Kate Garraway says that it is “sad” her late husband Derek Draper could not see her nominated for another National Television Award (NTA) for a documentary about his health issues.
Garraway will be hoping to secure a hat-trick in the best-authored documentary category as she has been nominated for the prize again, this time for Kate Garraway: Derek’s Story.
Speaking from the red carpet on Wednesday evening, the Good Morning Britain presenter told the PA news agency: “The comments I’ve had and the emails and the letters have been so wonderful, and so obviously it’s been very sad in a way, because you’d love him to be here, or even if he wasn’t well enough to be actually here then to be going home to tell him all about it.
“But on the other hand, he will be so happy, I think that the issues that he wanted raised are being raised and so hopefully that’s good.”
Garraway said he would have been “very proud of these two”, referring to their children Darcey and Billy, who “get very shy at these things but wanted to come”.
She added that it is “wonderful” to have the “Draper gang”.
The programme followed the final year of Mr Draper’s life, before he died in January aged 56, after a lengthy battle with the long-term effects of Covid.
It follows on from two other programmes about his battle with Covid and her struggles navigating the care system, which both picked up NTA gongs in the category in 2021 and 2022.
However, Garraway thought it was “very unlikely” she would win against, also shortlisted former England captain David Beckham and pop star Robbie Williams, who both made Netflix documentaries.
ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, which covered the Horizon IT scandal and shined a light on wrongfully prosecuted subpostmasters, is competing for the new drama prize,
At the event, hosted by comedian Joel Dommett, actor Toby Jones is nominated in the drama performance category for his role as former subpostmaster Sir Alan Bates, one of more than 550 claimants who have brought legal action against the Post Office.
It was announced last week that the ITV drama had been awarded the NTA Impact Award for creating a “huge cultural shift”.
Meanwhile, Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly will seek to extend their winning streak in the TV presenter category to a historic 23rd year.
The Geordie duo is also up for best quiz game show, while I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway are nominated for the Bruce Forsyth entertainment award.
This Morning will also be hoping to regain the best daytime show crown after losing it last year, amid the furore of the Phillip Schofield affair.
The ITV morning programme, which is now fronted by Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley after Schofield and Holly Willoughby both left in 2023, will compete against reigning winners The Repair Shop along with The Chase, Loose Women and Deal Or No Deal.
Netflix hit Baby Reindeer and its lead actress Jessica Gunning are up for the new drama and performance gongs.
It will broadcast live on Wednesday from 8pm on ITV1and ITVX.
