Three gongs for Alma's Not Normal

Sophie Willan’s sitcom Alma's Not ​Normal won three gongs at the Royal Television Society awards last night – more than any other programme.

As well as scooping the comedy drama category, Willan won for best female comedy performance for playing the title role and the comedy writer category.  

Judges said her show – which beat fellow nominees Boarders and Ludwig – ‘navigates between the drama and comedy effortlessly, doing so with a refreshing and unique voice’.

Willan herself was praised for a 'triumphant performance that succeeds on so many levels…she has true star quality,’ while her writing was hailed for being  ‘laugh-out-loud funny’ and finding comedy in the smallest details.

Also nominated for the writing award were the team behind Cunk On Life and Nida Manzoor for We Are Lady Parts, while the performance shortlist was rounded out by  Aimee Lou Wood for Daddy ​Issues and coemdian Michelle De Swarte for Spent.

The best male comedy performance award went to Oliver Savell for his role as a young Alan Carr in Changing Ends, described as ‘a perfect performance of real nuance’. Also shortlisted were  Jim Howick for Here We Go and  Nabhaan Rizwan for Kaos.

Lucia Keskin’s Things You Should Have Done won best scripted comedy, with judges drawn to what they called ‘a piece which felt fresh, distinctive and very funny’. Also nominated were We Are Lady Parts  and  Gavin & Stacey.

Junior Taskmaster won the comedy entertainment category over fellow nominees  Have I Got News For You and Sorry, I Didn't Know with judges saying the Rose Matafeo and Mike Wozniak-fronted show was ‘slick, fun and produced with great confidence and flair’.

Boarders star Josh Tedeku won the breakthrough award ahead of De Swarte and Sherwood actor Bethany Asher, with judges describing him as ‘displaying all the characteristic hallmarks of a huge future star – a talent with a brilliant range that instantly draws the viewer in’.

My Sexual Abuse: The Sitcom, the Channel 4 show about comedian Mark O'Sullivan getting laughs from his childhood trauma won the arts category, and was described as ‘a profoundly compelling, challenging and genuinely innovative piece of work’.

The Judges’ Award was presented to James Corden and Ruth Jones for the Gavin and Stacey finale.

Presenting the award, romcom king Richard Curtis said: ‘The received wisdom is that when sitcoms stray from their normal, gorgeous half-hour length, they can get very woolly indeed – often featuring a holiday to Ibiza – but this Christmas special  kept and ratcheted up everything that has been wonderful about the show that the public have loved since 2007 – ever funnier, deeper, more intense.

‘Ruth and James – what a thing you have made. Always so many funny lines – big chunky comedy set-pieces – and such an epic range of characters, all funny and true and utterly  memorable – and this Christmas you completed everyone’s long, satisfying emotional story curve – even Chinese Alan got his moment. 

‘It’s one of the best acted and cast shows I’ve ever seen - and two of the most brilliant performances were yours. But you also wrote the whole damn thing – and it feels like the work of really funny friends. James from London, Ruth from Wales – you combined those two cultures so perfectly, so adversarially, so comically.

‘I think you love each other -  and make each other laugh – and what has been on screen is a real reflection of the perfect combination of you.

‘I like comedies with romance at their hearts – and Gavin and Stacey is not only a great British sitcom – it is the greatest British romantic comedy of all time. And it’s an education in acceptance, kindness, loyalty, and the importance of Indian takeaways.

‘It's also lasted 17 years – how did you do that, stay friends, stay funny and end up with such a blissful bang?

‘The thing I most want to say is this – in the competitive world we live in, a lot of us sometimes forget to celebrate our basic job – which is to make people interested or exhilarated or just plain happy. 

‘By very simple maths, you and your team gave people in the UK 27.75 million happy hours. That’s a huge thing – that’s so much happiness – so many merry Christmas Days hyper-charged and so many ghastly Christmas Day fixed right at the end.’’

Comedian turned actor Liz Carr won best presenter for her personal documentary  Better Off Dead?, in which she ‘showed tremendous honesty, candour and humour, genuinely immersing the viewer into their world’.

The Traitors won the entertainment category with host Claudia Winkelman receiving an outstanding achievement award, while  Ant and Dec won the entertainment performance award.  

Anna Maxwell Martin and Lennie James won the dramatic acting awards for Until I Kill You and Mr Loverman respectively. Jessica Gunning won best female supporting actor for Baby Reindeer and Danny Dyer the male equivalent for Rivals, the Jilly Cooper adaptation that also won best drama writing for Dominic Treadwell-Collins and Laura Wade. Best drama series went to BBC’s Industry.

The ceremony took place at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House Hotel in London,  hosted by Tom Allen.

The event opened with a special award  for journalists in Gaza for their ‘courage and commitment as they face extraordinary danger’. The award was due to be presented at the Television Journalism Awards on March 5, but was dropped – to much consternation – amid the controversy over the BBC documentary Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone featuring the son  a Hamas official without acknowledging the link

Kenton Allen, chair of the RTS programme awards, said: ‘Year after year we are astounded by the level of talent within the UK television industry – across the scripted and unscripted categories, this year’s programming exemplifies the ongoing success of British content in the UK and beyond. 

‘As we come together to celebrate the most memorable moments from across the year on-screen, we congratulate all of the nominees and winners for their incredible achievements in creating the fantastic television we’re lucky enough to share in.’ 

•  Corden and Jones will appear at Hay Festival on May 23, it has been announced, talking about Gavin & Stacey and their new behind-the-scenes book.

• Tom Allen and James Corden/Ruth Jones pictures © RTS/Tim Whitby

Published: 26 Mar 2025