Last night saw the 13^th annual British Soap Awards, and all the stars braved the wind and rain to take their seats for the spectacular event, held at the ITV studios in London, where UnrealityTV were on the red carpet to speak to them all before the event started.

The cast of Coronation Street were out in force on the red carpet, hoping to bring home the majority of silverware for a second consecutive year at the prestigious awards ceremony.

Nominated for the viewer’s choice Sexiest Female award, Michelle Keegan showed us all why she is the queen of the soap babes, looking stunning in floor-length midnight-blue Jexica evening dress. She stopped to comment that the recent stories regarding her engagement to The Wanted’s Max George had been “blown out of all proportion”.

Michelle added that, although she doesn’t usually talk about her private life, she was happy to confirm that everything between the couple was fine and that she found it very upsetting when the press printed untruths about her personal life.

Tony Hirst, who plays fireman Paul Kershaw in the soap, stopped for a chat where he talked about the public’s reaction to his current dementia storyline. He said that the support from people who had experience with the illness has been overwhelming, that they have praised the sensitivity and authenticity of the storyline, whilst those who did not fully understand Paul and Eileen’s (Sue Cleaver) story had been quite critical.  We asked him about the research that was involved in the preparation of the plot and he told us how Coronation Street had been working very closely with the Alzheimer’s Society to ensure accuracy and sensitivity whilst making sure that awareness of the condition was raised successfully.

Former Corrie star, Katherine Kelly – who was up for the Best Exit award – stopped to talk to us about her new projects, looking fabulous with her new brown locks and James Steward dress.  She admitted that she is missing the people at Coronation Street, but that she was not missing the amount of filming outside she had to do for Becky, in the cold Manchester wind and rain.  We asked her if she was happy with the happy ever after ending that producers had given her character and she said she was elated and hoped the viewers had been too.

Brooke Vincent looked amazing on the red carpet in a Gorgeous Couture purple dress with plunging neck line, as did Alison King (Carla Connor) in a classic black Royal T dress, who had been nominated in the Best Actress category.

Antony Cotton (Sean Tully) was accompanied down the carpet by Catherine Tyldesley (Eva price), who looked stunning in a pink strapless Merabi by Nadine dress.  He talked about his current storyline, and put our minds at rest by telling us that all is not lost with the secret hot pot recipe of Betty’s that his character destroyed in a recent episode, as well as adding what an honour it was to be given the honour of Betty’s legacy in the show, as he was very good friends with the late, great Betty Driver in real life. Poor Antony was almost in tears just talking about her.

Finally, Mikey North and Sam Aston (who play Gary and Chesney) told us how much they appreciated the public’s warm response to the death of poor Schmeichel as they went bouncing through to the ceremony.

The British Soap Awards will air on ITV1 this Wednesday, 8pm on ITV1. We will have the list of winners online from midnight tonight, so check back if you can’t wait until the show is broadcast!