What took you so long?

Ross takes home British comedy award

Jonathan Ross has won a British Comedy Award for the first time in 13 years hosting the ceremony.

The chat show host has been nominated many times, but this is the first year he has taken away one of the prestigious gongs.

On winning the comedy entertainment award, he said: "What took you so long?"

Also at the awards, Jimmy Perry and David Croft won the lifetime achievement award for writing and producing a string of TV classics including Dad's Army, Hi-de-Hi! and It Ain't Half Hot Mum

The full list of winners in what was a generally predictable year is:

  • Comedy actor: Steve Coogan
  • Comedy actress: Ronni Ancona
  • Entertainment personality: Ant and Dec
  • Comedy Newcomer: David Walliams (Little Britain)
  • New TV comedy: My New Best Friend
  • TV comedy: Coupling,
  • Comedy drama: Cold Feet,
  • Comedy entertainment programme: Friday Night With Jonathan Ross
  • International comedy show: Malcolm In The Middle
  • Comedy film: Calendar Girls
  • People's Choice: Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
  • Lifetime achievement: Jimmy Perry and David Croft

  • British Comedy Awards: Previous winners

    Published: 11 Dec 2003

    Live comedy picks

    We see you are using AdBlocker software. Chortle relies on advertisers to fund this website so it’s free for you, so we would ask that you disable it for this site. Our ads are non-intrusive and relevant. Help keep Chortle viable.