The makers of Downton Abbey will be hoping to top off their trophy collection by winning best drama series at the 2016 TV Choice Awards.
The ITV period drama, which has previously won Emmys, Baftas and Golden Globes, has never scooped the award for best drama series at the TV Choice Awards, despite being nominated in the same category four years ago.
But the sixth and final series of Downton will face stiff competition in the category from three BBC shows: Happy Valley, Line Of Duty and Peaky Blinders.
The last episode of the popular show, written by Julian Fellowes, aired on Christmas Day 2015 and this will be its last chance at clinching the coveted best drama accolade.
Meanwhile, The Night Manager’s Tom Hiddleston will go up against Doctor Who’s Peter Capaldi in the best actor category, alongside Cillian Murphy for Peaky Blinders and Jim Carter for Downton Abbey. Both Peaky Blinders and Downton Abbey have been nominated for three awards overall.
The ceremony will be hosted by comedian Jo Brand at The Dorchester in London, where Happy Valley star Sarah Lancashire will try to face off competition from Laura Carmichael (Downton Abbey), Helen McCrory (Peaky Blinders) and Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster) in the best actress category.
Suranne, 38, will be hoping to make it a double win on the evening, as Doctor Foster is also nominated in the best new drama category alongside two other BBC One dramas – War & Peace and The Night Manager – as well as ITV’s Marcella.
The best family drama category is also dominated by BBC productions, with Call The Midwife, Casualty and Doctor Who going up against ITV’s drama The Durrells, starring Keeley Hawes.
The talent show category will be hotly contested by BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing and The Great British Bake Off, which launched to record viewing figures of 11.2 million last month, alongside ITV juggernauts The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent.
In the soaps, EastEnders’ hardmen Danny Dyer and Steve McFadden will be going head-to-head in the best soap actor category for their roles as Mick Carter and Phil Mitchell. The shortlist is completed by Emmerdale’s Danny Miller, as Aaron Dingle, and Jack P Shepherd, as Coronation Street’s David Platt.
And in the best soap actress category, there are nominations across the board for the four biggest soaps on TV. EastEnders’ Lacey Turner (Stacey Fowler), Coronation Street’s Paula Lane (Kylie Platt), Emmerdale’s Lucy Pargeter (Chas Dingle) and Hollyoaks’ Jennifer Metcalfe (Mercedes McQueen) will all be hoping to triumph.
Other shows nominated in the TV awards include daytime favourites The Chase and This Morning, Channel 4′s Gogglebox and One Born Every Minute, and food programmes Saturday Kitchen and Sunday Brunch.
