Olivia Colman has taken to the stage minus her shoes as she accepted her gong for best actress at the Royal Television Society Awards.

The popular star picked up the title for the second year running for her role in Broadchurch with judges calling her "an actor at the top of her game".

Taking to the stage shoeless, she said: "I kicked them off under the table and forgot to put them back on."

Broadchurch won a second prize at the London event hosted by comic Tim Vine by landing the best drama serial award.

Idris Elba took the best actor prize for his performance in BBC One detective series Luther.

Other winners included ITV's Corornation Street, which took the prize for best soap and Stephen Fry who was named best presenter for his series Stephen Fry: Out There in which he travelled to a number of countries to examine how they treated their gay communities.

The broadcaster famously made an attempt on his own life as he made the series as it left him at such a low ebb. He paraphrased Winston Churchill to tell guests at the ceremony: "I think you can judge a civilisation by the way it treats its minorities."

Channel 4 was the biggest winner of the night sharing in nine awards for which it was the broadcaster, including the best documentary series prize, which went to Educating Yorkshire. Maths teacher Michael Steer from the show blasted Education Secretary Michael Gove as he collected the gong.

Outgoing BBC Two controller Janice Hadlow was given the "judges' award" for her achievements with the channel.

Veteran actor David Suchet was honoured with the lifetime achievement award in recognition of his quarter of a century portraying Hercule Poirot.

The star was unable to attend the event after feeling unwell before the ceremony.

The winners of the RTS Programme Awards were:

Actress

Olivia Colman - Broadchurch (ITV)/Run (Channel 4)

Actor

Idris Elba - Luther (BBC One)

Arts

Imagine...Vivian Maier: Who Took Nanny's Pictures (BBC One)

Children's Fiction

Dumping Ground (CBBC)

Children's Programme

Hard Times - A Newsround Special (CBBC)

Comedy Performance

Brendan O'Carroll - Mrs Brown's Boys (BBC One)

Daytime

Four Rooms (Channel 4)

Documentary Series

Educating Yorkshire (Channel 4)

Drama Serial

Broadchurch (ITV)

Drama Series

Peaky Blinders (BBC Two)

Entertainment

The Last Leg (Channel 4)

Entertainment Performance

Alan Carr - Alan Carr: Chatty Man (Channel 4)

History

Richard III: King In The Car Park (Channel 4)

International

Game Of Thrones (Sky Atlantic)

Live Event

The Ashes - 2013 (Sky Sports)

Popular, Factual and Features

Gogglebox (Channel 4)

Presenter

Stephen Fry - Stephen Fry: Out There (BBC Two)

Science and Natural History

Africa (BBC One)

Scripted Comedy

PLEBS (ITV2)

Single Documentary

The Murder Trial (Channel 4)

Single Drama

The Challenger (BBC Two)

Soap and Continuing Drama

Coronation Street (ITV)

Sports Presenter, Commentator or Pundit

Gary Neville - Sky Sports (Sky Sports)

Sports Programme

World Athletics - Mo Farah's Double Gold Win (BBC One)

Comedy Writer

James Corden, Mathew Baynton and Tom Basden - The Wrong Mans (BBC Two)

Drama Writer

Marlon Smith and Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan - Run (Channel 4)

Judges' Award

Janice Hadlow

Lifetime Achievement

David Suchet