IT was ladies night at last night’s National Television Awards with Vicky McClure winning the Best Drama Performance from an all- female shortlist.

, 43, celebrated her first win for playing police bomb disposal expert Lana Washington in ITV’s hit thriller .

Vicky McClure holding her Drama Performance Award at the National Television Awards 2026.Vicky McClure picks up her award for the Best Drama Performance category Credit: Getty Vicky McClure as Lana Washington in Trigger Point.Vicky bagged first win for playing police bomb disposal expert Lana Washington in ITV’s hit thriller Trigger Point Credit: PA

On her nomination, Vicky said: “It’s always appreciated, especially when it’s something like .

“It’s an audience award and they’re what really matters.

“At the end of the day, they’re the ones that are tuning in, watching it, and enjoying it.”

Vicky faced tough competition from , 59, who was nominated for her role playing ex-police officer turned private investigator Elena Ravenscroft in gritty thriller Run Away.

Vicky McClure attends the National Television Awards 2026.The star stuns on the Red Carpet Credit: Getty Martin Compston, Vicky McClure, and Adrian Dunbar attend the National Television Awards 2026.Vicky on patrol with her Line of Duty pals Martin Compston and Adrian Dunbar Credit: Getty

It would have been the first NTA gong for the Welsh actress, best-known for playing Nessa in .

Previous NTA winner , 45 — who also appeared in Gavin & Stacey — was up for Best Drama Performance for playing the lead in four part crime series, I Fought The Law.

She played Ann Ming, who campaigned for a change in the law after her daughter’s murderer escaped justice because of a legal loophole. Sheridan did not win, but the programme won the award for best New Drama. The gong was presented by Vicky and her co-stars and .

The gong was presented by Vicky and her Line of Duty co-stars Adrian Dunbar and Martin Compston.

Sheridan’s last NTA was for her 2014 role as the late in hit biopic Cilla.

Elsewhere in the female-led category was Ella Bruccoleri, who at 30 was the youngest of the five nominees, up for her role in The Other Bennet Sister.

Both and Trigger Point were nominated in the Returning Drama category alongside , Blue Lights and , with the BBC’s period nursing drama winning.

Female empowerment was also evident in the New Drama category. Nominations included The Other Bennet Sister, The adaptation of Barbara Taylor Bradford’s A Woman of Substance and ITV’s Believe Me, about how the women targeted by taxi rapist John Worboys helped snare him.

The nominations list was completed by the steamy love story between two hunky players in Sky’s Heated Rivalry.

But it was I Fought The Law which picked up the gong.