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Irish stars hope to triumph at TV BAFTAs tonight

(Clockwise from top) Sharon Horgan, Graham Norton, Siobhán McSweeney, Anne-Marie Duff, Cillian Murphy, and Fiona Shaw are all BAFTA-nominated this year
(Clockwise from top) Sharon Horgan, Graham Norton, Siobhán McSweeney, Anne-Marie Duff, Cillian Murphy, and Fiona Shaw are all BAFTA-nominated this year

Irish stars Anne-Marie Duff, Sharon Horgan, Siobhán McSweeney, Cillian Murphy, Graham Norton, and Fiona Shaw are among the nominees for the BAFTA Television Awards which take place in London tonight.

Horgan's Bad Sisters received multiple nominations, including Drama Series, Director: Fiction for Dearbhla Walsh and Supporting Actress for Duff, who was born in London to Irish parents.

A scene from Sharon Horgan's Bad Sisters

Fiona Shaw joins fellow nominee Duff in the Supporting Actress category, getting the nod for her turn in the Star Wars live-action series, Andor.

Fiona Shaw

Derry Girls' Siobhán McSweeney is shortlisted for Female Performance in a Comedy Programme, and the show is also nominated for Scripted Comedy and Writer: Comedy for writer-creator Lisa McGee.

Additionally, the finale of Derry Girls' third and final season, which was aired last year and showed the characters voting in the Good Friday Agreement referendum, is among the contenders for the Memorable Moment Award, which is the only category that is decided by a public vote.

It is up against big moments in Stranger Things, the reality TV show The Traitors and Paddington Bear's memorable moment with the late Queen Elizabeth II during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations last year.

Derry Girls' Siobhán McSweeney

The Dry writer-creator Nancy Harris is shortlisted in the Writer: Comedy category. The series follows Shiv Sheridan (played by Belfast woman Róisín Gallagher) who has come home to Dublin, sober and full of good intentions, after years of hard partying in London.

The Dry has received a comedy writing nomination for writer-creator Nancy Harris

Peaky Blinders star Cillian Murphy is among the nominees for Leading Actor for his role as Tommy Shelby. It is Murphy's first BAFTA nomination for his performance across six seasons of the show, and Peaky Blinders' sole nomination this year.

Cillian Murphy in Peaky Blinders

The Graham Norton Show is nominated for Comedy Entertainment Programme and is up against Taskmaster, Friday Night Live and Would I Lie to You?

Graham Norton

Leading the nominations, with six nods apiece, are two BBC drama series: NHS drama This Is Going to Hurt, based on the hugely-popular novel by Adam McKay, and police drama The Responder, starring Martin Freeman.

Lewis Capaldi will give his first-ever TV performance of his hit single Wish You The Best.

Lewis Capaldi will perform his single Wish You The Best tonight at the BAFTA TV Awards

The awards take place tonight at London's Royal Festival Hall in the UK and will be hosted by comedians Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan.

Award presenters will include David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Lenny Henry and Dannii Minogue.

You can catch the ceremony on BBC One from 7pm, with red carpet coverage with Clare Amfo and Michelle Visage on BAFTA's YouTube ahead of the ceremony.

Reporting: Audrey Donohue

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