Doctor Who and Sherlock battle for National Television awards BBC1 shows among those nominated for best drama alongside Benedict Cumberbatch and Matt Smith for best actor John Plunkett The Guardian, Monday 7 January 2013 (THE GUARDIAN)

Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch will be competing for National Television awards best actor against rival Matt Smith of Doctor Who. Both shows are also up for best drama. Photograph: AP

Sherlock and Doctor Who will go head to head later this month for two of the big prizes at the National Television awards, which will feature a special award to celebrate the success of the Olympics and Paralympics.

The two BBC1 shows are both nominated for best drama, along with ITV1's Downton Abbey and Merlin, which has just been brought to an end by BBC1.

Doctor Who's Matt Smith and Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch are in the running for the best drama actor prize, along with Merlin's Colin Morgan and Daniel Mays, who starred in ITV1's Mrs Biggs.

The nominations bode well for Steven Moffat, the Doctor Who showrunner who is also, along with former League of Gentlemen star Mark Gatiss, co-creator of Sherlock.

There is another Doctor Who nomination for Karen Gillan, who played the doctor's former companion Amy Pond and bowed out of the series last year.

Gillan is nominated in the drama performance female category, along with Miranda Hart of BBC1's Call The Midwife, Suranne Jones of ITV1's Scott & Bailey and Sheridan Smith (Mrs Biggs).

READ MORE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/08/doctor-who-sherlock-national-tv-awards