NTAs No-Shows: Why Top Stars Like Claudia Winkleman and Ant & Dec Skipped 30th Anniversary

The National Television Awards are widely regarded as the biggest night in British television – with a host of stars hitting the red carpet. 

Yet this year there was a notable lack of A-list glamour in attendance, with the likes of ITV stalwart Holly Willoughby, rising star Owen Cooper and the Strictly team snubbing the ceremony. 

Another notable absence was Ant and Dec, who missed out on the Best Presenter Award for the first time in 23 years. 

The Geordie duo lost out to Gary Lineker on the evening but they weren’t in the audience when the result was read out because they’re filming I’m A Celebrity: All Stars. 

Ahead of the ceremony, they filmed a video for their fans, with Ant explaining: ‘Sorry we can’t be there tonight. But we’re in South Africa!’ 

As he insisted it was an ‘honour to be nominated’, they joked about not being able to watch the show abroad, saying: ‘Let us know if we win or not’. 

After a year of scandals for Strictly the series made a triumphant comeback as they won TV talent show – yet hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman – as well as none of the professional dancers, were not in attendance. 

For Claudia, this also meant she missed out on supporting the cast of The Traitors in the best reality show category. 

Instead, last year’s finalist JB Gill accepted the honour – offering a shout out to Tess and Claudia. 

It’s since been revealed that the current Strictly crew were unable to attend the ceremony because they were pre-recording the 2025 Strictly launch, which will air on Saturday. 

Last year’s winner Chris McCausland was also not in attendance but he is currently touring the country. 

Another big winner on the night was Netflix series Adolescence – which smashed viewing records upon its release. 

The series scooped the Best Drama gong at the NTAs but the show’s main stars -Stephen Graham, Ashley Walters and Owen Cooper were not there to accept the honour. 

Instead, their co-stars Amari Bacchus, Mark Herbert, Jo Hartley, Emily Feller and Fatima Bojang took to the stage, and shared a pre-recorded video message from Owen, where he effusively thanked his co-stars, collaborators and fans.

He said: ‘Never could I have believed that this show, Adolescence, would change my life in the way that it has.

‘It’s the fact that the viewers who voted for this, it just shows what a powerful, impactful show that we all got to make.’

It was later revealed that the show’s main stars have jetted to America for Sunday night’s Emmy Awards, where Adolescence is tipped to take home a win.  

When Gavin & Stacey won best comedy, co-creator James Corden was notably missing from the stage – as well as lead actors Mathew Horne and Joanna Page. 

James is currently in America starring in the Broadway play, Art, yet took to Instagram after the win to thank fans for voting for them. 

While it’s not clear why Joanna and Mathew were not in attendance, they too took to social media to share their delight at the win.  

Also snubbing the ceremony was Holly Willoughby, however, her producer husband Dan Baldwin still made an appearance. 

Several of the Loose Women team also skipped the awards, with the only panellists in attendance being Linda Robson, Katie Piper, Charlene White, Kelle Bryan, Olivia Attwood and Frankie Bridge.

Gary Lineker, This Morning and EastEnders were among the big winners on Wednesday at the ceremony held at London’s O2 Arena.

Hosted by Joel Dommett for its 30th anniversary, the awards were televised on ITV1, with the winners voted for by the public.

And one of the biggest surprises of the night saw Gary finally bring an end to Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly’s 23-year winning streak, as the former footballer, 64, scored the win for Best Presenter.

The emotional presenter used his acceptance speech to take a pointed dig at his controversial departure from Match of the Day, as he declared it was ‘OK to speak up on behalf of those who have no voice’.

After 26 years, Gary presented his final show in May, after sharing a pro-Palestine Instagram video about Zionism featuring an emoji of a rat, which has anti-Semitic connotations. He apologised, but stepped down as host.

Speaking to the NTAs crowd, he admitted ‘it’s not lost on me why I might have won this award…

‘I think it demonstrates that perhaps it’s OK sometimes to use our platform to speak up on behalf of those who have no voice.’

While it was also a redemption evening for This Morning, who scooped the Best Daytime gong again two years after their bruising defeat to The Repair Shop.

It also marked the first win for new hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley, with Alison Hammond telling the audience how they had all been ‘humbled’ by the past two losses. 

And Strictly Come Dancing also came out champions, bagging Best Talent Show, despite a year full of scandals and controversies.

However, due to recording schedules for this year’s series, Tess Daly, Claudia Winkleman and the judges were unable to be there to collect the award. 

And after it returned for its long-awaited finale at Christmas, beloved sitcom Gavin & Stacey won the award for Best Comedy, with Ruth Jones and Larry Lamb accepting the gong.

Jeremy Clarkson’s smash-hit show Clarkson’s Farm also came out on top, with Jeremy taking the moment to make a quip to the audience about how he was on weight-loss jab Mounjaro. 

However, Stacey Solomon suffered a further blow following on from her BAFTA  snub earlier this year, as her factual series Sort Your Life Out missed out on an NTA gong again, while she also lost out on Best Presenter.

Meanwhile Liz Hurley and Rob Rinder announced this year’s winner of the Reality Competition was I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, with reigning King of the Jungle Danny Jones leading the 2024 cast onstage to accept.

And Netflix’s Adolescence also proved a hit on the evening, with the acclaimed series beating out Disney+’s Rivals for Best New Drama, and teenage star Owen Cooper winning Best Drama Performance for playing twisted killer Jamie Miller.

An emotional moment of the night saw EastEnders’ Jessie Wallace and Michelle Ryan present the Serial Drama Performance to co-star Steve McFadden, who couldn’t hold back his tears as he was honoured for his portrayal of Phil Mitchell’s mental health crisis.

And the Walford cast had plenty to celebrate, as the ceremony ended with EastEnders scoring the coveted Best Serial Drama prize.

The night kicked off with comedian Michael McIntyre scoring a huge win for his Big Show, as he scooped The Bruce Forsyth Entertainment Award.

Lee Mack’s The 1% Club was voted Best Quiz Show this year, with the comedian using his time on stage to poke fun at Gary. 

Meanwhile, the final ever series of Vera lost out to the BBC’s Call The Midwife for Best Returning Drama. 

And it was a big night for former Love Island star Molly Mae Hague as she walked away with the award for Authored Documentary.

Her series, which initially charted her breakup last year from Tommy Fury, beat off stiff competition from Boyzone: No Matter What, Strictly Amy: Cancer and Me, There’s Only One Rob Burrow and Freddie Flintoff. 

Animated BBC series Wallace and Gromit also received a special recognition award during the night, with creator Nick Park collecting the gong. 

The red carpet arrivals were hosted by Sam Thompson and Pete Wicks for the second year in a row, who also took to the stage to hand out a gong.

The NTAs were established back in 1995 to give the public a voice when it came to recognising TV talent – as previously, awards had always been dished out by industry professionals. 

Described as a ‘celebration of the nation’s most loved stars and shows’, people have had the opportunity to vote via post, telephone, and online.