Peaky Blinders and The Bodyguard win National Television Awards

Birmingham-based and Black Country-filmed Peaky Blinders won Best Drama on TV, while The Bodyguard - written by Cannock's Jed Mercurio - claimed two awards.

Peaky Blinders beat Casualty and Call The Midwife to the accolade at last night's award ceremony at London's O2 Arena.

Peaky Blinders missed out in 2017 when it was up for Best Period Drama and Cillian Murphy was nominated for Best Drama Performance for his performance as Tommy Shelby.

None of the Peaky team were in the capital to pick up the prize last night, instead allowing Dermot O'Leary to relay a message to the audience.

The cast, starring the likes of Murphy, Tom Hardy, Helen McCrory and Paul Anderson, returned to the Black Country Living Museum last year to begin filming for series five of the hit show.

Meanwhile Cannock writer, producer and director Jed Mercurio was also celebrating after his hit series The Bodyguard claimed two awards - for Best New Drama, and Best Drama Performance for Richard Madden.

Madden said he would love to see a second series of the show as he revealed that Mercurio was 'in talks' for a follow-up.

Speaking after accepting his awards, he said: “They’re in talks about it. We have got to see what comes out of Jed Mercurio’s brilliant mind. It’s kind of up to him to see what he does with it.”

Asked whether he would like to see another series, he replied: “I love the show, I love the character. I want to know what happens next with him.

“It’s insane that so many people watched (Bodyguard), then the amount of people who voted and went to the effort of doing that. It’s overwhelming. It’s appreciated, so thank you to everyone who did that.”