Jane McDonald looked radiant as she steps out as host at the British Soap Awards 2023

Wakefield’s Jane, who is best known as a singer, Loose Women panellist and presenter of Bafta-winning Cruising With Jane McDonald, hosted Saturday's ceremony at The Lowry in Salford.

She took over from This Morning presenter Philip Schofield as he stepped down from his presenting commitments on ITV after admitting to having an affair with a younger staff member.

And amid the news Jane was taking the helm, fans hailed the star as the 'perfect choice' to front the ceremony.

Aired last night, Jane was all smiles and looked as glamorous as ever on the red carpet in a floor length fitted burgundy velvet gown before taking to the stage to huge applause from fellow TV stars, glowing in sparkling gold.

Last week she spoke out about taking over as host saying: "I'm so excited to be this year's host for The British Soap Awards!!

"Everyone knows how much I LOVE my soaps, this year I’ve been honoured to be mentioned in Corrie, EastEnders and Emmerdale so this is just a dream come true.

"I can’t wait to see all our wonderful soap nominees and celebrate all their hard work with them - roll on the awards, I can’t wait!"

Headlines from the night included EastEnders winning four awards, sweeping the public-voted categories including Best Soap and Best Leading Performer for Danielle Harold in her final storyline as Lola Pearce-Brown.

Coronation Street were the winners of six awards, including Scene Award for the acid attack, Best Dramatic Performance for Charlotte Jordan (Daisy Midgeley) and the Best Comedy Performer gong going to Maureen Lipman (Evelyn Plummer).

Hollyoaks walked away with two awards, including Best Storyline and Yorkshire’s own Emmerdale took away just one award – Mark Charnock aka Marlon Dingle, who was presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award (On-screen).

Daytime soap Doctors was awarded the Best Onscreen Partnership for Chris Walker and Jan Pearson (Rob Hollins and Karen Hollins.

As the awards came to a close, Jane said: "I'm off for a knees-up with all my favourite soap stars, I'm so excited."