The popular BBC period drama Inspector George Gently, which is filmed in Spennymoor, has been named Best Drama at the Royal Television Society North East and the Border annual awards this evening.

Martin Shaw – who plays the title role in the police series set in the 1960s – picked up the award at a star-studded ceremony held on Tyneside.

The show - which is now in its eight season - is shot on location throughout the North-East.

For the last season, the former Tudhoe Grange school, in Spennymoor, became  Inspector Gently's police headquarters. Former classrooms and teachers' offices were transformed into a mortuary, hospital ward, gym, police interview room and the detective's bedroom.

Other settings include streets in Chilton, County Durham, Middlesbrough and Newcastle; Durham University, Birtley Crematorium, near Chester-le-Street, and an old social club in Billingham, near Stockton.

More than 400 industry professionals and guests attended the event at the Newcastle Gateshead Hilton, hosted by BBC business correspondent Steph McGovern.

Awards chair Graeme Thompson said: “We are part of the fastest growing sector in the British economy. The creative industries are growing three times faster than any other category. And this event recognizes the increasingly important role played by television and digital media in this part of the UK.”

Other winners included Tyne Tees news anchor, Pam Royle, who scooped the Best Presenter award for the second year running; ITV Tyne Tees won the Best News Programme award for its coverage of the Tour de France in North Yorkshire; Journalist of the Year was Dan Farthing from BBC North East and Cumbria.

The BBC also won the Best Factual category with its documentary A King’s Speech, which uncovered film of an address made by American civil rights leader Martin Luther King on a visit to Newcastle.

BBC North East’s graphic designer Tony Bannister was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Jonathan Edwards of BBC Sport to celebrate a career spanning more than four decades of network and regional productions.

Student category winners included Kyle Russell of Teesside University (Best Fiction) for his film Torn, Matt Eyre of the University of Sunderland (Best Entertainment) for the music show New Tube and James Beavers of Northumbria University (Animation) for Breaking the Ice.

Celebrity guests at the ceremony included actor Ben Crompton (Game of Thrones), Waterloo Road star Melanie Hill, Still Open All Hours actor James Baxter, This Morning agony aunt Denise Robertson, writer and comedian Jason Cook and Horrible Histories creator Terry Deary.