British Soap Awards 2022: Bleary-eyed Jessie Wallace kicks off her heels and walks barefoot

EastEnders‘ Jessie Wallace went barefoot as she made a bleary-eyed exit from the British Soap Awards in London on Saturday night.

The actress, 50, put on a dazzling display in a glittery silver top with oversized sleeves, which she wore off one shoulder along with a pair of metallic trousers.

Toting a pink Chanel clutch around with her, she soon received a hug from a busty Lauren Socha, who she chatted to outside the Hackney Empire venue.

Emerging: EastEnders’ Jessie Wallace went barefoot as she made a bleary-eyed exit from the British Soap Awards in London on Saturday night

Partied out: Georgia Taylor looked worse for wear as she let out a gigantic yawn in-between sips from her glass of wine

Jessie – who plays Kat Slater in the BBC show – showed off her collection of tattoos in the backless number while the Misfits star squeezed into a tight black top.

Donning matching trousers, she threw a leopard-print handbag over her shoulder and accessorised with a pair of oversized hoop earrings.

Barefoot: One can only assume Jessie’s shoes had been causing her pain

After taking selfies with her pal, the Enfield native slumped herself on the floor and looked down, with Lauren gasping and looking in the other direction.

Jessie soon got up and larked about with a car valet attendant wearing a high-vis jacket, whose face she touched as they joked about.

The British Soap Awards returned live to ITV for the first time in two years after the 2020 and 2021 ceremonies were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

In its place in 2020, ITV instead aired a 60-minute special titled The British Soap Awards Celebrates 21 Years, narrated by long-running presenter Phillip Schofield. 

Trendy: The actress, 50, put on a dazzling display in a glittery silver top with oversized sleeves, which she wore off one shoulder along with a pair of metallic trousers

Pals: Toting a pink Chanel clutch around with her, she soon received a hug from a busty Lauren Socha, who she chatted to outside the Hackney Empire venue

Say cheese: They took selfies with one another on the street and appeared to be in their element as they laughed up a storm

Worse-for-wear: The Enfield native slumped herself on the floor and looked down, with Lauren gasping and looking in the other direction

This year, host Phillip, 60, welcomed a plethora of soap stars to London’s Hackney Empire, where they battled it out to scoop prizes in 14 categories.

The awards were either voted for by a panel of expert judges or the public, with fans able to choose their favourites for Best British Soap, Best Leading Performer and Best Family categories.

Meanwhile, it was reported earlier this year that The British Soap Awards opted to axe the male and female categories. 

Hug: Jessie – who plays Kat Slater in the BBC show – showed off her collection of tattoos in the backless number while the Misfits star squeezed into a tight black top

Farewell: Jessie shouted towards Lauren as they parted ways after their antics

Making friends: Jessie soon got up and larked about with a car valet attendant wearing a high-vis jacket, whose face she touched as they joked about

Grinning: The very happy man couldn’t contain his delight at meeting his idol

Instead of Best Actor and Actress, stars from much-loved British soaps competed to scoop the newly-created new Best Leading Performer award.

The move follows The Brits which scrapped gender classifications this year, with Adele beating Ed Sheeran to Artist of the Year.

Past winners of the Best Actress award include Lucy Pargeter (who plays Chas Dingle in Emmerdale), Lucy Fallon (who played Bethany Platt in Coronation Street) and Charlotte Bellamy (who plays Laurel Thomas in Emmerdale).

It follows the award for Sexiest Male and Female, voted by the public, being axed in 2015.

Dapper: Richard Hawley looked suave in a navy pinstripe suit… while carrying not one, but two bottles of lager

Drinking away: Another bleary-eyed attendee guzzled down the bottle of Peroni

Guzzle: Daniel Brocklebank couldn’t help but take a large gulp of the alcoholic beverage while checking his phone

Gang: Three other celebs cosied up for a group hug while beaming from ear-to-ear

The five biggest soaps – Coronation Street, Doctors, EastEnders, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks – battled it out to win recognition for their work over the past year.

And after a stellar year of drama-filled storylines, the competition was certainly fierce.

Emmerdale came out on top as it won the coveted Best Soap prize, with serial killer Meena Jutla’s long reign of terror dominating storylines.

The Leeds-based soap also bagged the Leading Performer and Dramatic Performance prizes for Paige Sandhu (Meena) and Mark Charnock (Marlon Dingle) respectively.

Age-defying: Anita Dobson, 73, (left) flashed her legs in a blue minidress as she stepped out while another star clutched firmly onto her wine glass

Unmissable: Billie Faiers stunned in a strapless lilac tulle ruffled gown with a cinched-in waist which accentuated her svelte physique

Couple goals: The TV personality was joined by her handsome husband Greg Shepherd who didn’t let his wife down in the style stakes, looking dapper in a grey suit and lilac tie 

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Hot stuff: Chelsee Healey exposed her cleavage in a very revealing black gown with a cut out detail, with the garment featuring an elaborate bejewelled bra top design on one side

The Dingles also bagged Best Family, with a specials tribute paid to the Andy Devine (Shadrach Dingle) following his death earlier this year.

EastEnders also scooped four awards on the night, with soap legend Letitia Dean becoming the proud recipient of this year’s Outstanding Achievement award for her almost 40 year stint playing Sharon Watts.

Meanwhile, EastEnders stars Gillian Wright and Lacey Turner (Jean and Stacey Slater) fought off stiff competition to win best onscreen partnership.

Other big wins for EastEnders included Tameka Empson aka Kim Fox scooping the Comedy Performer prize, while Ross Boatman earned himself the Newcomer award for his portrayal of Harvey Monroe

Over here! Chris Chittell hailed a taxi while being photobombed by a fan

Couple: Martin Lewis and his wife Lara Lewington appeared to be in high spirits as they departed

Cute: Gregory Piper and his girlfriend sweetly touched hands as they headed home from the awards ceremony

All good here: Scott Maslen shot a thumbs up towards photographers as his cars sped away while Stephanie Beacham dazzled in a nude dress with glittery silver embellishments

Coronation Street ended up with three prizes on the night, with their gongs including Best Villain for Maximus Evans (Corey Brent) and Young Performer for Millie Gibson (Kelly Neelan) – both of whom were involved in the soap’s harrowing hate crime storyline.

The other prize for the ITV soap was the The Tony Warren Award which went to Coronation Street scriptwriter Jan McVerry for her dedicated service.

Elsewhere, kicking off the wins were Hollyoaks, with Misbah Maalik’s historic rape scooping the coveted Best Storyline prize – the first award of the night.

Harvey was a double winner as she also won Scene of The Year for the Misbah didn’t consent episode.

Finally, Doctors also bagged a prize and surprised many when they fought off very stiff competition in the Single Episode category for their Three Consultations and a Funeral episode.

Meanwhile, Neighbours fans were left ‘absolutely broken’ and in tears as the British Soap Awards paid tribute to the axed show.

While there wasn’t a dry eye in sight thanks to the In Memoriam section which honoured soap stars who’ve passed away, including EastEnders legends Barbara Windsor and June Brown – both of whom received huge cheers from the audience.

BRITISH SOAP AWARDS 2022 WINNERS

British Soap

Coronation Street 

Doctors

EastEnders

Emmerdale – WINNER

Hollyoaks

Leading Performer 

Sally Carman (Abi Webster) – Coronation Street

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Gillian Wright (Jean Slater) – EastEnders

Linda Henry (Shirley Carter) – EastEnders

Paige Sandhu (Meena Jutla) – Emmerdale – WINNER

Mark Charnock (Marlon Dingle) – Emmerdale

 Family 

The Alahans – Coronation Street

The Carters – EastEnders

The Dingles – Emmerdale – WINNER

The McQueens – Hollyoaks

Coronation Street: Sally Carman as Abi Webster

Villain 

Maximus Evans (Corey Brent) – Coronation Street – WINNER

Laura White (Dr Princess Buchanan) – Doctors

Toby-Alexander Smith (Gray Atkins) – EastEnders

Paige Sandhu (Meena Jutla) – Emmerdale

Rhiannon Clements (Summer Ranger) – Hollyoaks

Coronation Street: Maximus Evans as Corey Brent

Comedy Performer

Jane Hazelgrove (Bernie Winter) – Coronation Street

Sarah Moyle (Valerie Pitman) – Doctors

Tameka Empson (Kim Fox) – EastEnders – WINNER

Lisa Riley (Mandy Dingle) – Emmerdale

Chelsee Healey (Goldie McQueen) – Hollyoaks

Newcomer 

Paddy Bever (Max Turner) – Coronation Street

Ross McLaren (Luca McIntyre) – Doctors

Ross Boatman (Harvey Monroe) – EastEnders – WINNER

Darcy Grey (Marcus Dean) – Emmerdale

Matthew James-Bailey (Ethan Williams) – Hollyoaks

Hollyoaks: Chelsee Healey as Goldie McQueen

Best Storyline 

Coronation Street – Hate Crime

Doctors – Bear and his mother encounter racism at St Phil’s Hospital

EastEnders – Jean’s Bipolar

Emmerdale – Meena Serial Killer

Hollyoaks – Misbah’s Historic Rape – WINNER

Single Episode 

Coronation Street – Flashback

Doctors – Three Consultations and a Funeral – WINNER

EastEnders – Jean in Southend

Emmerdale – Marlon’s stroke

Hollyoaks – Out of Time

Emmerdale: Mark Charnock as Marlon Dingle 

Dramatic Performance 

Sally Carman (Abi Webster) – Coronation Street

Dex Lee (Bear Sylvester) – Doctors

Gillian Wright (Jean Slater) – EastEnders

Mark Charnock (Marlon Dingle) – Emmerdale – WINNER

Harvey Virdi (Misbah Maalik) – Hollyoaks

On-screen partnership  

David Neilson & Mollie Gallagher (Roy Cropper & Nina Lucas) – Coronation Street

Chris Walker & Jan Pearson (Rob Hollins & Karen Hollins) – Doctors

Lacey Turner & Gillian Wright (Stacey Slater and Jean Slater) – EastEnders – WINNER

Isobel Steele & Bradley Johnson (Liv Flaherty & Vinny Dingle) – Emmerdale

Anna Passey & Kieron Richardson (Sienna Blake & Ste Hay) – Hollyoaks

EastEnders: Gillian Wright as Jean Slater

Young performer 

Millie Gibson (Kelly Neelan) – Coronation Street – WINNER

Sonny Kendall (Tommy Moon) – EastEnders

Amelia Flanagan (April Windsor) – Emmerdale

Jayden Fox (Bobby Costello) – Hollyoaks

Scene of the year 

Coronation Street – Johnny’s Death

Doctors – Mad Hatter’s Tea Party

EastEnders – Hall of Mirrors

Emmerdale – Bridge Collapse

Hollyoaks – Misbah Didn’t Consent – WINNER     

The Outstanding Achievement Award was given to EastEnders legend Letitia Dean for her portrayal of Sharon Watts

 The Tony Warren Award went to Coronation Street scriptwriter Jan McVerry