Martin Lewis tearfully recalled losing his mother when he was just 11 years old as he received the special award at Sunday’s TV Baftas.
The 54-year-old – who hosts a self-titled personal finance programme and serves as a regular presenter on Good Morning Britain – received the honour in recognition of his “extraordinary and lasting impact on British consumers and public life”.
Lewis’s mother, Susan, died in a car accident just days before his 12th birthday.
Accepting the accolade at London’s Royal Festival Hall, Lewis joked that his ITV show is “mainly a PowerPoint presentation with a Q&A after”.
Getting serious, he continued: “I wrote this on Thursday, 42 years to the day since we suddenly lost my mum just before I was 12. My childhood was over. For six years, I barely left the house and now I’m picking up a Bafta.
“So to all those of you out there struggling with your own demons, know this – life can be transformed. It can get better. If you told that broken, scared boy I’d be a campaign journalist, his jaw would have dropped.”
He also issued a plea to Rachel Reeves, criticising the “morally wrong” freezing of the repayment threshold for plan 2 student loans, which is due next year, saying: “Chancellor, please.”
Addressing his wife, who was in the audience, Lewis continued: “Happy birthday today, Lara. Sorry I stole your birthday.” He then closed his speech with the sensational final line: “It is time for this nerd to party.”
Lewis first publicly discussed his mother’s death in 2018, revealing during an interview on BBC 5Live that he “cried every day” afterwards, until he was 15.
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He later said on Desert Island Discs: “My mum was there one day and she wasn’t the next and that was it. This was 1984 and you didn’t have counselling. My childhood ended that day and I am still not over it.
“I never left the house, couldn’t leave the house. Because I wasn’t at home when it happened to my mum and I couldn’t cope with the thought of leaving the house because something else could happen.”
Lewis was presented the TV Bafta special award by Richard Osman, who hailed him as “someone who hasn’t just informed the public, but genuinely helped them”.
“He’s challenged government, influenced policy and caused real change,” he said.