Andrea Riseborough and Devil’s Whore clean up at RTS Awards

Rising young British star Andrea Riseborough (pictured) picked up the best actress award at the Royal Television Society awards at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Tuesday night, for her role as the rebellious English aristocrat in Channel 4’s bodice-ripping take on the English Civil War, The Devil’s Whore. The drama notched up the highest tally of gongs, also winning best drama serial and best screenplay for writer Peter Flannery.

Riseborough, 27, who offered an arresting portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Long Walk to Finchley, can be seen next in the movie Mad, Bad & Sad, in which she stars with Meera Syal.

Other RTS winners included the comic Harry Hill, who won best entertainment show for Harry Hill's TV Burp. The Guardian writer Charlie Brooker won best digital channel programme for Screenwipe, while Strictly Come Dancing host Bruce Forsyth was given a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Forsyth dismissed the idea that he might rein in his presenting duties. "People have been asking if I'm going to retire for the last 10 or 15 years," he said. "It's getting to be an old question - I'm nearly as old as the question!" ·