Eve kills off Bodyguard in drama as Ant and Dec take reality and entertainment awards

Martin Compston attending the Virgin Media BAFTA TV awards. Picture: Matt Crossick/PA Wire

The BBC’s two hit dramas, Killing Eve and Bodyguard, were up against each other in a host of categories – but it was Killing Eve which emerged the big winner on the night, despite not meeting eligibility criteria as it was first shown on BBC America.

Despite that, Bafta ruled it should be included, and last night it picked up best drama series, beating Bodyguard.

Creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge exclaimed “F***” on stage, and praised her “charismatic, breathtaking, energetic team”.

“I can’t speak it’s so unbelievably exciting,” she said, praising author Luke Jennings, whose books were the basis for the drama.

She added: “Thanks for everyone for taking risks. Jodie Comer almost swallowed a wasp in Tuscany. It was a really edgy moment that we did capture on camera.”

Killing Eve’s Fiona Shaw scooped best supporting actress. Shaw paid tribute to Killing Eve creator Waller-Bridge’s “earth-shattering genius and wayward imagination”.

Clutching the Bafta mask, she said: “All I can say is ‘look, Phoebe, both hands – extraordinary’.”

Bodyguard won the only Bafta award voted for by viewers – Virgin Media’s must-see moment.

It claimed the prize for the death of Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes) in an explosion in the BBC One drama. Creator Jed Mercurio and co-star Richard Madden were not at the ceremony.

I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! scooped a Bafta for the most recent series featuring Holly Willoughby as co-host.

The show won best reality and constructed factual. Willoughby filled in for Ant McPartlin on the show when the presenter stepped away from his TV roles after being arrested for drink-driving.

Co-presenter Declan  Donnelly said: “Thank you Holly for helping me out last year. You did a fantastic job standing in for Ant, who has reluctantly come up here tonight.”

Ant and Dec’s Britain’s Got Talent was also among the early winners at the TV Baftas.

The show won best entertainment programme, beating Saturday Night Takeaway, also fronted by the duo, as well as Strictly Come Dancing and Michael McIntyre’s Big Show.

The award for best mini-serieswent to Patrick Melrose, the Sky Atlantic drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

Cumberbatch said: “I’m new to this, new to winning but I’m very, very, very happy. It was extraordinary, it was a proper experience, one I will take with me for the rest of my life.”

Piers Morgan’s hopes of a win were dashed by Cambridge Analytica Uncovered (Channel 4), which triumphed in the news coverage category.

A camera panned to the Good Morning Britain presenter looking unimpressed. Good Morning Britain had two nominations, for On A Knife Edge and its Thomas Markle exclusive.

Netflix’s interactive Black Mirror episode Bandersnatch lost out on the best single drama award to BBC Three’s Killed By My Debt. The drama was based on the true story of Jerome Rogers from south London, who took his own life at the age of 20 after accruing mounting debts sparked initially by traffic fines while working a zero-hours job.

Mr Rogers’s brother, speaking on stage, criticised the “gig economy in our nation” and the “unregulated bailiff industry” leading a “young man to take his own life before he reaches his own 21st birthday”.

He added: “If one more person sees it (the show) because of tonight, it’s amazing.”

The Bros documentary lost out to Suffragettes With Lucy Worsley for specialist factual programme. The BBC One winner used dramatised testimony to tell the story of a group of working-class women conducting a dangerous campaign for the vote.