EastEnders sweeps the board at soap awards

EastEnders was streets ahead at the Inside Soap Awards on Monday night, scooping six trophies.

The BBC One show's impressive haul included the top prize of Best Soap, and the fifth consecutive Best Actress crown for Lacey Turner, who stars as Stacey Branning.

Coronation Street, which is soon to celebrate its 50th anniversary, landed four of prizes.

Emmerdale's Danny Miller had two reasons to celebrate. He picked up the Best Actor title for his role as Aaron Livesy. He also took Best Dramatic Performance for the emotional scenes in which Aaron admitted to Paddy that he is gay.

Coronation Street star Michelle Keegan, who plays bolshy beauty Tina McIntyre, was awarded the Sexiest Female gong for the second year running, and Best Newcomer went to EastEnders' Ricky Norwood for his role as Arthur "Fatboy" Chubb.

Craig Gazey, who plays hapless butcher Graeme Proctor in Coronation Street, received the Funniest Performance gong, following last year's win for the late Maggie Jones.

He said: "It's a great honour to follow in the footsteps of last year's winner, the incredible Maggie Jones. Thank you to everyone who voted for me."