BBC's Bleak House triumphs at British TV awards

LONDON, May 8 (Reuters) The BBC's adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel ''Bleak House'' won two prizes at the BAFTA television awards, British TV's equivalent of the Emmys.

The series, which gave the sprawling 19th century story a modern twist, was named best drama serial at the annual British Academy Television Awards in central London yesterday.

English actress Anna Maxwell Martin, who played the kind-hearted orphan Esther Summerson, picked up the best actress award, beating her US co-star Gillian Anderson.

With its prime-time slot, big name actors and modern camera work, critics described the series as a costume drama reworked as a highbrow soap opera.

The series was shown in 14 fast-paced episodes with cliff-hanger endings in an attempt to attract wider audiences to the classic critique of the British legal system.

Among the other winners crowned by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts was the BBC's long-running soap opera ''EastEnders'', which claimed the best continuing drama prize ahead of its ITV rival ''Coronation Street''.

''Doctor Who'', the revival of the classic BBC science fiction show, won the best drama series award.

Channel 4's political drama ''The Government Inspector'' won two awards, best actor for Mark Rylance and best drama.

It told the story of British weapons scientist David Kelly, found dead in 2003 after being named as the source of a BBC report which questioned the UK government's evidence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

BBC TV's ''Ten O'Clock News'' won the best news coverage award for its handling of the July 7, 2005, bombings on London's transport network, when four bombers killed 52 people.

The current affairs award went to Channel 4 for its ''Dispatches: Beslan'' film which investigated the 2004 Russian school massacre.

Other winners included chat show host Jonathan Ross (best entertainment performance for ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross''); chef Jamie Oliver (factual series for ''Jamie's School Dinners'') and businessman Alan Sugar (features for ''The Apprentice'').

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts first presented its TV awards in 1956 ''to recognise and reward excellence'' on the small screen.

Reuters VJ VP0540