Three Baftas for political satire ‘The Thick Of It’

Three Bafta awards for the BBC2 fly-on-the-wall mockumentary The Thick Of It, on a night dominated by mass entertainment shows like I'm a Celebrity and Britain's Got Talent, proved there is still some hope for classy British television

The political satire was named best situation comedy, and two of its stars, Peter Capaldi and Rebecca Front (above), won acting awards at last night's ceremony at the London Palladium.

Capaldi won best comedy actor for his portrayal of the foul-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker - less than loosely based on the real-life Alastair Campbell - and Rebecca Front won best comedy actress for her role as the ineffectual minister Nicola Murray.

The irony is that with the Labour government gone, no one is quite sure what will happen next to the show that is as rooted in New Labour politics as the last great BBC political comedy, Yes Minister, was anchored in Thatcher-era politics.

Accepting the best sitcom award, Armando Iannucci, the show's creator, "thanked" Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg "for completely destroying our plans for the next series".

Other big winners were the ITV presenting partnership of Ant and Dec - Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly - who won their first ever Bafta for the ninth series of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

"I don't know what the hell we did wrong for the first eight series," said Donnelly, while McPartlin added: "You feed a couple of kangaroo testicles to a glamour model and you get a Bafta."

The duo went on to share a second prize when Britain's Got Talent, the latest series of which finished on Saturday, was named best entertainment show. Its creator, Simon Cowell, also took home a special award for "outstanding contribution" and "development of new talent".

Other key awards winners during the evening, hosted by Graham Norton, were Kenneth Branagh, best actor for Wallander, and Julie Walters, best actress for her portrayal of the late Labour politician Mo Mowlam in Channel 4's Mo. Melvyn Bragg was given the Bafta fellowship for his long-running ITV arts show, The South Bank Show. ·