EastEnders actress Danielle Harold dedicated her British Soap Award to brain tumour sufferers after winning the Best Leading Performer prize during this year’s ceremony at The Lowry in Salford on Saturday.

The soap star, 31, was praised for her portrayal of Lola Pearce-Brown, who died following a brain tumour in scenes which aired this week.

Accepting the award, Danielle said: ‘This isn’t for me. This is definitely for every single person who’s worked with me along the way who has been directly affected by brain tumours, people who are suffering from brain tumours.

‘Their time has been so precious to them and even more to me and I can’t thank all of you enough for helping me.’

The star-studded evening saw a whole host of famous faces collect gongs for their work, with Danielle’s BBC soap EastEnders winning the coveted Best Soap prize, while Charlotte Jordan triumphed in the Best Dramatic Performance category for playing Daisy Midgeley in ITV’s Coronation Street.

The coveted Best Soap award, voted for by the public, was presented to EastEnders by actress Dame Sheila Hancock, who said: ‘I’m so deeply honoured to be asked to do this. I have such admiration for you.’

Accepting the award with the rest of the cast on stage, Perry Fenwick, who plays Billy Mitchell, said: ‘From the bottom of our hearts, honestly, we are thrilled to bits.’

The soap won Villain of the Year for Aaron Thiara, who plays Ravi Gulati, and Best Young Performer, which went to Lillia Turner as Lily Slater.

Coronation Street won the most accolades of the night, with six prizes including for Best Single Episode and Scene of the Year for the show’s depiction of an acid attack carried out by Justin Rutherford (Andrew Still), who had been stalking Daisy Midgeley (Charlotte Jordan).

Ryan Prescott, whose character Ryan Connor was injured in the attack, said there had been 330 acid attacks in Manchester in the last year.

He said: ‘It was amazing to be part of something that could bring a light to something so sensitive and something that is happening way more than we actually know.’

Charlotte won Best Dramatic Performance, while the show’s Dame Maureen Lipman, who plays Evelyn Plummer, won Best Comedy Performer and Channique Sterling-Brown won Best Newcomer for her performance as Dee-Dee Bailey.

The Weatherfield-based soap also went home with the Best Family award, which went to the Platts.