EastEnders wins TV BAFTA for best soap after Emmerdale was forced to withdraw from nominations
EastEnder bosses are set to send fans into overdrive after they teased the return of an iconic cast member from the past following their latest BAFTA Awards win in London
The glittering star studded ceremony took place at London’s Royal Festival Hall and was aired on BBC One tonight.
The soap’s Executivr producer Chris Clenshaw accepted the award alongside cast members – other shows in the category were BBC’s Casualty and ITV’s Coronation Street.
Chris said thank you to the soap’s fans and explained that without their love they wouldn’t have been able to celebrate 40 years of the show.
Emmerdale had to withdraw its entry from Bafta’s Best Soap and Continuing Drama category after one of its top writers admitted to assaulting his partner.
The show stood a high chance of taking home the gong at this year’s ceremony celebrating the best of the TV world, which took place tonight.
But they felt it was inappropriate given they would have been winning on the back of featuring a domestic abuse storyline.
Bosses at Emmerdale decided they couldn’t remain in the running for the award, after one of its creative team, Martin Fustes, attacked his girlfriend.
Martin admitted to the offence at Hull Crown Court and quit his job on the Yorkshire-based show, which is now one of ITV’s biggest programmes.
The Bafta team wrote to members of Bafta telling them that the soap bosses had decided to withdraw from the awards this year.
They explained that it was in consideration of recent news involving a member of their scriptwriting team.
The move severely disrupted the judging process for the category and those who were voting on the winner were contacted by Bafta.
An Emmerdale spokeswoman said: “ITV and Emmerdale have taken the decision to withdraw the episode nominations from this year’s BAFTA TV Awards.
“This is in consideration of developments in recent days involving a member of the scriptwriting team.”
Emmerdale won plaudits for its handling of its domestic abuse storyline involving Belle, who was the victim of coercive behaviour meted out by Tom.
Other winners included the Bafta reality prize which went to Channel 4’s The Jury: Murder Trial, beating the hit BBC psychological series The Traitors.
Ariyon Bakare won the best supporting actor gong at the Bafta TV Awards for his role playing Morris De La Roux in BBC drama Mr Loverman.
The BBC also won the sport award for its coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympics and an award in the live coverage category for Glastonbury Festival.
Best specialist factual went to BBC Two’s Atomic People, which heard from those who witnessed the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The female performance in a comedy Bafta was snapped up by Welsh comedian Ruth Jones for BBC sitcom Gavin And Stacey: The Finale.
“I’m not going to lie this is immense,” she said. “The person I would like to thank most his my dear, dear talented friend James Corden.”
The Eastenders producers were thrilled with their win on their 40th anniversary yearCredit: Getty
