Office party for hat-trick of honours

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), April 19, 2004

Comic Ricky Gervais chalked up a hat-trick of wins at the Bafta TV awards last night as the stars squelched their way down the red carpet amid torrential rain.

He won best comedy performance for the third year in a row for his portrayal of nightmare boss David Brent in The Office Christmas special.

The series was also named best sitcom for the third successive year.

His win was all the sweeter because he was almost missed off the short-list after an administrative cock-up by BBC bosses.

Collecting his second award, he quipped: "This is fantastic. Especially as I just found out the first one was a clerical error."

Julie Walters also scored a hat-trick, winning best actress for the third time, this time for her role in The Wife of Bath, part of the BBC's adaptation of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Walters played a bawdy middle-aged actress who begins a relationship with a toyboy, played by ex-EastEnder Paul Nicholls.

"I had so much fun making it, and on top of that I got to snog Paul Nicholls!" she said.

Bill Nighy won the best actor award for political thriller State of Play, adding to this year's film Bafta for Love Actually.

Coronation Street won best continuing drama - soap rival EastEnders failed to get a nomination.

Matt Lucas and David Walliams were celebrating after sketch show Little Britain won best comedy.

Other winners were Wife Swap, political drama The Deal, prison drama Buried and the BBC's The Secret Policeman, in which an undercover reporter exposed racism amongst young police recruits.

The BBC took home 11 of the 17 main awards, while ITV won just two.

Geordie duo Ant and Dec missed out on a Bafta, but were named kings of European TV at the Golden Rose Awards.

The pair won the Variety and Game Show Host categories for their Saturday Night Takeaway.

Ant said: "We are really, really thrilled. We were up against some of the world's top talent."