Gossip from last night's Inside Soap Awards

Last night saw stars from EastEnders, Coronation Street, Hollyoaks, Emmerdale, The Bill and Holby City party the night away at North London's swanky Gilgamesh bar.

BBC One's Walford-based soap wiped the floor with its competitors, bagging the highest accolade of the night, 'Best Soap', along with eight others - three times as many as its ITV rival Coronation Street. Click here to see the full winners list.

After arriving at about 5.30, myself and my esteemed colleagues Neil Wilkes and Nick Levine were ushered into a special video area placed alongside This Morning's Sharon Marshall, who requested a swinging love seat so she could seduce Rob Kazinsky. It wasn't long before the soap stars began flooding in.

Corrie seemed to be the first to arrive, along with Hollyoaks and Emmerdale, while the EastEnders cast sporadically turned up throughout the evening. The northern soaps were struggling to send loads of cast this year due to the immense amount of filming they're immersed in. Only last week, Corrie had four crews on the go on the same day. Oh to be like EastEnders, who are nearly ten weeks ahead - they're filming the second week of December already!

Meanwhile, a clip of the Coronation Street South Africa DVD was also screened last night and it was great to see Wendi Peters back in character as Cilla Battersby-Brown. As much as I'm tempted to pass judgement now, I'm going to wait until I've seen the DVD in its entirety before I comment.

Elsewhere, I've heard that only good things are planned between now and next year for EastEnders. The end of October is HUGE. That's all I'll say for now, though. Christmas is looking promising, too. Last year, we saw one big 'explosion' in the form of Max and Stacey's illicit affair being revealed, much to the shock of their families and partners. This year, however, sees a 'series of controlled explosions'. Roll on the festive season.

Corrie's Christmas is also shaping up nicely, while there's quite a big storyline coming up for Jasmine and Debbie in Emmerdale in November. Watch this space.

Hollyoaks-wise, I've only been hearing excellent things about their latest late-night instalment. The five one-hour episodes culminate in a cliff-top stunt involving Steph and Niall.

My highlight of the night? Speaking to EastEnders' Cheryl Fergison, who plays Heather Trott. What. A. Legend. In case you didn't see it, here's my interview with her again...



Elsewhere, Rob Kazinsky smashed his award before he'd even started drinking; Bobby Davro's finished filming with EastEnders; and Cheryl Fergison loves cheese, bagels and bread.

What did you think of the results of this year's Inside Soap Awards? Let me know your views using the usual form below!