The British Soap Awards Celebrate 21 Years

Cast your mind back to 1999: The Matrix is the blockbuster box-office hit, Posh and Becks tie the knot – and Richard and Judy are hosting the first-ever British Soap Awards, with deputy prime minister John Prescott helping to hand out the prizes.

That’s just the start of the many surreal highlights in this extremely watchable compilation of clips and memories presented by Phillip Schofield. Among them is the choice moment in 2005 when June Brown (right with Barbara Windsor) stepped up to the microphone with John Bardon as they were honoured for playing Jim and Dot in EastEnders, and she quipped with heavy irony: ‘You can speak first ‘cos you know I don’t say very much.’

Look out, too, for a 14-year-old Kelvin Fletcher collecting an award for Emmerdale 21 years before he won Strictly.