IT was ladies night at last night’s National Television Awards with Vicky McClure winning the Best Drama Performance from an all- female shortlist.
Vicky, 43, celebrated her first win for playing police bomb disposal expert Lana Washington in ITV’s hit thriller Trigger Point.
Vicky McClure picks up her award for the Best Drama Performance category Credit: Getty
Vicky bagged first win for playing police bomb disposal expert Lana Washington in ITV’s hit thriller Trigger Point Credit: PA
On her nomination, Vicky said: “It’s always appreciated, especially when it’s something like the NTAs.
“It’s an audience award and they’re what really matters.
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“At the end of the day, they’re the ones that are tuning in, watching it, and enjoying it.”
Vicky faced tough competition from Ruth Jones, 59, who was nominated for her role playing ex-police officer turned private investigator Elena Ravenscroft in gritty Netflix thriller Run Away.
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The star stuns on the Red Carpet Credit: Getty
Vicky on patrol with her Line of Duty pals Martin Compston and Adrian Dunbar Credit: Getty
It would have been the first NTA gong for the Welsh actress, best-known for playing Nessa in BBC comedy Gavin & Stacey.
Previous NTA winner Sheridan Smith, 45 — who also appeared in Gavin & Stacey — was up for Best Drama Performance for playing the lead in four part crime series, I Fought The Law.
She played Ann Ming, who campaigned for a change in the law after her daughter’s murderer escaped justice because of a legal loophole. Sheridan did not win, but the programme won the award for best New Drama. The gong was presented by Vicky and her Line of Duty co-stars Adrian Dunbar and Martin Compston.
The gong was presented by Vicky and her Line of Duty co-stars Adrian Dunbar and Martin Compston.
Sheridan’s last NTA was for her 2014 role as the late Cilla Black in hit ITV biopic Cilla.
Elsewhere in the female-led category was Ella Bruccoleri, who at 30 was the youngest of the five nominees, up for her role in The Other Bennet Sister.
Both Call the Midwife and Trigger Point were nominated in the Returning Drama category alongside Bridgerton, Blue Lights and Stranger Things, with the BBC’s period nursing drama winning.
Female empowerment was also evident in the New Drama category. Nominations included The Other Bennet Sister, The Channel 4 adaptation of Barbara Taylor Bradford’s A Woman of Substance and ITV’s Believe Me, about how the women targeted by taxi rapist John Worboys helped snare him.
The nominations list was completed by the steamy love story between two hunky hockey players in Sky’s Heated Rivalry.
But it was I Fought The Law which picked up the gong.
