Coronation Street star pays tribute to Bill Tarmey at National Television Awards

Alan Halsall paid tribute to Bill Tarmey at the National Television Awards last night (Rex Features)

The stars of Coronation Street remembered Bill Tarmey as they picked up two prizes at the National Television Awards.

The long-running ITV soap was named best serial drama and Alan Halsall, who played Tarmey's on-screen foster son Tyrone Dobbs, won the award for serial drama performance.

Accepting his award, Halsall paid tribute to Tarmey, who died last year after playing Jack Duckworth in the soap for decades, saying: "I love you pal."

Speaking backstage, he paid further tribute to Tarmey, saying the actor would be looking down on him tonight.

He said: "I'm sure he is. He'll be having a pint of Guinness for me. His wife asked me to wear his watch tonight so I've got it on. This is for him, he guided me literally from the start of my career at Coronation Street, he was such a huge, huge influence on my life like a second dad on screen.

"He'd be laughing at this right now, he used to say, 'none of that bloody acting'."

The show's producer Phil Collinson also paid tribute to Tarmey, saying: "This year we lost a stalwart of Coronation Street who was just so much a part of everybody's life for a long time, Bill Tarmey, and so I think we'd love to dedicate this to Bill."

PA