British Soap Awards 2022: How to vote for your favourite shows, and when is live awards ceremony on TV?

After a two year hiatus caused by the pandemic, the British Soap Awards are back, and will celebrate talent on and off-screen across five British British soap operas.

The soaps up for awards this year are ITV’s Coronation Street and Emmerdale, BBC One’s Doctors and EastEnders, and Channel 4’s Hollyoaks.

Once again Phillip Schofield, who has hosted the live awards show since 2006, will return to the stage hand the winners their gongs.

Most of the winners will be chosen by an expert panel, but three awards, including Best British Soap, are voted for by the public.

How can I vote in the British Soap Awards?

The first round of voting for this year’s awards closed in early May, but don’t worry, the second round of voting is still open.

The second round opened at 10:00am on 10 May and will close at 5:00pm on 10 June.

It is free to vote in the British Soap Awards and can only be done online.

To vote visit the British Soap Awards website and click vote now.

You will be given the option to vote for your favourite nominee in each of the three categories.

You can only vote for one nominee in each category and for your vote to be valid you must vote in each category.

When you have cast your votes you must enter and confirm a valid email address and will then be sent a confirmation email.

You must validate your vote by following the instructions in the confirmation email before the deadline in order for your votes to be counted.

Which awards can I vote for in the British Soap Awards?

The three awards which are decided by public vote are:

• Best British Soap
• Best Leading Performer
• Best Family 

Best British Soap is recognised as the top award of the night and usually presented at the end of the ceremony, with the main cast and creatives behind the winning show all crowding the stage to accept the award.

The nominees for Best British Soap are:

• Coronation Street
• Doctors
• EastEnders
• Emmerdale 
• Hollyoaks

Best Leading Performer is another prestigious award which recognises the talents of one actor in their soap over the year.

This year’s nominees for Best Leading Performer are:

• Sally Carman as Abi Webster (Coronation Street)
• Gillian Wright as Jean Slater (EastEnders)
• Linda Henry as Shirley Carter (EastEnders)
• Mark Charnock as Marlon Dingle (Emmerdale)
• Paige Sandhu as Meena Jutla (Emmerdale)

Soaps rely on ensemble casts, and on family disputes, grudges, and breakdowns to infuse drama into the show.

The nominees for Best Family are:

• The Alahans (Coronation Street)
• The Carters (Eastenders)
• The Dingles (Emmerdale)
• The McQueens (Hollyoaks)

Who won the British Soap Awards last year?

There was no awards ceremony in 2021 or 2020 due to the pandemic, and the latest British Soap Awards were held in 2019.

Hollyoaks won Best British Soap at the ceremony, and also took home, and also took home awards for Best Actor, Best Male Dramatic Performance, and Best Villian.

Coronation Street took home five gongs in 2019 including for Spectacular Scene and Best Storyline.

EastEnders received three awards, Emmerdale two, and Doctors just one.

The British Soap Awards have been held 21 times since the first ceremony in 1999, and EastEnders has won Best British Soap the most, with 11 of the awards.