Miranda Hart - Such Fun. Sophie Johnson
after an incident in 2005, where Ant and Dec were given the award, when it should have gone to Catherine Tate. This led to an Ofcom fine of £80,000 and, after further investigation around the British television phone-in scandal in 2007, led to a record fine of £5.675 million. Channel 4 was happy to pick up the show and brought back the phone vote, which was carefully overseen by the Electoral Reform Services.
The night was a big success for the organisers and, of course, the winners. The British Comedy Guide website, who were live blogging the occasion, confirmed that Jonathan Ross was on form, ‘The customary Jonathan Ross speech is proving as popular in the room as always. Digs at Horne and Corden, Gervais and Carr have already been ticked off.’ He also described Simon Amstell’s acting as ‘so wooden Ray Mears tried to make a canoe out of him’. But it’s all part of the spirit of the night, as Dara O’Briain, who presented Michael McIntyre with the gong for Best Male TV Comic, says, ‘These are the most openly bitchy awards ceremony because, frankly, we just don’t mind! This is Jonathan’s front room.’ And he can take it as well. Russell Brand’s recorded video message for winning Outstanding Contribution to Comedy teased him about the Sachsgate scandal: ‘Jonathan, you’re a father figure, what were you thinking?’
Other winners of the night included Jo Brand, Peep Show writers Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, Charlie Brooker for Newswipe, Kayvan Novak, Horrible Histories, John Bishop, Samantha Spiro, Harry Hill, Would I Lie To You? and Peter Capaldi. The lifetime achievement award went to Roy Clarke OBE, creator of Last of the Summer Wine, Open All Hours and Keeping Up Appearances, a fine moment for lovers of the traditional sitcom. The Inbetweeners won Best Sitcom, which Miranda was also nominated for. But the highlight of the evening, the woman of the match, was Miranda Hart.
Even as Jonathan Ross was telling viewers about the nominations for the People’s Choice Award, and explaining how to vote, she had the support of the room. The British Comedy Guide website wrote at the time: ‘Sounds like Miranda will be a very popular winner for the People’s Choice Award; the only cheer we noticed from the auditorium.’
Even before the event, a critic for the Telegraph wrote up who they thought should win in each category: ‘This will go to a public vote, so it should be a straight fight between McIntyre and Hart. Whichever of them wins, it’ll be a victory for gentle, friendly, uncynical comedy. I’d take McIntyre, although it would be nice to see empress of slapstick Hart lift the award, not least because she’d almost certainly drop it on her foot, mug to camera then fall over.’
As the evening built up, all signs pointed to victory for Miranda. First she won Best New TV Comedy for Miranda, as, although series two had just finished airing, the first series broadcast in November 2009 was eligible. Later, she picked up Best Female Comedy Actress, presented to her by Simon Le Bon from Duran Duran. As she accepted the award from the 1980s icon, real-life Miranda blurred with her sitcom alter ego as she flirted with him, ‘Yes, I will go back to your hotel! Thank you very much, wow! Actually, not really, you’re OK.’
Now, Miranda relaxed. Being up against Michael McIntyre, Ant and Dec, Harry Hill and David Mitchell, she didn’t much fancy her chances. But when David Tennant opened the envelope, he gleefully announced, ‘The winner of the People’s Choice Award is… it’s Miranda Hart!’
Her face showed her genuine astonishment as she staggered to the stage to make another dreaded speech: ‘From Louie Spence to Simon Le Bon to David Tennant! Erm, this is a joke, right? Because Michael McIntyre and Ant and Dec are like proper famous and stuff, come on! I genuinely don’t know what to say. I mean, terrified of the thought of getting up – I just spat! I just actually spat! … I’m really so overwhelmed, as you can see, I’m making a total tit of myself. Thank you so much to everyone who voted. That’s all I can say, really. Thank you.’
She was still in shock the morning after, saying on Twitter, ‘Very amusing dream last night that I met Simon Le Bon and spat on stage at the comedy awards’.
In the aftermath of the British Comedy Awards, there was only one person taking the headlines. Miranda Hart, the lady who walked away with three trophies, appeared on almost every chat show available – they all wanted her. Speaking to Alan Carr on his TV chat show, Chatty Man, she said she was still buzzing and couldn’t quite believe it. He suggested that Simon Le Bon had been flirting with her too and she joked, ‘Well, you know, he’s only human.’ She went on to confess an embarrassing moment she had on stage: ‘I kind of held on to him for a bit too long… I gave him a hug and I could feel him slightly trying to withdraw, but I wouldn’t let him go. And I was like, I’m doing this for too long, and it’s on telly. Even then I couldn’t quite let go.’ Alan asked how she celebrated her victorious evening, imagining – as we might too – a night of champagne and revelry. In fact, she admitted that she and the cast went back to her house for a cup of tea and to enjoy the contacts of their goodie bags, ‘within which was, literally, three packets of crisps and a pint glass that you might get at an Esso garage in the 80s. And then, a Creme Egg’. A cup of tea and a Creme Egg at home with her sitcom family – how quaint.
Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley spoke to Miranda on ITV’s Daybreak, and congratulated her on her hat trick. Chiles said of the Comedy Awards, ‘I mean that’s a tough gig actually, isn’t it? Because you’ve got to be funny. I mean, if you won a comedy award, you’ve got to stand there and be funny, otherwise they might confiscate it.’
Miranda wasn’t sure she managed that as, in her words, she just ‘spat and dribbled and embraced Simon Le Bon for a bit too long’. After time to regroup and find the right words, Miranda left a message for her fans on her website: ‘Thank you to everyone who voted for me at the Comedy Awards. If you saw the show you will have seen how embarrassingly speechless I was to get the People’s Choice Awards. I am such a fan of Harry Hill, David Mitchell, Michael McIntyre and Ant and Dec – they are all amazing entertainers. So to be considered amongst them, let along win, was a genuine shock. A big fat thank you for your support. You have made someone whose dream it was to get into comedy very happy. I am apparently now officially called the Queen of Comedy, so no eye contact please, only speak when you are spoken to and back out of the room. Thank you subjects.’
So why was Miranda so surprised at winning? People were talking about her at water coolers around the country, she was getting big viewing figures, and journalists were singing her praises. But Miranda was so worried about reading something negative that she avoided reviews and wasn’t aware of the glowing write-ups she was given. Despite the fact the Christmas special attracted 4.4 million viewers, she couldn’t quite get her head around it: ‘I thought they’d got that wrong. I suppose because you sort of hear these figures, but it’s very hard to get a tangible sense of it being popular because it’s just sort of numbers. And I haven’t done a tour recently, I haven’t been out and about so I haven’t really got a true sense of it. I think that’s why I was particularly shocked by the People’s Choice Award.’
But this wasn’t the end of the acclaim for Miranda and her series. March 2011 saw the RTS Awards, where she received two nominations to the previous year’s three. On this occasion, she won both categories: Best Scripted Comedy and Best Comedy Performance. Miranda was very excited to have won but, as it says on her website: ‘The highlight of the night was winning a dare to ask Ant and Dec for a bottle of champagne because the BBC aren’t allowed to buy champagne for their tables. Ant and Dec were kind enough to oblige!’
Surely by now, this darling of light entertainment must be bombarded on the street, hounded by fans and unable to go about her daily life? Not quite. Approaching the broadcast of the second series, Miranda had been busy writing, rewriting, rehearsing and recording the show, so didn’t notice much difference. On his BBC chat show, Graham Norton suggested, ‘You were a working comic and you’ve guested on other people’s shows, but now this show… presumably it’s taken you to a whole different level of fame.’
She replied that she does occasionally get recognised on the street, but then proceeded to tell how, recently in the waiting room at her doctor’s, the nurse called out her name, ‘Miranda Hart’, and she heard someone say, ‘Ooh! Do you think it’s her