Other gongs for Derry Girls, Fleabag and Sex Education

Comedian London Hughes has won the Royal Television Society award for best entertainment performance for her work on the rap panel show Don't Hate The Playaz.

Judges said the comic, who is a team captain on the ITV2 show, was ‘authentic, witty, and with an infectious personality’.

The comic is currently trapped in Los Angeles, so recorded an acceptance speech in which she used a bottle of hand sanitiser to stand in for the precious accolade.

She said ‘It’s such a weird time but your girl is super chuffed!’

Best acceptance speech EVER 🤣🤣 https://t.co/ik6qK7Mpaa

— chelcie Garratt (@chelciegarratt) March 17, 2020

Hughes triumphed over fellow nominees Mo Gilligan and Stephen Mulhern.

In other categories,  Derry Girls star Saoirse-Monica Jackson won the gong for best female comedy performance for her role in the  Channel 4 sitcom.

Judges said she delivered ‘a truly stand-out performance in a brilliantly funny series, she confidently commits to the character despite the craziness of the world she inhabits’.

She had been nominated alongside Diane Morgan for Motherland and Phoebe Waller-Bridge for Fleabag.

Despite the very rare occurrence of being overshadowed in this category, Waller-Bridge picked up the award for comedy writing, with Fleabag winning the best scripted comedy category over fellow nominees Stath Lets Flats  and Derry Girls.

Judges praised the show for being ‘beautifully accomplished, supremely well-written and performed’.

The best male comedy performance  went to Ncuti Gatwa for his role in Netflix’s Sex Education.

In their citation, judges said: ‘Perfectly balanced, combining slapstick and big comic set pieces with moments of tender emotion and great heart in a truly wonderful series.’

Last week, the actor – who plays plays Eric Effiong, a gay character from a religious Ghanaian family – also won the breakthrough award at the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards.

Tonight’s ceremony, hosted by Paul Merton, was held behind closed doors with the event streamed live to nominees and viewers at home, via the RTS website.

Wayne Garvie, chair of the RTS programme awards said: ‘We are all facing an incredibly difficult time and rightfully have made responsible changes to the format,

‘Despite this, we would like to acknowledge the incredible contribution of all our nominees to the UK’s television output and celebrate our deserving winners.’

Published: 17 Mar 2020