Mr Loverman and Mr Bates vs the Post Office were among the big winners at Sunday’s Bafta TV Awards, in a night which threw up several surprise winners.

ITV’s dramatisation of the post office scandal, which led to widespread public outcry about the false convictions of sub-postmasters, was named best drama series, while ITV was given a special award to recognise the show’s impact.

Producer Patrick Spence said: “This story only had the impact it did because the people that watched it stood up and demanded action with rage.”

Meanwhile, Mr Loverman, about an elderly man whose marriage falls apart after his long-term affair with his male friend is revealed, won two major acting prizes.

Accepting the prize for limited series on behalf of Mr Bates vs the Post Office, Spence said the response to the show proved that the public “cannot abide liars and bullies”.

He added that “maybe it is a warning to those who are supposed to have our backs, that they’d better not abuse that power”, and said: “Our show didn’t change the law, the people of this nation did that.”

Managing director of ITV Studios, Kevin Lygo, said it was “part of a long tradition on TV of these genres that true stories that shine a light on corruption, criminality, miscarriages of justice… but nothing, I think, has had quite the effects Mr Bates has had.”

However, two of the drama’s main stars Toby Jones and Monica Dolan missed out on acting prizes.

Instead, best leading actress went to Industry star Marisa Abela, while best leading and supporting actor were won by Mr Loverman’s Lennie James and Ariyon Bakare respectively.

“I didn’t think this was coming my way,” said James, describing his win as a “fantastic honour”, as he paid tribute to his fellow nominees, including David Tennant, Martin Freeman and Richard Gadd.

James thanked Bernardine Evaristo, who wrote the book the series was based on. “Thank you for trusting us with your characters,” he said.

Bakare, who played his lover, said: “This award stands on the shoulders of those who came before me, those who might have been afraid to come out, to be who what they want to be, and I just say thank you for them.”

Abela, who has also played Amy Winehouse in the musical biopic Back To Black, described her leading actress win as “insane”.

She noted that she was cast in the show, about a group of young finance graduates, “when I was in my final year of drama school, and my agent who signed me in my final year is here tonight – Saskia thank you so much for believing in me”.

“I’ve been filming Industry for about six years now, and Bad Wolf and HBO, the fact that they let us carry on after season one, it’s mental. They’re the best.”

Ruth Jones won best female comedy performance for her role in Gavin & Stacey: The Finale, which was broadcast at Christmas and brought the hugely popular sitcom to a close.

She accepted her award in character as Nessa, beginning her speech in her alter-ego’s distinctive Welsh accent and saying: “I’m not gonna lie, this is immense.

“I’ve won a Bafta before, course I have, in 1976,” she continued as Nessa. “It was the Barry Arcade Fruit Technician Award.”

She concluded her speech – returning to herself – by thanking her “dear, talented, lovely, kind, funny friend, James Corden, with whom I have shared this astonishing journey for the past 17 years, and without whom, Nessa Shanessa Jenkins would not exist”.

There was another Gavin & Stacey reference elsewhere in the ceremony, when host Alan Cumming asked Rob Brydon to finally answer the question of what happened on the show’s notorious fishing trip.

As Brydon began to speak, Cumming interrupted: “Oh, sorry, Rob. We’ve got to go straight on with the next award. We’ll pick it up at next year’s Baftas.”

Danny Dyer won best male comedy performance for his role in Mr Bigstuff, in which he played one of two brothers with wildly different personalities who try to patch up their sibling rivalry.

Dyer said he was “choked up” by his win, before joking: “So my acting was so bad, it was funny?”

In an expletive-laden speech, he said it had been “an honour to share the screen” with his co-star Harriet Webb, and thanked writer and co-star Ryan Sampson, who he called the “best thing to come out of Rotherham”.

“He’s never done the same thing twice, which is not something I can say,” Dyer joked. “You wrote this part, you won this for me mate, I really appreciate it.”

Blue Lights, a police drama set in Northern Ireland, was named best drama series, Alma’s Not Normal won best scripted comedy, and EastEnders was named best soap, in the year it celebrates 40 years on air.

The Traitors missed out on the three prizes it was nominated for, with best reality series instead going to Channel 4’s Jury: Murder Trial, which restaged a trial of murder in front of two juries of ordinary people.

Baby Reindeer star Jessica Gunning won best supporting actress, repeating her earlier wins at the Golden Globes, Emmys and SAG Awards.

“Gosh thank you Bafta, wow,” she said. “I sometimes do this kind of cheesy thing where I look back on the younger me and moments in my life, and I imagine the kind of then me, seeing me now, and think, ‘little did we know’.”

She said she was so proud to be part of this show before saying co-star Richard Gadd “changed my life”. She concluded by wishing him: “Happy birthday, nipple.”

Rylan Clark and Rob Rinder won the factual entertainment prize for their Italian travel series, Rob & Rylan’s Grand Tour.

“We didn’t know what we were making when we landed in Venice,” reflected Clark.

When he saw the programme’s edit, “I said, ‘we’re either going to get cancelled or we’re going to win a Bafta, and I’m so glad it was the latter!”

Rinder thanked the pair’s mothers, “for allowing us to be our true selves,” before Rylan joked: “And BBC Arts, now we won a Bafta, can we have a bigger styling budget?”

Elsewhere, Would I Lie To You? was named best entertainment programme.

Panelist Lee Mack noted the show had never previously won despite being nominated eight times, and joked that Bafta’s change of sponsor to P&O Cruises, which host Rob Brydon used to front adverts for, might have had an effect.

“The whiff of scandal hangs heavy in the air,” laughed Brydon, but reassured the audience: “I stopped those adverts five years ago, there is no connection.”

Kirsty Wark, who left BBC Two’s Newsnight last summer after 30 years, received the Bafta Fellowship, the highest honour bestowed by the British Academy.

Wark said it was a “privilege and an honour” to be recognised.

“Things have changed so much and so radically since the 70s, not least the shoulder pads, the office drinks trolley, and film crews the size of football teams, but always the chance to learn and go.

“I’ve been lucky to interviews politicians to painters, architects to economists, musicians and a few monsters.” She paid tribute to her colleagues, saying: “It takes a village to raise a programme.”

Strictly Come Dancing won the memorable moment prize, the only award of the night voted for by the public, for blind comedian Chris McCausland’s waltz to You’ll Never Walk Alone

His professional dance partner Diane Buswell said it was “such an honour” to win, joking: “Chris is not here tonight, but that’s what happens when he insists on driving himself to these kinds of events.”

“He told me to say that,” she laughed, before reading out a message on McCausland’s behalf: “After 22 years in comedy, I win a Bafta for dancing. It hurts, but I’ll take it.”

The winning couple’s “blackout” dance saw McCausland place his hands over Buswell’s eyes as the room faded to black, mimicking his everyday experience, before the pair continued their dance when the lights returned and pyrotechnics flared.

Buswell said: “In one minute and 30 seconds of a dance, I feel like this told such a story. A story of hope, determination, resilience and vulnerability.”