The Stage

Nominees announced for Royal Television Society Programme Awards

Published Tuesday 3 March 2009 at 12:35 by Matthew Hemley

Clare Foy, who made her television debut in the title role of BBC1's Little Dorrit, has been nominated for the best actress award at this year's Royal Television Society Programme Awards.

She is up against competition from Anna Maxwell-Martin, who has received a nod for her performance in Channel 4's Poppy Shakespeare, and Andrea Riseborough, who is nominated for The Devil's Whore, also on Channel 4.

Foy's co-star in Little Dorrit, Matthew Macfadyen, is nominated for the best actor award, against Rafe Spall in He Kills Coppers on ITV and Ben Whishaw for the BBC's Criminal Justice.

Criminal Justice has also been nominated in the best drama serial category, against The Devil's Whore and Place of Execution, while City of Vice, Con Passionate and The Fixer will battle it out for the title of best drama series.

Elsewhere, in the single drama category, BBC4's The Curse of Steptoe and Margaret Thatcher - The Long Walk to Finchley will go head to head with The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall, written by Simon Block, who is nominated for the drama writer award alongside Peter Flannery for The Devil's Whore and Peter Moffat for Criminal Justice.

Meanwhile, Peep Show's Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong will compete with Sharon Horgan and Dennis Kelly, the writers of BBC3's Pulling, and Graham Linehan, creator of The IT Crowd, in the comedy writer category.

In the best scripted comedy category, Lead Balloon, Outnumbered and Peep Show have all received nominations, while Simon Bird, James Corden and Peter Kay have all picked up nominations for best comedy performance.

MI High, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Summerhill will compete to take home the award for best children's drama, and Harry Hill's TV Burp, Strictly Come Dancing and The X Factor have been nominated in the entertainment category.

Finally, Harry Hill, Alan Carr, Justin Lee Collins and Paul O'Grady will compete in the category of best entertainment performance at the awards, which will be held on Tuesday, March 17 at the Grosvenor Hotel in London.