Emotional Kate Garraway hails husband Derek Draper’s ‘incredible fighting spirit’ as she scoops National Television Award for second year running-Emily Bashforth-Entertainment – Metro

Kate Garraway hailer her husband’s ‘incredible fighting spirit’ after she scooped the award for authored documentary at the National Television Awards for a second consecutive year.

The Good Morning Britain presenter 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 Covid-19.

She secured the prize for a second time for her follow-up programme, Caring For Derek, in which Derek and Kate shared insights into their family lives as he continued to battle long-term effects from the virus.

Collecting the award, she said her family is hoping he will be able to come home soon.

She also spoke of the ‘care crisis’ and praised professional and unpaid careers in the UK for the work they do.

‘We managed to speak to Derek. He is back in hospital at the moment, fighting on, so incredibly,’ the emotional Life Stories presenter said.

Kate admitted it was ‘bittersweet’ to be nominated in the category once again (Picture: Mike Marsland/WireImage)

She was joined by her teenage daughter, Darcy, for the glam event (Picture: David Fisher/Shutterstock for NTA)

‘We’re hoping he’s coming home again soon, but Darcy represents all the family, Billy, all the Drapers, everybody,’ she added, joined by her tearful teenage daughter on stage.

Kate continued to shout out her husband: ‘I want to thank Derek for his incredible fighting spirit, we love you.’

She added in her thank yous: ‘I want to thank ITV for being so brave to put something which actually is touched on in all the documentaries, which is about care. We have a care crisis in our country, we don’t have a crisis of love.

‘The professional carers are extraordinary, the millions of people who are caring for the people they love, are extraordinary.’

Kate scooped the gong for best authored documentary for the second year running (Picture: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)

Kate was up against four other powerful documentaries in her category, genuinely shocked as she delivered her acceptance speech.

Along with Caring for Derek, late The Wanted star Tom Parker was recognised for his Inside My Head documentary, with Kate stopping to hug his wife, Kelsey Parker, in the audience before going up on stage.

Julia Bradbury: Breast Cancer and Me, Paddy and Christine McGuinness: Our Family and Autism, and Katie Price: What Harvey Did Next, were also nominated.

The family are hoping to welcome Derek home soon (Picture: ITV)

Ahead of the ceremony, Kate admitted it was ‘bittersweet’ to be recognised in the prestigious category.

‘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 shared.

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‘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.’

Other big winners of the night included Emmerdale for serial drama, as the soap celebrates its 50th year on screen, as well as Ant and Dec who, for the 21st year running were awarded as best presenters.

Caring for Derek is available to watch on the ITV Hub.

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