Happy Valley and Top Boy were the big winners at the BAFTA TV Awards 2024 with P+O Cruises held at The Royal Festival Hall in London on Sunday night.
Sarah Lancashire scooped the Leading Actress Award for her iconic role as Sergeant Catherine Cawood in the BBC’s Happy Valley – which follows the dramas of policing in Yorkshire – and broke down on stage accepting the award.
Meanwhile in a shock, The Crown star Elizabeth Debicki missed out on the Best Supporting Actress gong – in a mark of a disappointing night for the Netflix series which left empty-handed despite eight nominations.
Top Boy’s Jasmine Jobson picked up the award instead for her incredible role as Jaq in the gritty Netflix drug dealing series.
It was a good night for Top Boy as the show also won in the Drama Series category – beating favourite Happy Valley, The Gold and Slow Horses.
Elsewhere Timothy Spall won for Best Actor Award on the night for his role in The Sixth Commandment – a true crime series based on the murders of Peter Farquhar and Ann Moore-Martin.
Accepting her Best Actress Award Sarah, 59, said: ‘I feel very, very privileged to have been surrounded by these brilliant actors. Thank you to the BBC for giving this very British drama a very British home.’
Sarah beat Anne Reid (The Sixth Commandment), Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us) and Helena Bonham Carter (Nolly) to win in the Leading Actress category.
The Memorable Moment Award also went to Happy Valley for Catherine Cawood and Tommy Lee Royce’s final kitchen showdown on BBC One.
The moment saw James Norton’s character set himself on fire after Catherine finally tracked him down in her own home after years of feuding.
Meanwhile accepting her Supporting Actress award, Top Boy’s Jasmine, 29, said: ‘Oh my goodness, my dress is making me slide everywhere. I don’t know what to say, I’m so overwhelmed, I was not expecting this.’
