Sky Arts Awards: The Last Dinner Party, Fern Brady and Melvyn Bragg win gongs | Ents & Arts News

Rock band The Last Dinner Party, comedian Fern Brady and hit TV show Mr Bates Vs The Post Office are among the winners at this year’s Sky Arts Awards.

The inaugural event, building on the legacy of the South Bank Sky Arts Awards, was hosted by Joe Lycett at the Roundhouse, in London, on Tuesday.

The night showcased the very best of British and Irish arts and culture, celebrating incredible achievements across the arts.

Indie rock band The Last Dinner Party took home the popular music award, while Mr Bates Vs The Post Office won in the television category.

Fern Brady won for comedy, and How to Have Sex, the coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Molly Manning Walker, took home the film gong.

Boy Blue’s body of work was awarded the accolade for dance, and opera singer Aigul Akhmetshina took The Times breakthrough award.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to broadcaster, author and parliamentarian Melvyn Bragg, whose career spans six decades.

Each winner received a statuette designed by artist and comedian Jim Moir, better known as Vic Reeves.

Speaking about creating the trophies, Moir said: “The finished pieces are Bronze sculptures standing roughly one foot tall, they’re heavy too at four kilograms so will fit perfectly on a mantlepiece…or used as a doorstop!”

There were live performances during the evening from acts including The Darkness, TikTok sensation Ren, and poet Lemn Sissay.

And there was a never-before-seen ultimate rock collaboration between AC/DC’s Brian Johnson and guitarist Slash.

Guests on the night included Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sheila Hancock and Lenny Henry.

Phil Edgar-Jones, director of Sky Arts, said: “We passionately believe everyone should have access to the arts to enrich our lives and bring us all the joy of a better experience.

“Arts, culture, entertainment, music, storytelling, the visual arts – whatever you’re into we believe it’s something we do better than anywhere else in the world and at Sky Arts we will never stop banging on about how important arts and culture is.”

Full list of Sky Arts Awards winners:

• Theatre: Ryan Calais Cameron

• Dance: Boy Blue

• Television: Mr Bates Vs The Post Office

• Opera: Death In Venice

• Classical music: James MacMillan for The Cumnock Tryst 2023

• Comedy: Fern Brady

• Film: How To Have Sex

• Visual art: Lindsey Mendick

• Poetry: Momtaza Mehri’s Bad Diaspora Poems

• Literature: Paul Murray for The Bee Sting

• Popular music: The Last Dinner Party

• The Times Breakthrough: Aigul Akhmetshina