Gogglebox star Julie Malone dedicated the show’s win at this year’s NTAs to the cast members who have died in recent times.
On Thursday night, Gogglebox triumphed in the annual awards show’s Factual category for the fifth time.
Collecting the award on behalf of the hit show were the Malone and Sandiford families, who have been presenting their commentary on Gogglebox for the past seven and four years, respectively.
During the Malones’ acceptance speech, Julie took a moment to pay her respects to members of the Gogglebox family who were no longer with us.
“On a sad note, I’d like to [dedicate] this award to all the people we’ve lost in the past 18 months,” she said.
Among those who have died in 2021 are cast members Pete McGarry and Mary Cook – who Julie named during her speech – as well as Andy Michael, who was among those to appear in the very first episode of Gogglebox.
She also took a moment to remember “everyone’s favourite grandma” June Bernicoff, who died in May 2020, noting that June had now been “reunited with Leon”, her husband, who had died three years previous.
As the NTAs music began to play, Julie’s husband Tom then leaned into the microphone so he could give a special shout-out to “lorry drivers and the armed forces”, praising their efforts in the past year.
This year’s National Television Awards were hosted by comedian Joel Dommett, and saw Coronation Street taking home all three of the soap-related awards, while Line Of Duty and Ant and Dec each scooped two gongs.
For the full list of this year’s NTAs winners, click here.