Throng

Wednesday, 28 January 2009, 10:35PM on ITV1

Melvyn Bragg will host the South Bank Show Awards in front of a star studded audience featuring live performances from Razorlight, Nigel Kennedy and Michael Ball.

Filmed earlier in the week at The Dorchester, The South Bank Show Awards are now in its 13th year, the annual awards show is the only awards show in the world to reflect the strength of British talent and achievement across the spectrum of the arts.

Previous South Bank Show Award winners Gavin and Stacey return with their second series to compete for the Comedy Award against BBC3’s Pulling – Series 2 and Michael McIntyre’s Stand Up.

This year’s film nominations include Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges, James Marsh’s highly praised documentary Man On Wire and Steve McQueen’s debut feature film Hunger.

C4 positions itself with strong odds in the TV Drama category pulling in two nominations with The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall - a moving story of a family's struggle to discover what happened to their son in the Gaza Strip in April 2003 - and Peter Flannery's Civil War epic The Devil’s Whore, featuring an all star ensemble cast including John Simm, Dominic West and Angela Riseborough. They will compete against ITV1’s gripping thriller The Children starring Kevin Whately and Geraldine Somerville.

The nominees in the category of Pop echo the range and diversity of current successful British artists. Elbow set the bar for the nominees following a year of wide critical acclaim. Also nominated are Grammy-nominated R&B singer Estelle and Reading-based songstress Laura Marling.

In the Theatre category, two Donmar Warehouse revivals - the newly energised The Chalk Garden and the refreshingly classical production of Othello starring Ewan McGregor, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Kelly Reilly – face stiff competition from the Royal Court Theatre’s politically controversial play Now or Later written by young playwright Christopher Shinn.

Winners in all categories including Film, Comedy, TV Drama, Theatre, Pop, Literature, Classical Music, Visual Arts, Opera and Dance as well as those of the South Bank Show Award for Outstanding Achievement in association with The Dorchester, the Times Breakthrough Award and the Arts Council England’s Diversity Award, will be announced at the South Bank Show Awards Ceremony at London’s Dorchester Hotel on 20th January 2009.