NTAs 2023: Shock wins, This Morning booing, tears, and emotional tribute to Paul O’Grady

The NTAs had it all (Picture: Rex / PA)

The National Television Awards is over for another year, but once again it provided us with plenty of drama and glamour.

The stars of our TV sets descended on the red carpet at London’s O2 for a night celebrating themselves and their colleagues.

The celebrities pulled out all the stops including Best Factual programme nominee [Sort Your Life Out] Stacey Solomon, 33, who upstaged partner Joe Swash, 41, in a pink tulle dress. It was truly giving ‘She’s Barbie, He’s just Ken’.

Leading the ship was comedian Joel Dommett, 38, who stated at the very start of the show that his wife Hannah Cooper, 32, was nine months pregnant and could give birth any second.

Of course, the NTAs host couldn’t resist making a joke to set the tone for the evening.

‘Ant [McPartlin] and Dec [Donnelly] are on standby… to drive her to hospital,’ he said.

Stacey made a statement (Picture: David Fisher/Shutterstock for NTA)

Piers Morgan, who travelled to the event on a tube, was welcomed to the evening by Joel in his opening monologue.

As the camera panned to the infamous host, the crowd erupted into a mixture of unsavoury noises, a chorus that Piers, 58, looked less than impressed about.

He was at the ceremony in the hopes of picking up a gong for the best TV Interview for his work on his show Piers Morgan Uncensored but was beaten by The Graham Norton Show.

Earlier in the night, Piers correctly predicted the outcome.

‘They’d all rather shoot themselves than give me an award but, but if it’s just on interviews, hard to say that anyone else has had bigger ones that we’ve had in the last year,’ the modest star claimed to PA.

Piers was booed (Picture: David Fisher/Shutterstock for NTA)

To kick off proceedings the Bruce Forsyth Entertainment Award was given to Gogglebox.

Jenny Newby, 67, and Lee Riley, 65, proudly led the thank-you speech, but in their typical down-to-earth manner, they admitted to enjoying a few beverages at the hotel bar! Who can blame them?

Joel led the evening (Credits: Nicky Johnson/ITV/Shutterstock)

It wasn’t long before Sarah Lancashire picked up her first award of the night for Drama Performance as Catherine Cawood in Happy Valley.

Used to hearing a broad northern twang come out of Sarah’s mouth, no one was ready for the well-spoken, southern drawl that escaped her lips as she thanked her list of nearest and dearest.  

‘I didn’t know that was her real accent,’ Joel remarked.

Members of the public also took to X, formerly Twitter, to express their amusement and disbelief at her real voice. 

Sarah tearfully accepted her award (Picture: Scott Garfitt/Shutterstock for NTA)

One penned: ‘Watching the NTAs-always good entertainment value-and when you realise/hadn’t realised before (like the Compere) that  is Sarah Lancashire’s real accent and demeanour (quite prim and proper and quietly-spoken)-so very different from the characters she’s played over the years….’

Sarah later won the Special Recognition Award, much to her surprise, which was presented to her by Sir Ian McKellen, 84.

The stunned star told the audience that in her career she has been ‘exceptionally lucky to have enjoyed every moment of it,’ while wiping away tears.

Despite Happy Valley also winning Returning Drama, Sarah insisted there will be no more series.

She explained when asked if the much-loved series would continue: ‘No it’s a story told as a trilogy. The danger is you carry on you carry on and it loses its potency.’

NTAs paid tribute to O’Grady (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)

While celebrating the people in the room was important, the ceremony also paid tribute to TV legends who are no longer with us, including Sir Michael Parkinson and Paul O’Grady.

Before a montage from O’Grady’s career was played, Joel said: ‘Nominated an astonishing 28 times for an NTA, his first nearly 30 years ago, his career came in many guises and no matter what he did, there was always kindness coupled with a unique sense of fun that won over audiences in an instant’.

For The Love Of Dogs won the Factual Entertainment Category (Picture: David Fisher/Shutterstock for NTA)

O’Grady, who died aged 67 in March, won the Factual Entertainment Category for his TV show For The Love Of Dogs.

Representatives from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home accepted the award and one of them said: ‘I would like to thank Paul, of course, and the ITV team… for shining a light on the care that we’re able to provide for the 100 or more dogs and cats that come to Battersea every week.

‘I know that Paul cared deeply for each and every one of those animals.

‘I think that something about their plight and their vulnerability really struck a chord with Paul. He often referred to Battersea as his second home.’

Dog Riley did their best to interrupt the speech with some loud barks, which caused the audience to coo.

In a particularly poignant moment when the speech-giver said: ‘We will really miss him,’ Riley gave their loudest bark.

Ant and Dec did it again (Picture: David Fisher/Shutterstock for NTA)

It seems Ant and Dec, both 47, cannot be stopped with the pair accepting the award for Best Presenter for the 22nd consecutive time!

While speaking in the winners’ room, Ant said: ‘We are friends first and foremost and the TV shows come after that.

‘So I think at the heart of it when you’re watching us, you know, it’s a true friendship.’

He added: ‘We love each other’ to which Dec quipped: ‘A bit soppy’.

AJ and Will gave us a glimpse at their presenting chemistry (Picture: Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

Ant and Dec are a long-standing partnership, but audiences got a glimpse of a new pairing who could soon be after their crown – besties Will Best, 38, and AJ Odudu, 35, who will be presenting Big Brother soon.

While up on stage they showed their winning chemistry, with AJ even telling the audience Wil hel will be the maid of honour at her future wedding.

While Ant and Dec were able to retain their winning streak, things came to an abrupt end for This Morning.

The ITV programme lost its Best Daytime Show title as The Repair Shop claimed the prize.

Holly made a rare comment about her ‘difficult year’ (Picture: Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

Holly made a rare comment about her ‘difficult year’ while walking the red carpet.

The 42-year-old was attending without former This Morning co-host Phillip Schofield for the first time.

Of course, people were curious how she had coped with the past year.

‘If I am really honest, it has been up and down,’ she admitted.

While speaking to The Sun she added: ‘It has been a difficult year for everybody but what’s lovely is you find that people rally around you and the goodwill is there.

‘People want things to move on. It feels different.’

Holly and Alison missed out on a This Morning win (Picture: Matt Crossick/Shutterstock for NTA)

To add insult to injury, when This Morning was mentioned, audience members let out an audible boo at which point the camera flashed to hosts Holly and Alison Hammond sitting in the audience.

Both Holly and 48-year-old Alison didn’t appear to let the awkward moment faze them and simply smiled and clapped.

Body Language Expert Judi James told Metro.co.uk: ‘It was an unusually low-key appearance from Holly, sitting rather low in her seat and rather eclipsed by the very charismatic Alison who can steal any scene with her laugh alone.

She continued: ‘Holly’s body language looked almost sweetly modest and apologetic, with a series of small shrugs to camera; a surprised expression when she was hugged by winner Jay Blades and then some ‘baby waves’ and ‘baby clapping’ rituals to seem to signal she had low expectations of getting any award this year’.

Bobby was delighted to win (Picture: James Veysey/Shutterstock for NTA)

There was no need for any polite loser faces for Bobby Brazier, who picked up the gong for Rising Star.

The 20-year-old EastEnders actor couldn’t contain his excitement as he made his way to the podium. 

During his acceptance speech, the young actor had audience members in their feels as he delivered heartfelt words and thanked dad Jeff Brazier, 44.

‘It has little to do with me and everything to do with my dad.

‘For over the course of the last 20 years, I’ve consistently heard him say, “Because I can” and him just saying that…because I can.’ 

Earlier in the evening, the soapstar thought about how his mum Jade Goody, who died from cervical cancer aged just 27 in March 2009, would have felt could if she have been there to watch her son win.

He exclusively told Metro.co.uk that Goody ‘would be proud of him, but also proud no matter what’. 

Bobby snagged his award for playing the part of Freddie Slater on the soap, having only joined Albert Square earlier this year. 

Amy was deservingly praised (Picture: David Fisher/Shutterstock for NTA)

The award-winner will be jumping from one award-winning show (EastEnders won Serial Drama) to another as Strictly Come Dancing secured the Best Talent Show gong.

When the Strictly cast accepted their award on stage, Fleur East, 35, gave a special shout-out to Amy Dowden, 33, who attended the event while going through chemotherapy.

She looked utterly beautiful in a stunning tulle dress and wore a breast cancer awareness pin in tribute to her diagnosis.

Lewis gave a heartfelt thanks (Picture: Harry Durrant/Getty Images)

Another emotional moment came when Lewis Capaldi said the response to his programme – How I’m Feeling Now – where he opened up about his mental health struggles ‘means the world’ to him as he won in the Authored Documentary category.

The Scottish singer-songwriter was up against Rob Burrow: Living With MND, Matt Willis: Fighting Addiction and the documentary following the late Dame Deborah James, who set up the Bowelbabe cancer research fund, and died last year at the age of 40 after suffering from bowel cancer.

Lewis, 26, was not able to collect the award in person as he is currently in America, but sent a video message where he said: ‘I have to say thank you so so so much if you voted or even if you just watched the documentary, it genuinely means the world and it never ceases to blow me away how much this documentary has connected with people and struck a chord’.

If you want to catch up on the National Television Awards you can read all our coverage here, or watch on ITV player.

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It was a hectic night!