Last night saw the best of British telly come together as the 61st BAFTA Television Awards took place in London.

With this year’s nominations dominated by the crime genre, the BBC One’s Happy Valley clinched the Drama Series prize ahead of fellow law-based programmes Line of Duty, The Missing and Peaky Blinders.

However, central star Sarah Lancashire missed out on the Leading Actress gong, which was surprisingly won by rising starlet Georgina Campbell for her powerful performance as domestic abuse victim Ashley Jones in the BBC3 drama Murdered by My Boyfriend.

The victory was a significant one for a stunned Campbell, as she became the first non-white actor to win the category since the awards were first formed way back in 1955.

As well as beating Lancashire, the Maidstone-born actress also prevailed over Keeley Hawes (Line of Duty) and last year’s category winner Sheridan Smith (Cilla).

Another crime-related programme to receive top honours was ITV’s The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies with two prizes including a Leading Actor win for Jason Watkins for his portrayal of Christopher Jefferies.

The factual drama, which focuses on how retired schoolteacher Jefferies was wrongly accused of murdering his tenant, also scooped the Miniseries award ahead of fellow ITV series Cilla.

Meanwhile, the heartfelt BBC Two television film Marvellous bagged two gongs for Single Drama ahead of Murdered by My Boyfriend, while veteran star Gemma Jones took home Supporting Actress for her role as Mary Baldwin, the supportive mother of kit man Neil Baldwin.

The 72-year-old actress appeared close to tears as she said: “I’d like to thank the real Neil [Baldwin] for allowing us to intrude on his extraordinary life.”

The Supporting Actor category saw Stephen Rea prevail for his performance as outgoing MI6 head Sir Hugh Hayden-Hoyle in the political miniseries The Honourable Woman, with victory coming at the expense of sinister turns from James Norton (Happy Valley) and Ken Stott (The Missing).

Though central star Benedict Cumberbatch lost out on the Leading Actor prize, the BBC series Sherlock enjoyed the public vote after winning the Radio Times Audience Award ahead of the likes of EastEnders, Game of Thrones and The Missing.

On the comedy side of things, the BBC Four sitcom Detectorists scored a key win in the Scripted Comedy field ahead of Moone Boy and The Wrong Mans.

Meanwhile, Jessica Hynes took home the Female Performance (Comedy) prize for her role as BBC Brand Consultant Siobhan Sharpe in BBC Two’s W1A, while Matt Berry collected the Male Performance (Comedy) award for his turn as eccentric actor Steven Toast in Channel 4’s Toast of London. 

In the case of Hynes, the comedian star told the audience:

“I’m from a single parent family. I’m really worried about the cuts that are coming in state education and to people in low income families, because I don’t feel low income means low talent, low imagination or low intelligence.”

Elsewhere, popular duo Ant and Dec picked up two prizes for the second year in a row for Entertainment Performance and Entertainment Programme for their hit variety series Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.

Picking up their first prize, Ant McPartlin told the audience:

“What a great start to the show – for us. We’re delighted with it, thrilled.”

Additionally, BAFTA host Graham Norton had his own moment to celebrate after his chat show The Graham Norton Show was the recipient of the Comedy and Comedy Entertainment award.

Meanwhile, Coronation Street overcame EastEnders to win the Soap & Continuing Drama prize, while HBO’s True Detective saw off Netflix duo House of Cards and Orange is the New Black to bag the International accolade.

The rest of the notable BAFTA victors included Life and Death Row (Factual Series), The Paedophile Hunter (Single Documentary), Grand Designs (Features), The Island with Bear Grylls (Reality and Constructed Factual), and Grayson Perry: Who are You? (Specialist Factual).

Finally, the evening saw seasoned newscaster Jon Snow receive the BAFTA Fellowship for his work on television, while screenwriter Jeff Pope was presented with the Special Award.

Meanwhile, the BAFTA Craft winners can be found in the following link: https://awards.bafta.org/award/2015/tvcraft