#Kit Connor, Kate Winslet Among Winners of Royal Television Society Program Awards

Kit Connor and Kate Winslet were among the major winners at the 2023 Royal Television Society program awards on Tuesday night in London.

Winslet claimed the leading actress award for her performance in Channel 4 drama I Am Ruth — in which she starred alongside her daughter Mia Threapleton — while Connor won the leading actor honor for his breakout turn in Netflix’s hit series Heartstopper.

For the 2023 awards, several new awards were introduced, including supporting actor – female, which was claimed by Ambita Mod for the BBC/AMC NHS comedy-drama This Is Going to Hurt (which also leads the BAFTA TV awards nominations), and supporting actor – male, which went to Sweet Tooth star Adeel Akhtar for the BBC series Sherwood. Meanwhile, Sky’s Brassic won the inaugural comedy drama award. Other winners on the night included Raw’s Netflix hit The Tindler Swindler, which won the single documentary honor, and Succession writer Lucy Prebble, who won writer – drama for Sky series I Hate Suzie Too.

Across 30 categories, the BBC ruled the awards show with 17 wins, including three for hit comedy series Am I Being Unreasonable?, followed by Channel 4 with six, including two for Derry Girls.

Alongside the main award, Happy Valley star Sarah Lancashire was honored with the outstanding achievement award for her more-than 30-year career on TV screens, including her most recent role as TV chef Julia Child on HBO’s Julia. Meanwhile, BBC chief content office Charlotte Moore was presented with the judges’ award for “leading the BBC through one of the most momentous years in history,” which included the BBC’s coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s death and funeral.

“We introduced new categories for comedy-drama and supporting actors to further reflect the incredible range and diversity in the scripted world and I’m thrilled to say that we saw a sensational response, with all of the nominees and winners reflecting an incredible range of creative excellence,” said chair of the awards, Kenton Allen “As we come together to honor the genre-defining programming from the past year, I am also delighted to celebrate the outstanding achievements of the sensational Sarah Lancashire and reveal that the judges’ award goes to Charlotte Moore for the incredible leadership she has provided the BBC in a remarkable year for innovation, creativity and seismic current affairs.”