British Soap Award for Best Actress

The British Soap Award for Best Actress was an award presented annually by the British Soap Awards from its inception in 1999 until 2019. Alongside Best Actor, the award was voted for by the public. EastEnders was the most awarded soap in the category, with ten wins, while EastEnders actress Lacey Turner is the most awarded actress, with three wins. In 2022, it was confirmed that the category had been replaced by the award for Best Leading Performer.^[1] The final winner of the award was Emmerdale actress Lucy Pargeter.^[2]

British Soap Award for Best Actress
Country	United Kingdom
First award	1999
Final award	2019
Most wins	Lacey Turner (3)
Most nominations	Lacey Turner Jessie Wallace (both 5)

Winners and nominees

1999 winner Barbara Windsor.

2002 and 2003 winner Kacey Ainsworth.

2006, 2010 and 2016 winner Lacey Turner. She is the most awarded recipient.

2007 winner Kate Ford.

2013 winner Claire Cooper.

2014 winner Julie Hesmondhalgh.

2015 winner Kellie Bright.

2017 winner Charlotte Bellamy.

2018 winner Lucy Fallon.

Year	Actress	Role	Soap opera
1999[3]	Barbara Windsor	Peggy Mitchell	EastEnders
	Julie Hesmondhalgh	Hayley Patterson	Coronation Street
	Patsy Palmer	Bianca Jackson	EastEnders
	Lisa Riley	Mandy Dingle	Emmerdale
2000[4]	Patsy Palmer	Bianca Jackson	EastEnders
	Lindsey Coulson	Carol Jackson	EastEnders
	Samantha Giles	Bernice Blackstock	Emmerdale
2001[5]	Natalie Cassidy	Sonia Jackson	EastEnders
	June Brown	Dot Cotton	EastEnders
2002[6]	Kacey Ainsworth	Little Mo Morgan	EastEnders
	Tanya Franks	Karen Ellis	Family Affairs
	Tamzin Outhwaite	Mel Owen	EastEnders
	Jessie Wallace	Kat Slater	EastEnders
2003[7]	Kacey Ainsworth	Little Mo Morgan	EastEnders
	Tanya Franks	Karen Ellis	Family Affairs
2004[8]	Suranne Jones	Karen McDonald	Coronation Street
	Kacey Ainsworth	Little Mo Mitchell	EastEnders
	Kate Ford	Tracy Barlow	Coronation Street
	Jessie Wallace	Kat Moon	EastEnders
2005[9]	Suranne Jones	Karen McDonald	Coronation Street
	Kacey Ainsworth	Little Mo Mitchell	EastEnders
	Emma Atkins	Charity Tate	Emmerdale
	Jessie Wallace	Kat Moon	EastEnders
2006[10]	Lacey Turner	Stacey Slater	EastEnders
	Sue Cleaver	Eileen Grimshaw	Coronation Street
	Kate Ford	Tracy Barlow	Coronation Street
	Jessie Wallace	Kat Moon	EastEnders
2007[11]	Kate Ford	Tracy Barlow	Coronation Street
	Jessica Fox	Nancy Hayton	Hollyoaks
	Ursula Holden-Gill	Alice Dingle	Emmerdale
	Lacey Turner	Stacey Slater	EastEnders
2008[12]	Emma Rigby	Hannah Ashworth	Hollyoaks
	Charlotte Bellamy	Laurel Thomas	Emmerdale
	Jo Joyner	Tanya Branning	EastEnders
	Lacey Turner	Stacey Branning	EastEnders
2009[13]	Katherine Kelly	Becky McDonald	Coronation Street
	Samantha Janus	Ronnie Mitchell	EastEnders
	Jo Joyner	Tanya Branning	EastEnders
	Carley Stenson	Steph Cunningham	Hollyoaks
2010[14]	Lacey Turner	Stacey Branning	EastEnders
	Charlotte Bellamy	Laurel Thomas	Emmerdale
	Katherine Kelly	Becky McDonald	Coronation Street
	Nina Wadia	Zainab Masood	EastEnders
2011[15]	Jessie Wallace	Kat Moon	EastEnders
	Claire Cooper	Jacqui McQueen	Hollyoaks
	Jane Cox	Lisa Dingle	Emmerdale
	Katherine Kelly	Becky McDonald	Coronation Street
2012[16]	Alison King	Carla Connor	Coronation Street
	Karen Hassan	Lynsey Nolan	Hollyoaks
	Jo Joyner	Tanya Jessop	EastEnders
	Nina Wadia	Zainab Masood	EastEnders
2013[17]	Claire Cooper	Jacqui McQueen	Hollyoaks
	Michelle Keegan	Tina McIntyre	Coronation Street
	Jennie McAlpine	Fiz Stape	Coronation Street
	Nina Wadia	Zainab Khan	EastEnders
	Jessie Wallace	Kat Moon	EastEnders
2014[18]	Julie Hesmondhalgh	Hayley Cropper	Coronation Street
	Lindsey Coulson	Carol Jackson	EastEnders
	Stephanie Davis	Sinead Roscoe	Hollyoaks
	Nikki Sanderson	Maxine Minniver	Hollyoaks
	Lacey Turner	Stacey Branning	EastEnders
2015[19]	Kellie Bright	Linda Carter	EastEnders
	Natalie Anderson	Alicia Metcalfe	Emmerdale
	Laurie Brett	Jane Beale	EastEnders
	Alison King	Carla Connor	Coronation Street
	Nikki Sanderson	Maxine Minniver	Hollyoaks
2016[20]	Lacey Turner	Stacey Fowler	EastEnders
	Alison King	Carla Connor	Coronation Street
	Jennifer Metcalfe	Mercedes McQueen	Hollyoaks
	Lucy Pargeter	Chas Dingle	Emmerdale
	Rakhee Thakrar	Shabnam Masood	EastEnders
2017[21]	Charlotte Bellamy	Laurel Thomas	Emmerdale
	Lucy Fallon	Bethany Platt	Coronation Street
	Kym Marsh	Michelle Connor	Coronation Street
	Anna Passey	Sienna Blake	Hollyoaks
	Lacey Turner	Stacey Fowler	EastEnders
2018[22]	Lucy Fallon	Bethany Platt	Coronation Street
	Emma Atkins	Charity Dingle	Emmerdale
	Anna Passey	Sienna Blake	Hollyoaks
	Lacey Turner	Stacey Fowler	EastEnders
	Catherine Tyldesley	Eva Price	Coronation Street
2019[23]	Lucy Pargeter	Chas Dingle	Emmerdale
	Stephanie Davis	Sinead Shelby	Hollyoaks
	Alison King	Carla Connor	Coronation Street
	Lauren McQueen	Lily McQueen	Hollyoaks
	Lorraine Stanley	Karen Taylor	EastEnders

Achievements

Actresses with multiple wins

Actress	Role	Soap opera	Wins	Nominations[a]
Lacey Turner	Stacey Slater	EastEnders	3	5
Kacey Ainsworth	Little Mo Mitchell	EastEnders	2	2
Suranne Jones	Karen McDonald	Coronation Street	2	0

Wins by soap

Soap opera	Wins	Nominations[a]
EastEnders	10	27
Coronation Street	7	14
Hollyoaks	2	12
Emmerdale	2	10
Family Affairs	0	2

Notes

1. These nominations did not result in a win.