Dominic West and John Simm up for top TV award

Dominic West, John Simm and Daniel Rigby will compete in the best actor category at this year's Royal Television Society programme awards.

West has been shortlisted for his role as the notorious serial killer Fred West in ITV's Appropriate Adult.

Rigby was nominated for his portrayal of Eric Morecambe in Eric and Ernie and Simm is up for the BBC thriller Exile.

Vicky McClure, from This Is England '88, is nominated for best actress, having won the prize last year.

She faces competition from Ruth Negga, nominated for her portrayal of a young Shirley Bassey in BBC drama Shirley, and Appropriate Adult's Emily Watson.

The awards, hosted by Rob Brydon, will take place on 20 March at London's Grosvenor House Hotel.

The annual ceremony honours "excellence in key genres of television programming", organisers said.

Read a full list of nominees on the RTS website.

Channel 4 leads the nominations with 18 nods.

It dominates the documentary series category, taking all three nominations, for 24 Hours in A&E, Educating Essex and Fighting On The Frontline.

BBC Two follows closely behind with 17 nominations, including multiple mentions for Eric and Ernie, the story of comedians Morecambe and Wise's early years, and Tom Hollander's sitcom Rev.

Hollander is up for best comedy performance for his role as frustrated church minister Adam Smallbone in the show. He also receives a nomination for best comedy writer, while the show itself is listed in the best scripted comedy category.

Other nominees in the best comedy performance category are Darren Boyd, who stars in Spy, a Sky sitcom about a man accidentally recruited as a trainee spy for MI5, and Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani, from BBC Three's "anti rom-com" Him & Her.

Fantasy horror The Fades is up for best drama series, alongside two detective shows - Luther and Scott And Bailey.

The drama serial category, which recognises programmes with continuing storylines across several episodes, sees nominations for Channel 4's The Promise, which looks at the history of Palestine; BBC Two's The Crimson Petal And The White, an expose of Victorian England's seedy underbelly; and Channel 4's Top Boy, which revolves around an east London drug dealer.

Million Pound Drop, fronted by Davina McCall, receives the nod for best entertainment show, alongside Derren Brown - The Experiments and The Graham Norton Show.

James Corden, Keith Lemon (played by comic Leigh Francis) and Ant and Dec are nominated for best entertainment performance.

BBC shows Sarah Jane Adventures and Tracy Beaker will go head-to-head in the children's drama category.

And the international award sees Danish thriller The Killing compete with Australian morality play The Slap and US comedy Modern Family.