Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby were booed by members of the audience at the National Television Awards in the wake of the duo’s ‘Queuegate’ row.

Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby were booed by members of the audience at the National Television Awards in the wake of the duo’s ‘Queuegate’ row

Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby were booed by members of the audience at the National Television Awards in the wake of the duo’s ‘Queuegate’ row

They faced the negative reaction when their ‘This Morning’ show was announced as a contender for the Best Daytime Award, despite the presenters being embroiled in controversy last month when they were accused of skipping the queue to see the Queen lying in state – which they both denied.

Despite the backlash, the show took the Daytime award, with Phillip saying the award means “so much” to him and Holly – “especially this year”.

He said on stage: “Please don’t think we ever get complacent and please don’t think we ever take it for granted. This means so much to us every year, especially this year. We have the best boss.”

Thanking a string of fellow TV hosts, Holly added: “This Morning has a very special relationship with you, you make our show for us, you really do.

All these guys on the stage here, Alison (Hammond) and Dermot (O’Leary), Rochelle (Humes) and Vernon (Kay), Josie (Gibson) – everyone. Thank you for all your support.”

ITV had backed the hosts by stating: “They did not jump the queue, have VIP access or file past the Queen lying in state – but instead were there in a professional capacity as part of the world’s media to report on the event.”

Holly and Phil said they had media accreditation and were there in a journalistic capacity to report on events for the ITV daytime show, but many were still outraged by their “queue jumping”.

Graham Norton previously admitted he turned down a “queue jump ticket” to see the Queen’s lying in state but added the duo “did nothing wrong”.

And the woman who created an online petition calling for Holly and Phil to be axed from ‘This Morning’ last month said she was stepping back from the cause after it topped 75,000 signatures, saying it was “kind of destroying me”.

In a post on petition site Change.org, she said: “I’ve asked ITV to deliver any responses relating to this to the public and not to me, as I won’t be following the news, or watching the programme, or sharing anything online, or through social media.

“I want nothing more than for this topic to end. I want positivity, not hostility and negativity. The concerns raised by this have been shared with Ofcom and ITV, and that’s all I can do.

“I want to begin the week on a more positive note, and I don’t want to think about the programme anymore. It’s kind of destroying me. Words will be twisted, but the intent was always to prevent people being hurt time and time again by these TV shows.”

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