among big winners at BPG Awards

Emma Corrin also won the BPG breakthrough award for her role as Diana, Princess of Wales in Netflix’s The Crown.
Emma Corrin also won the BPG breakthrough award for her role as Diana, Princess of Wales in Netflix’s The Crown. Emma Corrin also won the BPG breakthrough award for her role as Diana, Princess of Wales in Netflix’s The Crown.

Michaela Coel and David Tennant were among the big winners at the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards.

The pair both picked up major prizes during Friday’s virtual ceremony.

I May Destroy You creator and star Coel won in the actress, writer and drama series categories.

Our Planet Global Premiere – London
Our Planet Global Premiere – London (Ian West/PA)

The hit series explores the aftermath of sexual assault.

Coel said: “Receiving this from the Broadcasting Press Guild is particularly meaningful to me, because this is awarded by journalists, the best of which scrutinise the topic, their opinion of it, and interrogate both the world and themselves, as writers within it.

“I can identify with this, particularly because I May Destroy You was inspired by my own experiences of sexual assault.”

Tennant won the best actor award for his performances in Des, in which he played serial killer Dennis Nilsen, and comedy Staged, which saw him play a fictionalised version of himself.

Graham Norton Show – London
Graham Norton Show – London David Tennant (Isabel Infantes/PA)

Staged also won best comedy.

In a video acceptance speech, Tennant said: “I’m very aware that I’m piggybacking on the back of the brilliant people I work with.

“Working with great people makes you look better. I’m very aware of that.”

BPG chair Jake Canter said: “2020 was a challenging year for British television.

“Coronavirus shuttered production for months, ripped a near-fatal hole in the ad market, and ravaged a brilliant freelance community that actually makes the stuff we love to watch.

“But amid the rubble, industry ingenuity prospered and what crumbled was quickly rebuilt.

“It was a year when television and radio provided comfort, distraction and a friendly embrace in an ugly world.

“Our winners are testament to that.”

BBC Two’s The Rise Of The Murdoch Dynasty won best documentary mini-series.

Actress Emma Corrin won the BPG breakthrough award for her role as Diana, Princess of Wales in Netflix’s The Crown.

Series three of Mortimer And Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, which aired on BBC Two, was awarded the best entertainment prize.