Doctor Who is currently filming its third series since its 2005 revival

The Channel 4 presenter said quitting ITV was like being "on that last lifeboat that left the Titanic" as "it couldn't really sink any lower".

O'Grady received an honour which marked a decade "at the top" of broadcasting.

EastEnders was named top soap, with ITV rival Coronation Street winning best soap actor and best soap storyline.

Cult BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who won best-loved drama award, with its stars David Tennant and Billie Piper taking best actor and actress.

"It was very hard to step into something that had been such a success already," said 35-year-old Tennant, who took over the title role from Christopher Eccleston late last year.

They've given me all the tablets. When I drop dead my coffin will have a childproof lid on it, because I've had so many pills Paul O'Grady on life after his second heart attack

"It was very daunting and because of that, this means a lot."

Piper, 23, who played the doctor's assistant Rose Tyler, left the show earlier this year ahead of the third series.

O'Grady thanked Channel 4 "for taking a clapped-out 51-year-old who's had two heart attacks and sticking it on teatime".

And he said his award had "taken the sting out of the rotten things that have happened".

Soap death

BBC One's EastEnders won best soap for the first time since 2003, with 19-year-old Charlie Clements receiving best soap newcomer for his role as banker Bradley Branning.

The Alzheimer's ordeal and subsequent death of character Mike Baldwin - played by Johnny Briggs - earned Coronation Street the best soap storyline.

Bafta winner Edmonds beat O'Grady to win best daytime show

Former comic Bradley Walsh, 46, was best soap actor for his role as Mike's son Danny.

Ursula Holden-Gill, 32, won best soap actress as Alice Dingle in Emmerdale. Her character died in the ITV1 show after battling with the rare cancer Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Noel Edmonds, 56, beat O'Grady to the title of best daytime show with Channel 4 show Deal or No Deal.

ITV1's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here received the award for best reality show.