National Television Awards 2020 | 8 of the most memorable moments
From David Walliams's dig at Caroline Flack to Michael Palin's touching Terry Jones tribute – we pick out the best moments from last night's ceremony
The National Television Awards are over for another year and, as usual, they've provided their fair share of emotional speeches, amusing gags and occasionally rather awkward moments.
There were several highlights from this year's ceremony – here are a few of our top picks...
David Walliams's awkward Caroline Flack gag
David Walliams was never exactly going to make a quiet entrance, with the Britain's Got Talent star taking over hosting duties at the awards ceremony from previous presenter Dermot O'Leary. And, true to form, Walliams entered the stage being hoisted up in the air as a choir performed a rendition of You Raise Me Up.
Throughout the night, Walliams made several jokes at the expense of assorted stars from the world of television, with Laurence Fox and Caroline Flack both amongst those to have barbs aimed at them – drawing mixed reactions from the crowd.
Walliams joked that Flack could be The Masked Singer's Hedgehog.
"Thank you Joel, and so nice to see Caroline Flack back on TV as well," he said, following Joel Dommett and Hedgehog's exit from the stage. The quip prompted a lot of angry reactions from Twitter, with Piers Morgan calling the host "nasty" on Good Morning Britain.
Michael Palin pays tribute to Terry Jones
Few TV fans could have any contention with Michael Palin being awarded a Special Recognition Award – and there can't have been a dry eye in the house as Palin accepted the award and dedicated it to his close friend and former Monty Python colleague Terry Jones, who passed away last week.
Jesy Nelson's emotional acceptance speech
Little Mix star Jesy Nelson won many new admirers for her well-received BBC Three documentary Odd One Out, which explored the issue of cyber-bullying in an honest, unflinching manner. And she'll no doubt have won even more new fans after accepting the award for most popular factual programme, delivering an emotional speech in which she spoke about how such a negative experience had turned into a positive one.
Ant and Dec win a 19th consecutive award
At this stage an award for Ant and Dec at the NTAs is just a formality, and the Geordie pair unbelievably made it 19 wins in a row in the TV presenter category, beating off competition from the likes of Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby. Can they make it to 20 next year? We wouldn't bet against it!
David Walliams loses his trousers
At one point in the evening, presenting duties seemed to get all too much for David Walliams. As he accepted the award for best TV judge – his fourth success in the category – Walliams took to the stage missing an important part of his suit...
Mrs Brown's Boys wins best comedy
Although some fans on Twitter weren't happy with this result, Mrs Brown's Boys won the comedy award for the fifth time – with star and creator Brendan O'Carroll admitting that he was genuinely shocked with the triumph.
Gavin and Stacey wins special award
Gavin and Stacey's Christmas special was a huge winner when it came to the Christmas TV ratings, and now it has an award to its name as well. Though the show picked up a special impact award, some fans were left disappointed when the stars did not confirm a new full season of the show...
David Schwimmer banters with David Walliams about who is the best David
One of the more surprising guests at the ceremony was Friends star David Schwimmer – following in the footsteps of fellow American comedy star Danny DeVito, who made an appearance last year. Schwimmer walked out to present the New Drama category and shared a joke with Walliams as to who was "the best David."
Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
