{"id":129716,"date":"2025-09-11T10:45:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T10:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/129716\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T10:45:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T10:45:11","slug":"national-television-awards-viewers-cry-they-love-eastenders-legend-even-more-as-he-breaks-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/129716\/","title":{"rendered":"National Television Awards viewers ‘cry’ they love EastEnders legend ‘even more’ as he breaks down"},"content":{"rendered":"

The popular actor received a standing ovation upon winning his award(Image: Getty Images for the NTA’s)<\/p>\n

National Television Awards viewers said on social media that they love an EastEnders<\/a> legend \u2018even more\u2019 after he broke down in tears.<\/p>\n

Currently in the midst of its 40th anniversary, which included a special live episode, two of the BBC<\/a> soap\u2019s stars were nominated in the Best Serial Drama Performance category at the NTAs.<\/p>\n

Jaqueline Jossa and Steve McFadden, were up against Emmerdale<\/a>\u2019s Eden Taylor-Draper, Coronation Street<\/a> duo Jack P Shepherd and Sue Devaney.<\/p>\n

In an award that was voted for by the public, viewers gave the gong to Steve, who has played Phil Mitchell since 1990.<\/p>\n

Steve\u2019s win arrives in a year where Phil has been struggling with mental health, even attempting to take his own life in February.<\/p>\n

In spite of being one of EastEnders most legendary actors, Steve had previously only been nominated for two NTAs, losing out on Most Popular Actor in 2001 and 2002.<\/p>\n

Receiving one of the biggest cheers of the night, Steve became teary eyed as he walked to the stage to collect his prize.<\/p>\n

(Image: Getty Images for the NTA’s)<\/p>\n

Collecting the award from Kat and Zoe Slater duo Jessie Wallace and Michelle Ryan<\/a>, Steve said he was \u2018touched and over the moon\u2019.<\/p>\n

Thanking everyone else nominated alongside him, Steve said he was \u2018truly grateful\u2019 as he thanked the \u2018generous, brilliant, stunning, wonderful\u2019 EastEnders team.<\/p>\n

Those watching the NTAs at home rushed to X, previously known at Twitter<\/a>, to congratulate Steve on his achievement.<\/p>\n

@Mrs_AhmedZaman said: \u201cSeeing Adam Woodyatt crying at Steve McFadden winning has truly set me off. I can’t cope. #NTAs #EastEnders.\u201d @Inscarll added: \u201cYES STEVE MCFADDEN !!! & such a humble guy #Eastenders #NTAs #ntaawards.\u201d<\/p>\n

@_msashleybailey wrote: \u201cSteve McFadden seems SO down to earth, I love him even more now #NTAs.\u201d @MCJPeel posted: \u201cThe whole of the UK watching Steve McFadden collect his long overdue award #NTAs #NationalTVAwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

@putasinghonit commented: \u201cITS SIR STEVE MCFADDEN IN THIS HOUSEHOLD MIND YOU!!! #NTAs #Eastenders.\u201d @AngieCQuinn stated: \u201cAbout time!!! what a guy Steve McFadden is #NTAs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve\u2019s character Phil is currently looking after his friend Nigel Bates amid his battle with dementia, bringing him on a heartwarming trip to the country this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The popular actor received a standing ovation upon winning his award(Image: Getty Images for the NTA’s) National Television…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129717,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1078,96,59,60723,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-129716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-eastenders","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-national-television-awards","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}