The best of British telly were out in force last night as the 60th BAFTA Television Awards took place in London.

As anticipated, the hit ITV crime drama Broadchurch stood out with a trio of prizes including the Drama Series accolade ahead of the likes of Top of the Lake and The Village.

Having won two BAFTAs for Supporting Actress and Female Comedy Performance last year, Olivia Colman secured a unique hat-trick of acting prizes by clinching Leading Actress for her powerful performance as DS Ellie Miller.

Colman, who won two accolades in 2013, cried on stage and said: “Sorry not cool”, adding that working with co-star David Tennant was “a joy and a treat”.

Her victory came at the expense of other high-profile stars, including Helena Bonham Carter (Burton & Taylor) and Maxine Peake (The Village).

The third major honour for Broadchurch came in the Supporting Actor category, as David Bradley took home the gong for his role as tragic shopkeeper Jack Marshall.

Elsewhere, Sean Harris overcame the likes of Jamie Dornan (The Fall) and Dominic West (Burton & Taylor) to win the Leading Actor award for his performance as disturbed killer Stephen Morton in the Channel 4 crime drama Southcliffe.

However, the programme itself missed out on victory in the Miniseries category, as the BBC3 supernatural drama In the Flesh prevailed ahead of the much-fancied The Fall.

Meanwhile, Sarah Lancashire edged out co-star Nicola Walker to clinch Supporting Actress for her role as headmistress Caroline in the second series of the BBC comedy-drama Last Tango in Halifax.

On the funny side of things, the final series of the hit Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd bagged two acting prizes for stars Richard Ayoade and Katherine Parkinson.

Ayoade saw off fellow cast member Chris O’Dowd to win Male Comedy Performance for his role as computer nerd Maurice Moss, while Parkinson was rewarded Female Comedy Performance for her swansong turn as Jen Barber.

However, The IT Crowd was unable to bag the Situation Comedy award, which was presented to the BBC3 sitcom Him & Her for its wedding episode.

Elsewhere, there were double wins for Ant & Dec as the pair triumphed in the Entertainment Performance category, while their hit variety show Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway landed the Entertainment Programme prize.

Declan Donnelly said their win for Takeaway was “brilliant” and Anthony McPartlin praised the “hardworking crew”, adding: “I’m so chuffed.”

Meanwhile, AMC’s Breaking Bad was the deserving recipient of the International award, while Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor saw off Broadchurch and Gogglebox to win the Radio Times Audience Award.

The rest of the notable BAFTA victors included Complicit (Single Drama), Coronation Street (Soap & Continuing Drama), A League of Their Own (Comedy and Comedy Entertainment Programme), Bedlam (Factual Series), Long Lost Family (Features), Gogglebox (Reality and Constructed Factual) and David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive (Specialist Factual).

Finally, the evening saw celebrated British actress Julie Walters receive the BAFTA Fellowship for her work in television, while Liverpudlian presenter Cilla Black was awarded the Special Award for her services to broadcasting.

In the case of Walters, the multi-BAFTA winner told the audience:

“When I told my mother I wanted to be an an actress in 1969, she said: ‘She’ll be in in the gutter before she’s 20’.

“But what a gutter, and I shared that gutter with some of the most amazing and talented people without whom I would not have a career.”