The National TV Awards 2012

A glance at the shortlist for this award ceremony could leave a viewer with the impression that 2012 had been a really crap year for television. Let’s take the sitcom category, in which you’ll find ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’ but not ‘The Thick of It’; ‘Benidorm’ but not ‘Fresh Meat’. In fairness, this isn’t really an occasion for the cognoscenti – any award show which features nominations for ‘The Jeremy Kyle Show’ and ‘Towie’ is probably edging towards the populist end of the spectrum. But still, there are some heavy hitters duking it out: particularly Steven Moffat’s leading men Benedict Cumberbatch and Matt Smith, who go mano-a-mano in the male performance category. Dermot O’Leary presents from the O2.