Leading figures from the television and film industry gathered at a glitzy awards ceremony in Newcastle this weekend, to celebrate the best work coming out of the region over the past year.
News teams, production crews and actors gathered for the Royal Television Society (RTS) 2022 on Saturday night, held at the Hilton hotel on Gateshead's quayside.
ITV crime programme Vera was a big winner, as it scooped both the Best Drama award and Vera actress Brenda Bleythn won for Best Drama Performance.
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Brenda could not be there on the awards night, but said via video link: “Thank you so very much to the Royal Television Society for giving me this. I am absolutely thrilled to bits.
"This year sees us embarking on season 12 of Vera, so that means we’ll have made 50 feature length Vera films.
"So, you can see, we love coming to the North East and that’s partly because we’re made to feel so very, very welcome.
"And, of course Vera’s creator, Ann Cleeves, lives in the North East and I’d like to thank her very, very much for giving us all 12 years of work and thank you to the Royal Television Society for giving me this. I'm truly over the moon.”
The prestigious event was back after a break during the Covid pandemic, and was hosted by Tyneside Comedian and Writer Jason Cook.
A panel made up of more than 40 media professionals, from broadcasters and production companies across the UK, were tasked with judging the huge volume of entries submitted which covered an extended period due to the impact of the pandemic.
The Best News Programme went to BBC Look North, with judges praising the programme for bringing personal stories to life, attention grabbing interviews and the warmth of presenters.
And further successes for the BBC included the award for Best Sports Presenter which went to Look North's Jeff Brown and Best Presenter which went to Dawn Thewlis.
ITV Tyne Tees, meanwhile, secured three awards.
News Correspondent Rachel Bullock was presented with the Outstanding Journalism Award. While ITV camera operator Paul Kingston had double reasons to celebrate by winning in both the Rising Star category as well as Professional Excellence in Photography.
The ceremony also included a performance by musician Kema Kay: a former student of Excelsior Academy in the West End of Newcastle.
As an early career rapper and actor, he performed across the county and starred in the critically acclaimed ‘I, Daniel Blake’.
He returns to Zambia, where he born, for a documentary with the BBC World Service next week and he is also being profiled for a BBC North East & Cumbria documentary.
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