Love it or hate it, crime drama sure does pay for second year running

“I’m very lucky. I’m like a toddler spewing up broccoli among very giant men,” he quipped.

The BBC drama Ripper Street, which was filmed in Ireland, won two technical awards. The best documentary went to Mea Maxima Culpa – Silence in the House of God, about protests by four institutionalised deaf men against sex abuse in the Catholic Church. The award was dedicated to former RTÉ and Irish Times journalist the late Mary Raftery.

The best current affairs programme when to BBC Spotlight for Sean Quinn’s Missing Millions.

The best sports programme went to When Ali Came to Ireland, which was about Muhammad Ali’s famous visit to Ireland in 1973. Among those present at the awards were Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan and the Minister for Transport and Tourism Leo Varadkar, who confessed to watching very little television because of his hectic schedule, although he did get to see the film Lincoln recently.

“I thought it was real, a good representation of what politics is about. It is full of good people who have to say things they don’t really believe in to achieve great things.”

Winners Film and TV

Best film

What Richard Did (Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Element Pictures)

Best director

Best actor

Jack Reynor, What Richard Did (Element Pictures)

Ruth Bradley, Grabbers (Forward Films, High Treason Productions, Samson Films)

Supporting actor film

Domhnall Gleeson, Anna Karenina (Universal Pictures)

Supporting actress film

Bríd Brennan, Shadow Dancer (Element Pictures)