Matt Smith at the NTA's last year

Matt Smith at the NTA's last year

The National Television Awards take place tonight and we’ve cast our eye over the nominees in the major categories to have a look at who might be taking home the prizes.

In the only TV awards ceremony in the UK whose winners are exclusively decided by public vote, the winners are always hard to predict, but we’ll be trying our best to dust off the crystal ball and deliver some verdicts.

Best Drama

Doctor Who traditionally has a lot of love at the NTA’s but faces a bigger task than ever if it’s to succeed against both last year’s winner Downton Abbey and the returning Sherlock.

With Downton returning to form, Doctor Who having the climactic finale to the Pond’s storyline and the smashing trio of episodes from Sherlock at the beginning of the year, the competition this year is especially close. Even Merlin not out of contention thanks to it wrapping up this year.

Sticking our necks on the line though, we’re going to plump with Downton Abbey taking home the prize, namely as it beat Doctor Who last year (during its poor second season) and Sherlock being shown all the way back in last January.

Best Drama Performance Female

Karen Gillan’s back to defend her crown and looks once again the favourite to pick up the award. The Scottish actress picked up the award for her role in the immensely popular Doctor Who and she was once again able to show off her more than capable dramatic chops in the sci-fi show.

While we think that both Miranda Hart and Sheridan Smith would also make for fine victors, Amy Pond’s touching demise looks to be enough to see her sneak victory.

Drama Performance Male

While the Merlin lovers will surely try to snag Colin Morgan the prize at the final time of asking, this looks like a straight fight between The Doctor and Sherlock.

Matt Smith took home the prize last year, but after Cumberbatch was once again fantastic as the sociopathic detective, this is a tough fight to call. We’re going to swing for Benedict though this time, although we won’t be too shocked if Matt Smith claims the prize.

Sorry Daniel Mays, despite your great turn in Mrs Biggs, we don’t think you’ve got a shot.

Entertainment Programme –

The ratings alone show how incredibly popular I’m A Celebrity was this year and after raking in massive amounts of viewers, I’m A Celebrity looks unbeatable in this category.  With TOWIE’s star fading and the presence of both Graham Norton and Alan Carr probably splitting up the talk show vote, the jungle looks a good bet right now.

Entertainment Presenter –

Ant and Dec have won this award so many times, there’s not even a point to the nominations. They might as well use name it after them, as the pair have picked up the gong for Best Entertainment Presenter every year since 2001.

With even fellow nominee and awards show presenter Dermot O’Leary backing them to win once again, the Geordie duo look a shoe in for the award once more.

Best Talent Show

After a year of flagging ratings and very questionable decision making, The X Factor doesn’t look the certainty it once was for this award.

Instead, we’re going to predict that the BBC’s flagship talent show will take that crown on this occasion, after a series of the very highest quality from Strictly Come Dancing graced our screens this year.

Best Comedy Panel Show

In this fairly new category, the defending champ Celebrity Juice isn’t even nominated, leaving Keith Lemon unable to defend his crown. Instead, we think that Mock The Week will be taking home the prize.

As much as we’d love to see Stephen Fry and Alan Davies claim the award for their own with QI, the mass appeal of the BBC 2 satirical panel show is just too much for them to overcome.

Best Factual Entertainment Show

While Top Gear has won many an award in the past, the sheer amount of good will surround The Great British Bake-Off makes it the favourite to win the award tonight. The show has become the surprise hit of 2012 for the BBC, with the show becoming a massive ratings grabber and becoming the latest show to be sold by the broadcaster internationally.

And who doesn’t like a good dessert, really?

Best Situation Comedy

While filled with four perfectly serviceable and functional shows, there’s not one comedy show here that runs the risk of making your ribs ache from laughing at a moment’s notice.

Benidom has a habit of picking up the award from left field though, having snatched the win two out of the last four times. With the other two winners no longer around, Benidorm could be in a really strong position to take this. The Big Bang Theory is the wildcard here. The American interloper amongst the Brits and has a chance of pulling off an upset and becoming the first non-British winner in the category.

Best Serial Drama –

While Emmerdale and Hollyoaks have their fans, we all know that this is a straight scrap between EastEnders and Coronation Street. While over the last decade, it’s usually been the cast of Albert Square who’ve stolen the spotlight, the prize has alternated between the two major soaps for the last four awards.

If that pattern holds up, the EastEnders will be taking home the prize, so the ITV bosses will be hoping that Coronations Street will be able to buck the trend and win the prize back to back for the first time since it won three times on the trot between 1998 and 2000.

 

Have we got all the winners right? There’s only two ways to know. Either get all of you to vote for our picks so we look clever, or cross our fingers until tonight’s ceremony.

FemaleFirst Cameron Smith

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