Coronation Street wins big at Inside Soap Awards

Coronation Street was the big winner at this year's Inside Soap Awards, with nine victories, including Best Soap, Best Actor and Best Actress.

Coronation Street's Gareth Pierce won big at the Inside Soap Awards

Coronation Street was the big winner at this year's Inside Soap Awards, with nine victories.

The ITV soap scooped the Best Soap gong, seeing off competition from EastEnders, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks, and Home and Away, and the programme also triumphed in the top two acting categories.

Corrie's Gareth Pierce - who portrays Todd Grimshaw - won Best Actor over EastEnders' Paul Bradley (Nigel Bates), Emmerdale's Jeff Hordley (Cain Dingle), Hollyoaks star Danny Mac (Dodger Savage) and Home and Away actor Ethan Browne (Tane Parata).

Gareth also won the Best Storyline prize - for a hard-hitting plot that has seen his character Todd suffer abuse at the hands of Theo Silverton (James Cartwright) - and he was "thrilled" with the double victory.

Corrie's James won Best Villain for his portrayal of Theo, and he admitted it was "great" playing a bad boy.

He told The Sun newspaper: "It's a great thing being a villain. It's a real pleasure."

The Best Actress prize also headed back to Weatherfield after Vicky Myers took home the accolade for her role as Lisa Connor-Swain.

She saw off Diane Parish (Denise Fox, EastEnders), Emma Atkins (Charity Dingle, Emmerdale), Alex Fletcher (Diane Hutchinson, Hollyoaks), and Emily Weir (Mackenzie Booth, Home and Away) for the award.

It was a huge night for ITV soaps after Corrie and Emmerdale won most of the accolades available.

Emmerdale star Chris Coghill triumphed in two categories, Best Comic Performance and Best Newcomer, for his part as Kev Barton.

One of the big categories of the night was Best Showstopper, and ITV's Coronation Street-Emmerdale crossover Corriedale triumphed over Hollyoaks' return to Brookside Close, Home and Away's train crash, and the EastEnders 90s special about Nigel's past.

While former Hollyoaks star Alex missed out in the Best Actress category, she didn't leave the ceremony empty-handed, taking home the Outstanding Achievement gong.

Afterwards, she said: "It means so much. I've given 30 years of my life to soap."

Alex admitted there was "a lot of pressure" growing up on a soap and receiving the accolade had taken her back to her early years in TV.

Full list of Inside Soap Awards 2026 winners:

Best Soap

Coronation Street

Best Actress

Vicky Myers (Lisa Connor-Swain, Coronation Street)

Best Actor

Gareth Pierce (Todd Grimshaw, Coronation Street)

Best Comic Performance

Chris Coghill (Kev Barton, Emmerdale)

Best Villain