Nice to see you win a television honour, Brucie!

The 82-year-old star, who made his television debut as a child in 1939, received a Special Recognition award and headed a list of celebrities who won acclaim for their performances.

Cheryl Cole was never far from the spotlight and after the X Factor, on which she is a judge, was named Most Popular Talent Show, she watched its most recent winner, Matt Cardle, perform his Christmas number one single.

Other winners included actors David Jason and Lacey Turner, and there were cheers for two unlikely guests – Ashes cricket hero Alastair Cook and one of the miners rescued from the Chilean pit disaster.

Miner Luis Urzua was greeted with a standing ovation as he appeared on stage to announce the winner in the Most Popular Drama category.

BBC One shows Doctor Who and Sherlock were among the nominations, prompting showbusiness writers to speculate that the contest would be a fight between a Time Lord and a famous detective, but victory went to the school-drama Waterloo Road, starring Amanda Burton.

Backstage, Urzua discussed plans to turn the story of the trapped men into a film, adding: “I’m very happy to show the world what it’s like to be under the ground for 70 days.”

The ceremony at London’s O2 arena began with a duet by Happy Mondays singer Shaun Ryder and former X Factor finalist Stacey Solomon.

The unlikely pair, who met while contestants on I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here, performed a medley of the Nina Simone song Feeling Good and Happy Mondays hit Step On. They then left the stage to let Gavin and Stacey star Ruth Jones announce ITV1’s Benidorm as the winner of the Most Popular Comedy Programme award.

The award was accepted by actor Steve Pemberton, who said: “They’ll be dancing in the streets of Benidorm tonight.”

Backstage, Pemberton said the show had “absolutely got legs”, and revealed the names of celebrities viewers could expect to see in the new series: “We have Cilla Black, we have Banarama, we’ve already had Louie Spence. We have Melvyn Hayes, and Danyl Johnson from last year’s X Factor.

“Cilla was a great sport and is sending herself up in the show. She’s in the first episode of the new series.

Actor Rufus Sewell, who has been gaining new audiences with drama series Zen, handed the Digital Choice award to the cast of teen comedy The Inbetweeners.

Blake Harrison, who plays Neil in the show, said: “This is a very, very special award to all of us because you the public have voted for it.”

Actor Ricky Norwood, who plays Fatboy in EastEnders, picked up the award for Most Popular Newcomer and dedicated it to his grandmother.

“My nan was a very wise woman as well as a very straight forward woman,” he said. “She always supported me. She was the first to get me into performing. She started me break dancing when I was three.”

The award for Outstanding Serial Drama Performance went to Lacey Turner for her role as Stacey Slater in EastEnders. The actress left the soap at Christmas after her character fled the country while wanted for the murder of Archie Mitchell.

Thanking everyone connected with the series, she said: “In the six years I was there I learned so much from you all.”

I’m A Celebrity... double act Ant and Dec won the Most Popular Entertainment Presenter award for the tenth year in a row and asked X Factor impresario Simon Cowell to collect it for them. Cowell said it was “well deserved” but their success was “annoying”.

Alastair Cook, who helped England win the recent Test series against Australia, presented the award for Topical Magazine show and showed off the Ashes urn to the cheering crowd before handing the award to This Morning presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.

Top Gear won the Most Popular Factual Programme award, presented by Ann Widdecombe.

Before the show, hundreds of excited fans gathered outside the venue to cheer the stars.