One of television’s biggest nights is making its long-awaited return after 20 months as this year’s National Television Awards announce the nominees for 2021 with the likes of Line of Duty stars Vicky McClure, Martin Compston and Adrian Dunbar going head-to-head with each other for one of the top awards.
The AC-12 detectives’ popularity has grown significantly with the three vying to be awarded best drama performance. They will be going up against TV hero and ex-Doctor Who star, David Tennant for his unsettling role as a serial killer in ITV crime drama Des and breakout star Olly Alexander in his role in the Channel 4 drama, It’s a Sin.
The crime drama also tops the nominations for returning drama, competing with popular shows The Crown, Unforgotten and Call The Midwife all aiming to take the prize off the well-loved BBC Drama.
Sticking with drama, Des is also included in the new drama nominations alongside It’s a Sin, Netflix romantic drama, Bridgerton and BBC’s popular Irish drama, Normal People.
In the other categories, Piers Morgan has been nominated for best TV presenter despite leaving ITV breakfast show, Good Morning Britain, earlier this year. He has since continued on his show Pier’s Morgan’s Life Stories, interviewing the likes of Labour leader, Sir Kier Starmer. However, he will face strong competition with serial winners of this category Ant & Dec looking to win this award for the 20th year in a row, as well as This Morning icon Holly Willoughby, first-time nominee Allison Hammond and The Chase’s Bradley Walsh.
The big four soaps, Eastenders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks, will unsurprisingly continue to face off against each other as they are all nominated for best serial drama.
As for the award for factual documentary award, the documentary about the late Caroline Flack heads the shortlisting. Caroline Flack: Her Life And Death spotlights the problems the presenter had behind the scenes, with appearances from her family and friends as well as her colleagues including fellow presenter and singer, Olly Murs.
Sticking with documentaries, a new category will be introduced to this year’s award show, for the award of best authored documentary. Nominations for this award include the touching ITV documentary, Kate Garraway: Finding Derek. The journalist documents how COVID-19 has affected her husband and how that has affected her personal life.
Another category which has been brought into the award show is best quiz game show. Vying for the title of this award are ITV’s Beat the Chasers, presented by Bradley Walsh, Celebrity Catchphrase and In For A Penny, presented by Stephen Mulhern along with the BBC show, Michael McIntryre’s The Wheel.
All the National Television Award Nominations in full:
Challenge Show:
- Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins
- Love Island
- The Great British Bake Off
- The Great British Sewing Bee
Talent Show:
- Britain’s Got Talent
- RuPaul’s Drag Race UK
- Strictly Come Dancing
- The Masked Singer
Quiz Game Show:
- Beat the Chasers
- Celebrity Catchphrase
- In For A Penny
- Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel
Bruce Forsyth entertainment award:
- Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway
- I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
- Taskmaster
- The Graham Norton Show
TV Presenter:
- Ant and Dec
- Alison Hammond
- Piers Morgan
- Bradley Walsh
- Holly Willoughby
Factual:
- Caroline Flack: Her Life and Death
- Gogglebox
- Gordon, Gino and Fred: American Road Trip
- Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs
Authored documentary:
- Kate Garraway: Finding Derek
- Katie Price: Harvey and Me
- Marcus Rashford: Feeding Britain’s Children
- Rob Burrow: My Year With MND
- Roman Kemp: Our Silent Emergency
Daytime:
- Loose Women
- The Chase
- The Repair Shop
- This Morning
Comedy:
- After Life
- Friday Night Dinner
- Sex Education
- The Vicar of Dibley
Serial drama:
- Coronation Street
- EastEnders
- Emmerdale
- Hollyoaks
Serial drama performance:
- Sally Carman – Abi Franklin, Coronation Street
- Danny Dyer – Mick Carter, EastEnders
- Mollie Gallagher – Nina Lucas, Coronation Street
- Billy Price – Sid Sumner, Hollyoaks
Returning Drama:
- Call the Midwife
- Line of Duty
- The Crown
- Unforgotten
New Drama:
- Bridgerton
- Des
- It’s A Sin
- Normal People
Newcomer
- Rose Ayling-Ellis – Frankie Lewis, EastEnders
- Rhiannon Clements – Summer Ranger, Hollyoaks
- Olivia D’Lima – Paramedic Fenisha Khatri, Casualty
- Emile John – Ethan Anderson, Emmerdale
- Jude Riordan – Same Blakeman, Coronation Street
Drama Performance:
- Olly Alexander – Ritchie Tozer, It’s A Sin
- Martin Compston – Steve Arnott, Line of Duty
- Adrian Dunbar – Ted Hastings, Line of Duty
- Vicky McClure – Kate Fleming, Line of Duty
- David Tennant – Dennis Nilsen, Des
The show will be broadcast live on ITV on the 9th September from 7:30pm and will presented by Joel Dommett.
SEE ALSO: Which of Your TV Favourites Has a 2021 Emmy Nomination?
