The British Soap Awards (BSAs)^[1] are an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom which honours the best moments in British soap operas. The ceremony is televised on ITV. The trophies given to the winners are made from metal and glass and have been manufactured by British firm Creative Awards since their inception. The majority of the awards are voted for by a panel of industry professionals, while certain awards including Best British Soap and Best Leading Performer are voted for by the general public.

The first British Soap Awards took place in 1999 and was presented by Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, who presented the awards until 2001. Matthew Kelly presented the 2002 awards, before being replaced by Des O'Connor and Melanie Sykes in 2003. Paul O'Grady presented the awards between 2004 and 2005. Phillip Schofield and Fern Britton took over as presenters in 2006. Britton left in 2008, however Schofield continued to present the awards as a solo presenter until the 2022, as in May 2023, after presenting the ceremonies for 16 years, Schofield announced that he had quit.^[2] On 1 June 2023, it was announced that Jane McDonald would take over from Schofield as the new host of the awards.^[3] Although it is an ITV Studios production, the events were held at the BBC Television Centre in London until 2009.^[4] The ceremonies have since been held at various locations in London and Manchester, including the Granada Studios, the London Studios, dock10, the Hackney Empire, the Palace Theatre and the Lowry.^[5] The five soap operas currently nominated for awards are Coronation Street, Doctors, EastEnders, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks. Now-defunct soaps that were formerly nominated for awards were Brookside, Crossroads, Family Affairs and Night and Day with Doctors due to end on BBC One later in December 2024.^[6]

In 2016, it was announced that the award for outstanding achievement off-screen would be known as the Tony Warren Award following the death of Tony Warren, the creator of Coronation Street.^[7][8] On 1 May 2018, ITV announced that for the 20th anniversary of the show, it would be broadcast live for the first time on 2 June 2018.^[9] In March 2020, it was announced that the 2020 ceremony had been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[10] ITV instead aired a 60-minute special in its place titled The British Soap Awards Celebrates 21 Years, narrated by presenter Phillip Schofield.^[10] In April 2021, it was announced that the 2021 ceremony had also been cancelled once again due to the pandemic.^[11]

In April 2022, it was confirmed that the British Soap Awards would be held in June 2022. They also announced the introduction of two new viewer-voted categories, Best Family and Best Leading Performer. With the introduction of the gender-neutral Best Leading Performer category, it was confirmed that the awards for Best Actress and Best Actor had been axed.^[12][13] Then in 2023, they reintroduced Villain of the Year as a viewer-voted category, as well as making the Best Young Performer award viewer-voted for the first time. ^[14]

On 1 November 2023, the 2024 British Soap Awards were cancelled for an undisclosed reason by ITV but they will return for 2025.^[15]

The 2025 edition will feature just four soap operas: Coronation Street, Emmerdale, EastEnders and Hollyoaks following the cancellation of Doctors in December 2024.

Current

Defunct

Stan Richards, who played Seth Armstrong in Emmerdale, was remembered during the ceremony, having died in February 2005.^[19]

Mike Reid, who played Frank Butcher in EastEnders, was remembered during the ceremony, having died in July 2007.^[20]

Clive Hornby, who played Jack Sugden in Emmerdale, was remembered during the ceremony, having died in July 2008. Wendy Richard, who played Pauline Fowler in EastEnders, was also remembered during the ceremony, having died in February 2009.^[21]

Maggie Jones, who played Blanche Hunt in Coronation Street, was remembered during the ceremony, having died in December 2009.^[22]

Betty Driver, who played Betty Williams in Coronation Street, was remembered during the ceremony, having died in October 2011.^[23]

Bill Tarmey, who played Jack Duckworth in Coronation Street, was remembered during the ceremony, having died in November 2012.^[24]

Richard Thorp, who played Alan Turner in Emmerdale, was remembered during the ceremony, having died in May 2013. This was also the final ceremony where "Sexiest Male" and "Sexiest Female" were awarded; Michelle Keegan, who plays Tina McIntyre in Coronation Street, won "Sexiest Female" for the sixth time in a row.^[25]

Anne Kirkbride, who played Deirdre Barlow in Coronation Street, was remembered during the ceremony, having died in January 2015. John Bardon, who played Jim Branning in EastEnders, was also remembered during the ceremony, having died in September 2014.^[26]

This year's ceremony incorporated a "Social Issue Storyline" mention, which is where all of the soap operas' most controversial stories were specially mentioned. These include:

• Steve's depression (Coronation Street)
• John Paul's rape (Hollyoaks)
• Zara's breast-feeding campaign (Doctors)
• Val's HIV diagnosis (Emmerdale)
• Linda's rape (EastEnders)

Peter Baldwin (Derek Wilton in Coronation Street), Stephen Hancock (Ernest Bishop in Coronation Street), Shirley Stelfox (Edna Birch in Emmerdale), Kitty McGeever (Lizzie Lakely in Emmerdale), Kristian Ealey (Matt Musgrove in Brookside and Hollyoaks) and Morag Siller (Marilyn Dingle in Emmerdale) were remembered during the ceremony which was held on 29 May.^[27]

The 2017 awards took place on 3 June 2017 at The Lowry in Salford. It was originally planned for the event to be broadcast live for the first time but due to ITV moving the live grand final of Britain's Got Talent into its scheduled timeslot, the awards were instead pre-recorded as before and broadcast on ITV on 6 June 2017. After the end credits in the broadcast version, dedications appeared to Jean Alexander (Hilda Ogden in Coronation Street), who died in October 2016, and Roy Barraclough (Alec Gilroy in Coronation Street), who died in June 2017.^[28]

The 2018 awards were broadcast live for the first time on 2 June 2018. Liz Dawn, who played Vera Duckworth in Coronation Street, was remembered during the ceremony, having died in September 2017.^[29]

The 2019 awards were broadcast live on 1 June 2019.^[30]

The 2022 awards were broadcast live on 11 June 2022. This was Schofield's last as host.^[31] A tribute was paid to Australian soap opera Neighbours, after filming ended the day before the ceremony, with video messages from Ian Smith (Harold Bishop) and Jackie Woodburne (Susan Kennedy).^[32]

The In memoriam segment paid tribute to Paula Tilbrook (Betty Eagleton in Emmerdale), Lynda Baron (Linda Clarke in EastEnders and Ag Penrose in Doctors), Mark Eden (Alan Bradley in Coronation Street), Anna Karen (Aunt Sal in EastEnders), Neville Buswell (Ray Langton in Coronation Street), Patricia Brake (Deirdre Foster in EastEnders and Viv Baldwin in Coronation Street), Barbara Windsor (Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders), Leah Bracknell (Zoe Tate in Emmerdale), Leonard Fenton (Dr. Harold Legg in EastEnders), Kay Mellor (Coronation Street and Brookside writer), Sheila Mercier (Annie Sugden in Emmerdale), Frank Mills (Billy Williams in Coronation Street), Johnny Briggs (Mike Baldwin in Coronation Street), Roy Hudd (Archie Shuttleworth in Coronation Street), Stephen Churchett (Marcus Christie in EastEnders), Freddie Jones (Sandy Thomas in Emmerdale), Melanie Clark Pullen (Mary Flaherty in EastEnders), Johnny Leeze (Harry Clayton in Coronation Street and Ned Glover in Emmerdale), and June Brown (Dot Cotton in EastEnders), who all died between the 2019 and 2022 ceremonies.^[33]

The 2023 ceremony took place on 3 June 2023 and aired on ITV on 6 June 2023 at 8pm. It was the first to be hosted by Jane McDonald.^[34]

The In memoriam segment paid tribute to Bill Treacher (Arthur Fowler in EastEnders), Dale Meeks (Simon Meredith in Emmerdale), Barbara Young (Barbara Platt and Doreen Fenwick in Coronation Street), Andy Devine (Shadrach Dingle in Emmerdale), Ernst Walder (Ivan Cheveski in Coronation Street), Peter Martin (Len Reynolds in Emmerdale), Mona Hammond (Blossom Jackson in EastEnders), Maria Charles (Lena Thistlewood in Coronation Street), Harry Landis (Felix Kawalski in EastEnders), and Paul O'Grady who hosted The British Soap Awards from 2004 to 2005.^[35]

The 2025 ceremony will take place in 2025 and will air on ITV. The 2025 ceremony will comprise just four soap operas: Coronation Street, Emmerdale, EastEnders and Hollyoaks. This will be the first time that Doctors will not be featured in the 2025 ceremony following the cancellation in December 2024 after 24 years on air.