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Edinburgh TV Festival Awards 2026 winners: BBC, Claudia Winkleman, The Pitt and SNL UK win big

Davina McCall lands the Outstanding Achievement Award as the BBC sweeps the night's top honours.

Claudia Winkleman stood in front of a grave, smiling ahead. She is wearing a black cape over a white jumper.

BBC/Studio Lambert/Euan Cherry

Published: Thursday, 27 August 2026 at 7:00 pm

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The BBC dominated the Edinburgh TV Festival Awards 2026.

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On Thursday 27 August 2026, the BBC was named both Broadcaster of the Year and Public Service Broadcaster of the Year as the industry gathered to honour the past year on screen.

Hosted by comedy duo Suzi Ruffell and Maisie Adam, the ceremony in Edinburgh saw the corporation lead the winners, while ITV Studios was named Production Group of the Year.

The festival's Head of Awards, Bianca Newby, thanked the hosts "for making it such a fun night" and congratulated "all this year's winners and nominees".

Elsewhere, BBC Three's What It Feels Like for a Girl was named Best Drama. The coming-of-age series, adapted from Paris Lees's memoir, follows Byron from a small working-class town into Nottingham's early-2000s underground club scene.

The drama's star Ellis Howard also took home the Breakthrough Performance award for the role.

Rose Ayling-Ellis as Alison in a library looking tense

Rose Ayling-Ellis as Alison in Code of Silence. MAMMOTH SCREEN FOR ITV/ITVX.

Meanwhile, the Best Documentary award went to ITV's Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel's War (Exposure).

The much-anticipated Saturday Night Live UK claimed Best Comedy, capping a strong run for one of the year's most talked-about series.

Another of the night's biggest winners was BBC One's The Celebrity Traitors, which took Best Entertainment or Reality Series and its host Claudia Winkleman was named Best TV Presenter (Entertainment) for fronting the hit.

Individual acting honours went to former EastEnders star Rose Ayling-Ellis, who won Best TV Actor (Drama) for Code of Silence, ITV's crime thriller, in what was her first leading television role.

Additionally, Oliver Savell was named Best TV Actor (Comedy) for playing the young Alan Carr in the autobiographical ITV comedy Changing Ends.

Davina McCall is all smiles with her award from Edinburgh TV Festival 2026 Awards.

Davina McCall is all smiles with her award from Edinburgh TV Festival 2026 Awards. Edinburgh TV Festival

ITV's The Assembly won Best Popular Factual Series, Channel 4's Dirty Business received the Climate Storytelling Award, and Oobah Butler was named Best TV Presenter (Factual) for How I Made £1 Million in 90 Days.

Among the industry prizes, Candour Productions was named Small Indie of the Year, The Foundry took Agency of the Year, and Twofour was honoured as Production Company of the Year.

International programming was recognised too, with HBO Max's The Pitt winning Best International Drama.

The Noah Wyle-led medical series is set in a Pittsburgh emergency department and structured around a single 15-hour shift, with each episode covering one hour of it.

Finally, this year's Outstanding Achievement Award went to Davina McCall, one of the UK's most successful and beloved broadcasters. McCall joins past recipients including Lenny Henry, Claudia Winkleman, Jodie Comer, David Harewood and Hugh Laurie.

Finally, the publicly voted TV Moment of the Year went to comedy star Jack Shep for "Princess Di serves face at The Last Supper".

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Authors

Black and white cut-out portrait headshot of Lewis Knight, smiling against a lime green background.

Lewis KnightNews and Trends Editor

Lewis is the news and trends editor at Radio Times and leads our approach to news, reactive content, and serving audience demands and interests. An obsessive fan of television and film, Lewis is a Nicole Kidman fanatic with a side of passion for science-fiction, art-house cinema and the latest HBO drama. Lewis has a degree in Psychology and a Masters in Film Studies. After working in advertising, Lewis worked at The Mirror for three years in community management and SEO, showbiz, film and television reporting.

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