Danny Walters wins best Newcomer at the National Television Awards
Nathan Morris, Ned Porteous and Rob Mallard were all nominated for their debut performances
EastEnders star Danny Walters has been crowned best Newcomer at the National Television Awards.
Walters, who plays Keanu Taylor in the BBC1 soap, was presented with the award at the O2 Arena on Tuesday night by former politician and I'm a Celebrity star Stanley Johnson and his I'm a Celebrity campmate Georgia "Toff" Toffolo.
Walters beat off stiff competition from Coronation Street's Rob Mallard (aka Daniel Osbourne), Emmerdale's Ned Porteous (aka Tom Waterhouse) and Hollyoaks' Nathan Morris (aka Milo Entwistle) to claim the award.
Walters made his Walford debut in 2017 playing Keanu Taylor, the family's eldest son and self-appointed man of the household. The likeable lad struggled to find work to ease the Taylors’ financial woes, and tried everything from nude life modelling to dangerous heists in order to help find the money to provide for his siblings Bernadette, Riley and Chatham.
Though the initial response to the family wasn't as positive as it could have been, an emotional storyline in which Bernadette miscarried showed a new side to the Taylors and soon won the audience round.
Before his soap debut, Walters was best known for playing stroppy teenager Tiger Dyke in hit ITV comedy Benidorm.
The National Television Awards – the only TV ceremony decided by the voting public – were hosted by Dermot O'Leary and took place at London's O2 arena.
