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National Television Award bosses have defended Coronation Street's win at Wednesday night's ceremony, denying accusations of 'bias' and insisting that the soap had a "significant gain over the other contenders" throughout voting.

The awards, held at London's O2 arena, saw the commercial broadcaster's flagship soap triumph in the 'Most Popular Serial Drama' category following a public phone vote that remained open throughout the two-and-a-half hour show.

BBC sources today expressed their displeasure at the producers' decision to include a speech by Weatherfield veteran William Roache to mark the show's 50th anniversary, prior to a three-minute promo reel showcasing its upcoming storylines. The BBC allegedly felt that both the speech and clip package influenced votes.

EastEnders, meanwhile, was afforded a 'Who Killed Archie?' camera pan across the actors who play the potential murder suspects, as well as praise from award host Dermot O'Leary over the soap's current form. Walford icon Barbara Windsor subsequently presented the 'Newcomer' trophy to Corrie's Craig Gazey. Lacey Turner also collected the 'Serial Drama Performance' going for her portrayal of Stacey Slater.

However, Digital Spy this afternoon learned that Coronation Street remained at the head of the phone vote from the start of the show, through the promo reel and until the end of the show when X Factor winner Joe McElderry announced the result.

Speaking on behalf of the National Television Awards, a spokesperson for independent adjudicators PromoVeritas told DS: "With regards to the specifics of the live phone vote, Coronation Street had a significant gain over the other contenders from the start of the voting period until the end and for every monitored period within."

They added: "We do not believe that any editorial content would have had a material impact on the live phone voting or on the final result."

However, when asked to release the percentage shares, ITV upheld its policy not to release any voting figures due to their "commercially sensitive" nature.

Sources at the show also maintained that they treated the soaps "fairly" and "impartially" throughout. They explained that each year, one public vote category remains open throughout the programme and this year was the turn of the soaps.

Meanwhile, an Ofcom spokesperson confirmed: "Ofcom has received complaints about the National TV Awards but we are not currently investigating the show."

Following the programme, hundreds of Digital Spy forum users voiced their concern, with 'Lummo' commenting that it was "blatantly unfair because of the huge preview they had of Corrie while phone lines were still open". A number of other readers noted that Emmerdale and Hollyoaks received no special treatment at all.

However, user 'norbitonite' said: "I would be very surprised if a significant proportion of voters decided to vote at the last minute because of a compilation that was run during the awards."

Digital Spy

CORONATION Street has cast its first full-time disabled character - months after rival soap EastEnders did the same thing.

Wheelchair user Cherylee Houston, 35, starts filming next month following David Proud's arrival in Walford as Adam Best in September.

Street fans have seen disabled actors briefly appear in the soap before.

Ryan Connor's mate Phil was played by wheelchair user Richard Sargent and Emily's niece Freda was played by deaf actress Ali Briggs.

Cherylee, who suffers a degenerative tissue disorder, will star as new girl Izzy, a love interest for loafer Kirk Sutherland.

The pair meet through an internet dating service but bosses hinted it won't be love at first sight.

The actress has previously appeared in Holby City, The Bill, Little Britain and Emmerdale.

She told TV Biz: "I grew up with Coronation Street and can't wait to start on the show."

A Corrie spokesman added: "Izzy is a real firebrand who wastes no time in taking on some of the Street's feistiest females.

"However, the people she slams so savagely are usually the ones who end up liking and respecting her the most."

The Sun

Originally Posted by Chewy (Post 2907250) [center]The pair meet through an internet dating

Originally Posted by BigSister (Post 2915139) Graham is going to get a relationship this year baz and its someone whos already on the show not a new character