TV Choice Awards 2021: Bridgerton scoops Best New Drama

The steamy Netflix series Bridgerton was voted the Best New Drama at the TV Choice Awards 2021 on Monday night. 

The streaming giant's answer to Downton Abbey proved to be a huge hit with viewers and it was confirmed earlier this year that three further instalments have been commissioned. 

It comes after the news that series two of the hit show paused on Sunday due to a COVID-19 outbreak, allowing a day to carry out contact tracing.

The racy Regency drama is their biggest series ever - with a record 82million households tuning in to see Lady Whistledown revealed.  

Nicola Coughlan - who played Penelope Featherington in the series - accepted the award and appeared over video link at the virtual ceremony, hosted by Rob Beckett.  

She said: 'TV Choice Awards, thank you so much for this beautiful award, it's beautiful and very pointy which I love.

'Thank you to our wonderful cast and amazing crew. This means so much to us and I'll proudly take this back to Regency London!'

Elsewhere at the awards Line Of Duty and Coronation Street triumphed, picking up three of the reader-voted awards each.

Line Of Duty won Best Drama Series while the show's stars Martin Compston and Vicky McClure won their respective acting categories for the first time. 

The critically-acclaimed series from Jed Mercurio about the police's anti-corruption unit AC-12 also won the same gong in 2019.

The most recent season kept 12.8 million viewers hooked earlier this year, until the infamous 'H' was unmasked.

It was the UK's most-watched drama series of the century so far - despite receiving a lackluster reaction from fans left disappointed with who 'H' turned out to be.

Jed Mercurio said: 'Everyone involved in Line Of Duty is absolutely thrilled to be recognised in this way by the viewers and readers of TVChoice, it means an enormous amount to us and we couldn't be more grateful. 

'It wouldn't be the show it is without the amazing performances of Vicky, Martin, Adrian [Dunbar] and our brilliant guest leads including Kelly Macdonald and all the other brilliant guest leads we've had.

'They're the guys who actually do it on camera so it's definitely a tribute to them.'

Coronation Street, which celebrated its 60th anniversary in December, celebrated a second hattrick in a row, with the long-running series scoring the same clean sweep as last year with Best Soap, Best Soap Actor and Best Soap Actress.

David Neilson - who first stepped foot on the famous Coronation Street cobbles as Roy Cropper in 1995 - took Best Soap Actor while Sally Carman's powerhouse performance as grieving mum Abi Franklin earned the actress her first Best Soap Actress TV Choice award.

Meanwhile Call The Midwife topped the Best Family Drama category for its seventh consecutive year. 

I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! won its 16th Best Reality Show gong, after its relocation to Wales amid the pandemic.  

James Martin's Saturday Morning won the Best Food Show category - the first time the show has won this gong.

James thanked fans via VT and celebrated by spraying the producer with a bottle of champagne.

Best Comedy went to The Vicar Of Dibley In Lockdown, which saw Geraldine Granger (Dawn French) return to BBC1 with a mini-trilogy mainly consisting of monologues to her congregation during the pandemic.

It was dedicated in memory of late cast members Liz Smith, John Bluthal, Emma Chambers and Roger Lloyd-Pack.

Long Lost Family won Best Lifestyle Show, a first for the emotional, but uplifting series hosted by Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell, in which people hope to be reunited with their relatives.

Best Factual Show was scooped by Paul O'Grady: For The Love Of Dogs for a fourth time.    

Gogglebox won Best Entertainment Show, in association with Greatest Hits Radio, marking the fourth time that Channel 4 have scooped this gong, beating multi-award winners Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.

This Morning picked up its eighth Best Daytime Show award, beating its rivals The Chase, Loose Women and Pointless/Pointless Celebrities.

The Great British Bake Off/Bake Off: The Professionals/The Great British Bake Off For Stand Up To Cancer won Best Talent Show, following Matt Lucas' instalment in the role of host after Sandi Toksvig stepped down.   

It comes after Bridgerton series two paused on Sunday due to a COVID-19 outbreak, allowing a day to carry out contact tracing. 

Production began on the drama in the spring, but filming shut down twice  in July due to COVID-19 - the last instance of which was reported on August 31 - and on Sunday things were again thrown off yet will resume on Tuesday.  

A source told The Sun: 'Filming has been in chaos due to Covid and bosses are hopping mad. Dramas like The Crown have got their production moving without a hitch... This outbreak has taken down members of cast and crew.' 

Mailonline has contacted a Netflix spokesman for comment.   

A source told MailOnline: 'The health and safety protocols that are implemented by production have allowed for fast action to be taken...

'The proactive testing programme allows us to react quickly to mitigate the risk of transmission within the production.. The safety of the cast and crew is of the highest priority to the production.

'All regular COVID-19 health and safety

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