Michaela Coel triumphs at RTS Awards 2016

Actors Michaela Coel and Sir Lenny Henry triumphed at the Royal Television Awards held on Tuesday 22nd March 2016 in London. Sir Lenny was received the Judges’ Award for his work raising awareness of diversity within the industry. He was also surprised with an RTS Fellowship on the night which he described as a "great honour". Actress Michaela Coel won two awards: The Breakthrough award and Comedy Performance award for her role in ‘Chewing Gum’ (E4) which was described as “fresh, totally unique, edgy and brave…utterly original.” She was described as “a talent that breaks through in every direction…”

Popular presenting duo Ant and Dec (I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!, Britain’s Got Talent and Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway) took home the award for Entertainment Performance while ITV2 series Release the Hounds received the Entertainment gong.

In the Soap and Continuing Drama category, Emmerdale triumphed over Coronation Street and EastEnders, picking up the award for its strong, confident storytelling. Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan’s Channel 4 series Catastrophe scooped the Comedy Awards, picking up the prizes for Scripted Comedy and Writer – Comedy.

In sports, David Coulthard won in the Sports Presenter, Commentator or Pundit category while Sky Sports took home the award for Sports Programme for Monday Night Football.
Other winners on the night included Reggie Yates, who received the Presenter Award for BBC Three’s Reggie Yates’ Extreme Russia; ITV’s Judge Rinder for Daytime Programme; Channel 4’s The Romanians Are Coming for Documentary Series and Holocaust: Night Will Fall in the History category; and BBC One’s DIY SOS: Homes for Veterans in the Popular Factual and Features category. Broadcaster and journalist Joan Bakewell received the Lifetime Achievement Award.

RTS Judges’ Award - Sir Lenny Henry

In their commendation of Sir Lenny Henry, RTS judges said:

"Lenny’s call for a sea-change in our industry shook us from our complacency, and in the two years since he made that lecture, real action has been taken. Clearly this is still a case of “work-in-progress”, but the journey of change is underway. As a consequence of Lenny’s wake-up call to us all, every major British broadcaster has introduced new initiatives and policies about diversity in front of and behind the camera. And the difference is seen on screen. The cast – and the crew – is changing."