Three other programmes nominated four times: Accused and Last Tango in Halifax, and BBC2 Alfred Hitchcock film, The Girl
It was only to be expected that the BBC's acclaimed coverage of the London Olympics would be recognised at the Bafta television awards.
But with three nominations, including Danny Boyle's spectacular opening ceremony, the Olympics has still ended up with one fewer than the BBC2 sitcom that spoofed the preparations for the Games, Twenty Twelve.
The comedy about the fictional Olympic Deliverance Commission and their hapless efforts to stage the 2012 Games is in the running for best sitcom in the nominations announced on Tuesday, with three of its stars, Olivia Colman, Jessica Hynes and Hugh Bonneville also nominated.
Three other programmes have been nominated four times: the two BBC1 drama series Accused and Last Tango in Halifax, and BBC2's film about Alfred Hitchcock, The Girl.
Written and directed by John Morton, Twenty Twelve was described by one critic as a "portrait of a nation at ease with its unrivalled inability to be any good at anything ever". It also had an uncanny ability to predict real-life events, such as the breakdown of the Olympics countdown clock.
The BBC's coverage of the Games progressed rather more serenely than the fictional counterpart, catapulting one of its presenters, Clare Balding, into the television big league.
Balding also anchored Channel 4's coverage of the London Paralympics. Nominated in the sport and live event category, it will do battle with Boyle's Olympics opening ceremony and the BBC's coverage of "super Saturday" when Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford all won gold for Great Britain.
Its acclaimed Olympics coverage promised it would be a year to remember for the BBC, only for the corporation to be plunged into crisis by the revelations about Jimmy Savile. ITV's Exposure documentary, The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, which broke the Savile story, is frontrunner for the current affairs prize.
There were no nominations for ITV's biggest drama hit for years, Downton Abbey, and its BBC1 Sunday-night rival, Call the Midwife, is nominated only in the Radio Times audience award, which is voted for by the public.
Alison Graham, TV editor of the Radio Times, said they were significant omissions, along with BBC2's hit crime drama, Line of Duty, starring Lennie James.
"Line of Duty had a huge audience for BBC2 and was massively talked about yet doesn't get a mention," she said. "I hesitate to use the word snobbery but these awards are voted for by industry insiders and there's a certain amount of snobbery surrounding the massive shows. It may be that they are just too big, but it runs a risk of slightly alienating the audience."
Colman, nominated for Twenty Twelve and the BBC1 drama Accused, was one of two actors to be nominated twice; Peter Capaldi is recognised for his roles in the BBC2 drama The Hour and Armando Iannucci's The Thick of It.
The acclaimed political satire, which came to an end after 24 episodes last year, competes for best sitcom with Twenty Twelve, BBC2's Episodes and Sky Atlantic's black comedy Hunderby, written by its star Julia Davis. Episodes star Stephen Mangan dubbed it the "group of death".
Iannucci was also closely involved in the return of Alan Partridge, played by Steve Coogan, who is nominated for Alan Partridge: Welcome to the Places of My Life on Sky Atlantic.
Iannucci, now working on a big-screen adaptation of Partridge, said: "I'm really pleased with the The Thick of It nomination, because it was a nice nod to what's definitely the last one ever. And I'm thrilled with the Alan Partridge nomination, because it was a nice welcome back after we said Alan's previous show was definitely the last one ever."
Other nominees included the artist Grayson Perry, for his Channel 4 series In the Best Possible Taste; the Bradford-born magician Dynamo for Magician Impossible on the digital channel Watch, BBC2's cookery hit The Great British Bake Off and E4's "constructed reality" show, Made In Chelsea.
BBC2 had most nominations, with 26, followed by BBC1 (22), Channel 4 (16), ITV (10) and three each for BBC3 and BBC4.
The BBC2 controller, Janice Hadlow, said: "I'm delighted! It's a fantastic recognition of all the hard work the creative community has devoted to making great programmes for BBC2. I wish they could all win."
Sky, which has ploughed millions of pounds of extra investment into homegrown comedy and drama, was rewarded with a record seven nominations, including six for Sky Atlantic.
Boyd Hilton, TV editor of Heat magazine, said: "Something like Hunderby may not be watched by millions of people [it debuted with 110,000 viewers in August last year] but it was an excellent show and quite rightly nominated."
Sheridan Smith received her first Bafta nomination from her role as Mrs Biggs in the ITV drama of the same name. Rebecca Hall is nominated for her role in BBC2's Parade's End, which is also up for best mini-series, but there is no nomination for her co-star, Benedict Cumberbatch. Last Tango in Halifax stars Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid are both nominated for leading actor awards.
Sky's fantasy epic Game of Thrones is in the running for best international show, along with The Bridge, Girls and the espionage thriller Homeland.
The event, formally known as the Arqiva British Academy Television awards, takes place on Sunday, 12 May at London's Royal Festival Hall and will be hosted by Graham Norton. Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 minute ago.
It was only to be expected that the BBC's acclaimed coverage of the London Olympics would be recognised at the Bafta television awards.
But with three nominations, including Danny Boyle's spectacular opening ceremony, the Olympics has still ended up with one fewer than the BBC2 sitcom that spoofed the preparations for the Games, Twenty Twelve.
The comedy about the fictional Olympic Deliverance Commission and their hapless efforts to stage the 2012 Games is in the running for best sitcom in the nominations announced on Tuesday, with three of its stars, Olivia Colman, Jessica Hynes and Hugh Bonneville also nominated.
Three other programmes have been nominated four times: the two BBC1 drama series Accused and Last Tango in Halifax, and BBC2's film about Alfred Hitchcock, The Girl.
Written and directed by John Morton, Twenty Twelve was described by one critic as a "portrait of a nation at ease with its unrivalled inability to be any good at anything ever". It also had an uncanny ability to predict real-life events, such as the breakdown of the Olympics countdown clock.
The BBC's coverage of the Games progressed rather more serenely than the fictional counterpart, catapulting one of its presenters, Clare Balding, into the television big league.
Balding also anchored Channel 4's coverage of the London Paralympics. Nominated in the sport and live event category, it will do battle with Boyle's Olympics opening ceremony and the BBC's coverage of "super Saturday" when Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford all won gold for Great Britain.
Its acclaimed Olympics coverage promised it would be a year to remember for the BBC, only for the corporation to be plunged into crisis by the revelations about Jimmy Savile. ITV's Exposure documentary, The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, which broke the Savile story, is frontrunner for the current affairs prize.
There were no nominations for ITV's biggest drama hit for years, Downton Abbey, and its BBC1 Sunday-night rival, Call the Midwife, is nominated only in the Radio Times audience award, which is voted for by the public.
Alison Graham, TV editor of the Radio Times, said they were significant omissions, along with BBC2's hit crime drama, Line of Duty, starring Lennie James.
"Line of Duty had a huge audience for BBC2 and was massively talked about yet doesn't get a mention," she said. "I hesitate to use the word snobbery but these awards are voted for by industry insiders and there's a certain amount of snobbery surrounding the massive shows. It may be that they are just too big, but it runs a risk of slightly alienating the audience."
Colman, nominated for Twenty Twelve and the BBC1 drama Accused, was one of two actors to be nominated twice; Peter Capaldi is recognised for his roles in the BBC2 drama The Hour and Armando Iannucci's The Thick of It.
The acclaimed political satire, which came to an end after 24 episodes last year, competes for best sitcom with Twenty Twelve, BBC2's Episodes and Sky Atlantic's black comedy Hunderby, written by its star Julia Davis. Episodes star Stephen Mangan dubbed it the "group of death".
Iannucci was also closely involved in the return of Alan Partridge, played by Steve Coogan, who is nominated for Alan Partridge: Welcome to the Places of My Life on Sky Atlantic.
Iannucci, now working on a big-screen adaptation of Partridge, said: "I'm really pleased with the The Thick of It nomination, because it was a nice nod to what's definitely the last one ever. And I'm thrilled with the Alan Partridge nomination, because it was a nice welcome back after we said Alan's previous show was definitely the last one ever."
Other nominees included the artist Grayson Perry, for his Channel 4 series In the Best Possible Taste; the Bradford-born magician Dynamo for Magician Impossible on the digital channel Watch, BBC2's cookery hit The Great British Bake Off and E4's "constructed reality" show, Made In Chelsea.
BBC2 had most nominations, with 26, followed by BBC1 (22), Channel 4 (16), ITV (10) and three each for BBC3 and BBC4.
The BBC2 controller, Janice Hadlow, said: "I'm delighted! It's a fantastic recognition of all the hard work the creative community has devoted to making great programmes for BBC2. I wish they could all win."
Sky, which has ploughed millions of pounds of extra investment into homegrown comedy and drama, was rewarded with a record seven nominations, including six for Sky Atlantic.
Boyd Hilton, TV editor of Heat magazine, said: "Something like Hunderby may not be watched by millions of people [it debuted with 110,000 viewers in August last year] but it was an excellent show and quite rightly nominated."
Sheridan Smith received her first Bafta nomination from her role as Mrs Biggs in the ITV drama of the same name. Rebecca Hall is nominated for her role in BBC2's Parade's End, which is also up for best mini-series, but there is no nomination for her co-star, Benedict Cumberbatch. Last Tango in Halifax stars Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid are both nominated for leading actor awards.
Sky's fantasy epic Game of Thrones is in the running for best international show, along with The Bridge, Girls and the espionage thriller Homeland.
The event, formally known as the Arqiva British Academy Television awards, takes place on Sunday, 12 May at London's Royal Festival Hall and will be hosted by Graham Norton. Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 minute ago.