Kate Garraway thanked her husband for his “incredible fighting spirit” as she won the authored documentary prize at the National Television Awards for a second consecutive year.
The Good Morning Britain presenter spoke of the “care crisis” during her acceptance speech, and praised professional and unpaid carers in the UK for the work they do.
Garraway won the award last year for a programme about her family’s life after her husband, former political adviser Derek Draper, spent a year in hospital being treated for coronavirus.
She secured the prize for a second time on Thursday for her follow-up programme, Caring For Derek, in which Mr Draper and Garraway shared insights into their family lives as he continued to battle long-term effects from the virus.
It comes shortly after she revealed that Mr Draper had returned to hospital after developing sepsis, but she and her family are hopeful he will soon return home again.
“Well, I really didn’t expect this. So the mercy of that is this is going to be brief, because I have very little prepared. I want to thank all of you,” Garraway said.
“I brought my daughter here Darcey, we managed to speak to Derek – he is back in hospital at the moment fighting on so incredibly and we’re hoping he’s coming home again.
“I want to thank Derek for his incredible fighting spirit.
“I want to thank ITV for being so brave to put something which actually is touched in all the incredible documentaries about care.
“We have a care crisis in our country. But we don’t have a crisis of love.
“The professional carers are extraordinary; the millions who care for people they love are extraordinary. And I think that’s probably why you voted for this because you know it’s all of you we all feel alone.
“We all need some care and love. So thank you so much. It means the world to all those people.”
Garraway previously told the PA news agency that being nominated in the category was “bittersweet”, but that the response to her film had been “fantastic”.
“You wouldn’t really want to be in a position to be making that documentary because it wouldn’t be a situation that you would choose,” she told PA, speaking on the NTA red carpet.
“However, there were many nights when we feared Derek will be taken from us completely. So the fact that he fights on so incredibly, and we have the chance to care for him, is a fantastic thing.
“And to have the opportunity to celebrate the amazing work carers do, the professional carers, the millions of unpaid carers all across the country that are looking after loved ones, I think is a fantastic thing.”
Caring For Derek beat other hard-hitting documentaries including Katie Price: What Harvey Did Next; Julia Bradbury: Breast Cancer And Me; and Paddy and Christine McGuinness: Our Family And Autism.
Also nominated was a film by the late The Wanted frontman Tom Parker: Inside My Head.
Parker died earlier this year from a terminal brain tumour at the age of 33.