The Irish filmed drama series ‘Murphy’s Law’ and ‘Boy A’, from Irish director / writer team John Crowley and written by Mark O’Rowe, are among the nominees for this year’s BAFTA Television Awards.

‘Murphy’s Law’ stars Northern Irish actor James Nesbitt as undercover cop Tommy Murphy. The Irish filmed BBC NI series receives its first BAFTA nomination this year in the Drama Serial category and faces competition from Channel 4’s ‘Britz’ and other BBC dramas ‘Cranford’ and ‘Five Days’.

‘Boy A’, directed by Irish helmer John Crowley and written by Irish writer Mark O’Rowe, is named among the Single Drama nominations. ‘Coming Down the Mountain’, ‘The Mark of Cain’ and ‘The Trial of Tony Blair’ are also in the running. ‘Boy A’ is a Cuba Pictures production for Channel 4 and was screened to critical acclaim at the Berlin Film Festival and on Channel 4 in late 2007. ‘Boy A’ actor Andrew Garfield is given the nod in the Best Actor category for his starring role in the drama which he played a rehabilitated child criminal released into society as an adult.

The BAFTA television awards will be held at the London Palladium on Sunday 20 April.

The full list of nominees:

ACTOR

• ANDREW GARFIELD - Boy A (Channel 4)
• TOM HARDY - Stuart: A Life Backwards (BBC Two)
• MATTHEW MACFADYEN - Secret Life (Channel 4)
• ANTONY SHER - Primo (BBC Four)

ACTRESS

• EILEEN ATKINS - Cranford (BBC One)
• JUDI DENCH - Cranford (BBC One)
• GINA MCKEE - The Street (BBC One)
• KIERSTON WAREING - It’s A Free World (Channel 4)

ENTERTAINMENT PERFORMANCE

• SIMON AMSTELL - Never Mind The Buzzcocks (BBC Two)
• ALAN CARR & JUSTIN LEE COLLINS - The Friday Night Project (Channel 4)
• STEPHEN FRY - QI (BBC Two)
• HARRY HILL - Harry Hill’s TV Burp (ITV1)

COMEDY PERFORMANCE

• PETER CAPALDI - The Thick of It (BBC Four)
• JAMES CORDEN - Gavin and Stacey (BBC Three)
• STEPHEN MERCHANT - Extras Christmas Special (BBC One)
• DAVID MITCHELL - Peep Show (Channel 4)

Sky+AUDIENCE AWARD for the Programme of the Year

• THE APPRENTICE
• ANDREW MARR’S HISTORY OF MODERN BRITAIN
• BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT
• CRANFORD
• GAVIN & STACEY
• STRICTLY COME DANCING

SINGLE DRAMA

• BOY A - John Crowley, Lynn Horsford, Mark O’Rowe (Channel 4/Cuba Pictures)
• COMING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN - Greg Brenman, Roanna Benn, Mark Haddon, Julie Anne Robinson (BBC One/Tiger Aspect Productions Ltd)
• THE MARK OF CAIN - Tony Marchant, Nicola Shindler, Lynn Horsford, Marc Munden (Channel 4/Red Production Company)
• THE TRIAL OF TONY BLAIR - Alistair Beaton, Simon Cellan-Jones, Hal Vogel, David Aukin (More 4/Daybreak Pictures)

DRAMA SERIES

• LIFE ON MARS - Production Team (BBC One/Kudos Film and Television Ltd)
• ROME - John Melfi, Anne Thomopoulos, Bruno Heller, Tim Van Patten (BBC Two/HBO)
• SKINS - Production Team (E4/Company Pictures)
• THE STREET - Jimmy McGovern, Sita Williams, Terry McDonough, John Chapman (BBC One/Granada Productions)

DRAMA SERIAL

• BRITZ - Peter Kosminsky, David Aukin, Hal Vogel, Steve Clark-Hall (Channel 4/Daybreak Pictures)
• CRANFORD - Sue Birtwistle, Simon Curtis, Heidi Thomas (BBC One/BBC Drama Productions/WGBH Boston in association with Chestermead Ltd)
• FIVE DAYS - Paul Rutman, Otto Bathurst, Simon Curtis, Gwyneth Hughes (BBC One/BBC Drama Productions/HBO)
• MURPHY’S LAW - Greg Brenman, Stephen Smallwood, Russell Lewis, Colm McCarthy (BBC One/Tiger Aspect Productions)

CONTINUING DRAMA

• THE BILL - Johnathan Young, Tim Key, Maxwell Young, Robert Del Maestro (ITV1/TalkbackTHAMES)
• EASTENDERS - Production Team (BBC One/BBC Drama Productions)
• EMMERDALE - Keith Richardson, Kathleen Beedles, John Anderson, Tim Dynevor (ITV1/ITV Productions)
• HOLBY CITY - Production Team (BBC One/BBC Drama Productions)

INTERNATIONAL

• CALIFORNICATION - Tom Kapinos, David Duchovny, Scott Winant (Five/CBS Paramount International)
• FAMILY GUY - Seth MacFarlane, David A. Goodman, Chris Sheridan, Danny Smith (BBC Three/20th Century Fox)
• HEROES - Tim Kring, Joe Pokaski, Paul Edwards, Dennis Hammer (BBC Two/SCI FI Channel/NBC Universal Television)
• MY NAME IS EARL - Greg Garcia, Bobby Bowman, Henry Lange, Jr., Marc Buckland (Channel 4/Twentieth Century Fox)

FACTUAL SERIES

• MEET THE NATIVES - Gavin Searle, Will Anderson, Andrew Palmer, Chris King (Channel 4/Keo Films)
• PAUL MERTON IN CHINA - Paul Sommers, Mark Chapman, Barbie MacLaurin, Paul Merton (Five/Tiger Aspect Productions)
• TRIBE - Bruce Parry, Steve Robinson, Sam Organ (BBC Two/BBC Wales/Discovery Channel)
• THE TOWER: A TALE OF TWO CITIES - Simon Ford, Rachel Innes-Lumsden, Anthony Wonke, Ines Cavill (BBC One/BBC)

SPECIALIST FACTUAL(1)

• ANDREW MARR’S HISTORY OF MODERN BRITAIN - Andrew Marr, Chris Granlund, Tom Giles, Clive Edwards (BBC Two/BBC)
• EARTH: THE POWER OF THE PLANET - Dr Iain Stewart, Jonathan Renouf, Phil Dolling (BBC Two/BBC for BBC/National Geographic Channel – US/ZDF)
• THE GENIUS OF PHOTOGRAPHY - Tim Kirby (BBC Four/Wall To Wall Television)
• THE RELIEF OF BELSEN - Justin Hardy, Susan Horth, Peter Guinness (Channel 4/Hardy & Sons)