'Derry Girls' actress Siobhán McSweeney thanks people of Derry as she wins BAFTA

The renowned actress, who played Sister Michael in ‘Derry Girls’, drew much laughter and applause with her acceptance speech as she told how she had been warned ‘not to do a political statement or be really boring or sad’.

She then continued to say that as her mother ‘lay dying in Bon Secours Hospital in Cork, one of the last things she said to me was would I not consider retraining as a teacher’.

"If she could see me now, getting a BAFTA for playing a teacher. Jokes on you Mam!”

Derry Girls creator and writer Lisa McGee was among the many people people she thanked, as was Channel 4 and the people of Cork, ‘who supported me, despite the fact I’m not Cillian Murphy’.

She concluded her speech by paying tribute to the people of Derry and hitting out at the ‘indignities, ignorance and stupidity of your so-called leaders’,

"To the people of Derry, thank you for taking me into your heart and your living rooms. I am daily impressed by how you encompass the spirit of compromise and resilience, despite the indignities, ignorance and stupidities of your so-called leaders in Dublin, Stormont and Westminster. In the words of my beloved Sister Michael, it’s time they started to ‘wise up’.