Sam Neill has won a posthumous best actor award at Australia\u2019s biggest television awards, the Logies, with comedian Sam Pang taking home the night\u2019s top honour, the Gold Logie award for most popular personality.<\/p>\n
Neill, who died in July<\/a>, won his posthumous Logie for best lead actor in a drama, for his performance in legal thriller The Twelve: Cape Rock Killer. His close friend, the actor Heather Mitchell, accepted the award on his behalf.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so sorry I\u2019m not Sam,\u201d she said. \u201cI know how much it would mean to him. This is an indication of his connection with his audience.\u201d<\/p>\n Mitchell said The Twelve, which Neill starred in for three seasons, \u201cmeant a great deal\u201d to him.<\/p>\n \u201cHe really relished the character of Brett Colby. He talked about it a lot, and he thought [Colby] was a very clever man, and also a sort of 007 kind of person. And that was Sam as well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Heather Mitchell pays tribute to Sam Neill onstage at the Logies. Photograph: James Gourley\/Getty Images for TV WEEK<\/p>\n Pang, who is a panellist on quiz show Have You Been Paying Attention? and hosts The Front Bar and Sam Pang Tonight, joked: \u201cI\u2019ve got lots of people to thank tonight and I\u2019ll probably forget some names. If I do forget you, I\u2019m sorry, but maybe also have a think about how much you did.\u201d<\/p>\n The 52-year-old congratulated his fellow nominees for the top award: A Current Affair host Ally Langdon, comedian Julia Morris, ABC presenter Lisa Millar, Masterchef judge Poh Ling Yeow, presenter Robert Irwin and Tipping Point Australia host Todd Woodbridge.<\/p>\n Pang was presented the award by Magda Szubanski, who made a surprise appearance after recently announcing she was in remission after being treated for cancer<\/a>.<\/p>\n Magda Szubanski in character as her Kath & Kim role Sharon Strzelecki with Robert Irwin onstage. Photograph: James Gourley\/Getty Images for TV WEEK<\/p>\n The Logies have historically been unusual awards, with a mix of popularly voted awards \u2013 which celebrities have always actively campaigned to win \u2013 and peer-voted awards. Last year, the voting system was overhauled so that the \u201cbest\u201d categories \u2013 formerly called \u201cmost outstanding\u201d \u2013 are now determined by a combined score: 50% of which is peer assessment and audience data supplied by the broadcasters, and 50% of which is by popular vote.<\/p>\n The Gold Logie and the \u201cmost popular\u201d award categories remain determined entirely by popular vote.<\/p>\n Irwin, who hosted this year\u2019s ceremony, won his first Logie, taking home the Bert Newton award for most popular presenter for his role on I\u2019m A Celebrity\u2026 Get Me Out Of Here, which was recently cancelled by Network 10. Irwin thanked his family, who he said were watching remotely from a crocodile research expedition in north Queensland, as well as Australia Zoo, where he has lived since childhood.<\/p>\n \u201cMy heart beats for Australia Zoo,\u201d he said. \u201cI bleed khaki \u2026 This is for my Australia Zoo family \u2013 500 back at home, who back me, who work towards a mission that my dad started.\u201d<\/p>\n Brooke Satchwell won best lead actress in a drama for her role in Stan series Dear Life<\/a>, while Claudia Karvan won best supporting actress in a drama for her role as the mother of a trans child in SBS show Homebodies<\/a>. Karvan used her speech to pay tribute to trans children and their parents, saying: \u201cMay their voices always be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n Simon Baker won best supporting actor for his performance in The Narrow Road to the Deep North \u2013 his second Logie win after his first in 1993, which was \u201csomewhere in the shed\u201d, he said. He thanked director Justin Kurzel and his castmates, joking: \u201cThere\u2019s not a bad performance in this thing and I can say that because I have just won an award.\u201d<\/p>\n Lila McGuire accepts the Graham Kennedy award for most popular new talent for her role in Goolagong. Photograph: James Gourley\/Getty Images for TV WEEK<\/p>\n