It's the most glittering - and nail-biting - date in the awards ceremony calendar, and a true litmus test of popular taste.

The National Television Awards is the only TV honours to be handed direct from viewer to star.

While other awards are decided by committee, there is no place for industry politicking or backslapping here; a National Television Award stands on a personality's mantelpiece as prestigious proof that they have won favour where it really matters - with you, the audience. Last year an extraordinary 1.4 million votes were cast.

You can vote by post, telephone, text or online at www.nationaltvawards.com where details on how to get involved are provided.

Enlarge 

David Tennant as The Doctor and Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, longlisted as Most Popular Drama Performance

Keeley Hawes has scored a nomination for her role as DI Alex Drake in Ashes to Ashes

...And Philip Glenister has made an iconic role out of the plain-speaking politically-incorrect DCI Gene Hunt

Trial and Retribution, led by Victoria Smurfit and David Hayman may also get recognition in the popular vote

A shortlist of nominees will be announced in The Mail on Sunday later this year and the final results will be revealed when the stars gather at the Royal Albert Hall for a glamorous ceremony to be hosted by Sir Trevor McDonald and broadcast live by ITV1 in October.

Hundreds of the nation's favourite TV stars will be there and viewers across the country will settle down to watch what has become Britain's highest-rating television awards show.

It is, after all, an explosive mix: shimmering glamour, competing egos, liberal hospitality and live television. And the reactions from the stars are genuine, as each fervently hopes that the sentence 'And the winner is...' will close with their name.

Unlike many other shows, the results of the NTAs are kept secret from the winners right until the moment the award is announced on stage. And no one can prepare for the behaviour of the more maverick performers - as organisers of the awards, now in their 14th year, will testify.

Certainly the podium at the NTAs has seen more than its fair share of drama, accidental humour, histrionics and barely-there frocks.

In 1995, Michael Barrymore, then at the peak of his popular success, 'came out' live on stage - as his estranged wife and manager, Cheryl, sat yards away.

In 1996, a week after Take That split, Robbie Williams presented an award and promptly burst into tears as the rest of the band looked on from the audience.

Then, in 2000, Judy Finnigan was covered in embarrassment - and by a jacket gallantly provided by the swift-footed John Leslie - when her halterneck dress slipped down, revealing a sturdy bra as she and husband Richard Madeley collected Most Popular Daytime Programme award for This Morning.

Quick as his wife's flash, Richard joked: 'If you vote for us next year she'll show you both of them.'

There have been no such anxieties for Caprice who, over the years, has always been well covered - if only by the newspapers the morning after the event. In 1997, Sir Trevor admitted to being 'goggle-eyed' when she appeared on stage in an outfit of which the largest part was a diamond the size of a gobstopper neatly tucked into her belly button.

You get to decide if Hermione Norris, as Ros Myers in Spooks, deserves the award for oustanding drama performance

Enlarge 

And Jack P Shephered may win an award for his performance as the scheming David in Coronation Street, pictured here with Helen Worth as Gail Platt

This year the categories of Most Popular Actor and Actress have been combined into one - Outstanding Drama Performance - while Outstanding Serial Drama Performance will recognise actors in ever-popular, ever-successful, serial dramas.

Two of our greatest actresses go head to head for the Outstanding Drama Performance - for their starring roles in the same show. Dame Eileen Atkins and Dame Judi Dench are each nominated for their brilliant performances as sisters in the hit period drama Cranford.

Also in the category for Outstanding Drama Performance are cousins Laurence and Emilia Fox for their roles in Lewis and Silent Witness respectively.

Ashes To Ashes rates two mentions, for leads Keeley Hawes and Philip Glenister. As DCI Gene Hunt, Glenister is everybody's favourite politically incorrect detective, embracing a bygone era and delivering such lines as 'Listen luv, how about you detect me some Garibaldi biscuits to go with this cuppa?' to a female officer.

Previous winners again up for the public vote include Doctor Who's David Tennant, Coronation Street's Kym Ryder and Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.

Intriguingly, Simon Cowell is up against himself in the Most Popular Talent Show category with his shows The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent.

As well as celebrating the most popular programmes over the past 12 months, the ceremony awards one figure whose contribution to television has been remarkable.

Sir Trevor McDonald was presented with the Special Recognition Award by Tony Blair in 2003. Three years later Sir David Attenborough was given the award by Terri Irwin, whose moving tribute to her late husband, 'crocodile hunter' Steve Irwin, reduced many in the audience to tears.

The National Television Awards are never short on emotion or theatricality. Little wonder, then, that this year is tipped to be the biggest night in television yet - and it is one in which you have the ultimate say.

For more information on the nominees and voting, visit