Young Offenders and Mo Milligan also among winners

Joe Lycett and Mae Martin have both scooped two Royal Television Society Awards tonight.

Lycett was named best presenter for BBC One’s The Great British Sewing Bee, while his Channel 4 consumer show Joe Lycett's Got Your Back  won the formatted popular factual category.

Judges described him as ‘warm, approachable and kind, with tremendous enthusiasm for the subject matter’ for the sewing show, while calling his consumer programme ‘distinctive in style yet broad in appeal, all wrapped in a highly original format’.

Martin won the RTS Breakthrough Award, with judges saying she was ‘clearly a star in the making’ and that her sitcom Feel Good brought ‘a fresh perspective and real originality to the screen’.

She shared the comedy writing award with her co-writer Joe Hampson. Their citation said the Channel 4 show’s scripts were ‘engaging, warm and truthful but also landed the humour with great skill’.

A second series is currently in production, but just for Netflix as Channel 4 stepped back from commissioning it.

Elsewhere, BBC Three’s  ‘authentic, absurd and hilarious’ The Young Offenders was named best scripted comedy.

The best comedy performance awards went to  Gbemi Ikumelo for Famalam – with judges saying ‘when she’s on screen you simply can’t take your eyes off her’ - and Youssef Kerkour for his ‘amazing presence’ in Channel 4’s Home.

Big Narstie and Mo Gilligan shared the best entertainment performance accolade for the rap star’s Channel 4 show.

The first-ever comedy entertainment award went to Romesh Ranganathan’s The Ranganation, which judges said was ‘the perfect showcase for the huge talent of its star’, while The Masked Singer - as fronted by Joel Dommett - was named best entertainment show.

Away from comedy, Michaela Coel won three awards for I May Destroy You: best female actor for a performance described as ‘nothing short of electrifying’, best mini-series and best writer. Judges said the series would be ‘discussed for years to come’.

Published: 16 Mar 2021