Life On Mars blasts back to 2007 in a blaze of Bafta glory

Now the BBC1 series, which ended on Tuesday, is going out in a blaze of glory at the Baftas.

John Simm has been nominated for the best actor award for his role as Sam Tyler, the detective who wakes up to find himself back in 1973.

The series is also up for best drama. It is also in the running for the Pioneer Audience Award, for the best programme of 2006 and is the only Bafta voted for by the public.

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Victoria Wood, whose eye for the absurd and deadpan delivery has made her one of Britain's biggest names in comedy, has been nominated for a best actress award.

Miss Wood, 53, played a Lancashire housewife living through World War II in Housewife 49, the ITV drama based on the diaries of Nella Last.

Mrs Last was one of the participants in Mass Observation, the wartime government project that used citizens' journals to monitor morale in the 1940s.

It was a rare serious role for Miss Wood. Her last was in Nearly A Happy Ending for ITV 26 years ago.

With 12 Bafta nominations to her credit, she has broken her previous record of ten, a number shared by Morecambe and Wise, Paul Merton and Dame Judi Dench. Miss Wood has won only once.

In 1986 she received a Bafta for best light entertainment performance for An Audience With Victoria Wood.

The judges from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts are bracing themselves for controversy this year with five nominations for two TV dramas about the Moors murders. ITV's See no Evil has been shortlisted for best drama series while Channel 4's Longford is up for four awards.

The programme focuses on the life of Lord Longford, the Labour peer who campaigned for 30 years to free Myra Hindley.

It is shortlisted for best single drama, best actress for Samantha Morton's role as Hindley, and best actor for Jim Broadbent's portrayal of Lord Longford.

Andy Serkis, who played Ian Brady, has also been nominated for best actor. Comedians Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are going head-to-head for best comedy performance on their BBC show Extras.

Others battling it out include Sir Alan Sugar and chef Gordon Ramsay, who are both nominated in the best features category for The Apprentice (BBC2) and The F-Word (Channel 4).

Anne-Marie Duff's portrayal of Elizabeth I in BBC1's The Virgin Queen has earned her a best actress nomination while Michael Sheen is up for best actor for his role as Kenneth Williams in BBC4's Fantabulosa!

Channel 4 leads the way with 20 nominations while BBC1 is a close second with 18. ITV has the least with 13.

The Bafta TV awards ceremony, British television's equivalent to the Emmys, will be held in London on May 20. The movie Baftas, regarded as a curtain raiser to the Oscars, took place in February.