Coronation Street takes RTS top gong for 2018

Despite some dark storylines the ITV Granada production took home the Soap and Continuing Drama Award.

ITV bosses have openly admitted that Corrie at the moment is dealing with some grim ‘dark’ plots including the much-praised David Platt rape storyline and the serial killer Pat Phelan’s deathly spree, however it is still entertaining the nation as it has done for nearly sixty years – and this was reflected last night at the Royal Television Society (RTS) gong show.

The RTS Programme Awards 2018, in partnership with Audio Network, were hosted by Vernon Kay at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London, and the Salford based saga celebrated their win for the Weatherfield based soap opera which has recently been extended to six episodes a week.

The RTS Programme Awards, chaired by Wayne Garvie, honours excellence across all genres of television programming and recognise exceptional actors, presenters, writers and production teams, as well as the programmes themselves. As well as Corrie’s success the BBC scooped seventeen awards for its programmes and talent, and also won the coveted RTS Channel of the Year award.

BBC’s comedy series This Country (BBC Three) won three awards: Daisy May Cooper and Charlie Cooper took home the Writer – Comedy and Comedy Performance prizes, and the show also secured the Scripted Comedy award. BBC One’s powerful drama, Three Girls, won two out of its three nominations, collecting the Mini-Series award and celebrating a win for Nicole Taylor in the Writer – Drama category.

ITV recently revealed a new part of the ‘Weatherfield set’ at their Salford Quays studios.

Sinéad Keenan and Stephen Graham won the Actor (Female) and Actor (Male) awards for their work on Little Boy Blue (ITV), while Daniel Lawrence Taylor was presented with the Breakthrough Award for his performance in Timewasters (ITV2).

The acclaimed Planet Earth II (BBC One) was a popular winner of the Science & Natural History award, while Paula Rego: Secrets and Stories (BBC Two) took the Arts award. Hospital (BBC Two) won the Documentary Series prize, and the Single Documentary accolade went to Rio Ferdinand Being Mum and Dad (BBC One).

The Drama Series award saw a hard-fought category that was won by Channel 4’s The End of the F***ing World, while Murdered for Being Different (BBC Three) was rewarded in the Single Drama category.

Channel 4 followed its 2017 success with a consecutive win for Adam Hills, Alex Brooker and Josh Widdicombe (The Last Leg, Channel 4) in the Entertainment Performance category. The Entertainment programme award went to Love Island (ITV) while Jimmy McGovern was recognised for his body of work with the Lifetime Achievement award.

Darker Corrie storylines have still had ITV viewers gripped by the drama.