British Comedy Awards 2011 - Nominations announced
The nominees for the British Comedy Awards 2011 have been announced tonight.
There are multiple nominations for Stewart Lee, Harry Hill, new Channel 4 comedies Fresh Meat and Friday Night Dinner, plus last year's big winner - Miranda Hart and her hit sitcom.
Also of note is that kids' sketch show Horrible Histories has been nominated against adult-aimed series for the second year in a row and, embarrassingly for the BBC, Shooting Stars and Psychoville have both been nominated - programmes that the corporation has now cancelled.
It is also noticeable that flagship digital station BBC Three failed to get a single nomination for any of its series, despite having popular and strong contenders such as White Van Man, Ideal and Russell Howard's Good News in its stable. The BBC as a whole has netted 11 nominations, with Channel 4 and E4 on a combined 8. Meanwhile, ITV shows have bagged 2 nominations, and Sky have 3.
The full list of nominations are as follows:
Best Sitcom
Best Panel Show
Best Comedy Entertainment
An Idiot Abroad
Best Sketch Show
Best Comedy Drama
The Comic Strip (The Hunt For Tony Blair)
Best New Comedy
Best Male TV Comic
Best Female TV Comic
Best Comedy Entertainment Personality
Best Comedy Actor
Hugh Bonneville (Twenty Twelve)
Best Comedy Actress
Tamsin Greig (Friday Night Dinner)
Best Comedy Breakthrough Artist
Dan Skinner (as Angelos Epithemiou)
The nominees for the King or Queen of Comedy Award - the category voted for by the public - have been announced previously. David Mitchell, Graham Norton, Jack Whitehall, Jo Brand, Miranda Hart and Sarah Millican are the comedians in the running in this category. Whitehall is currently being backed by The Sun newspaper, with betting odds stacked in his favour to win accordingly.
Eagle-eyed fans may note that some series - such as Miranda and Peep Show - have not broadcast new episodes in 2011. Their eligibility is due to the nomination window for each year closing during November; thus the 2011 awards cover a timeframe of 12 months beginning in November 2010.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony on Friday night hosted by Jonathan Ross (pictured). The show, to be held at Wembley's Fountain Studios, will be broadcast live on Channel 4 from 9pm. The two hour show will be followed by a 'Live Lock In' backstage show on E4.
Four special awards, including The Lifetime Achievement Award, will also be announced on the night.