Actor is first Doctor Who star to be nominated, but 'asbo superhero' series scoops four nods

Matt Smith has become the first Doctor Who star to be nominated for a Bafta but it was another sci-fi series that dominated the nominations for this year's television awards – E4's Misfits.

Misfits scored four nominations including best drama series and acting nods for stars Robert Sheehan, who will not return next series, and Lauren Socha. It pipped three other dramas which scored three nominations each – BBC1's Sherlock, Channel 4's Any Human Heart, and BBC4 drama The Road to Coronation Street.

It was a good night for nostalgia on the BBC – along with the three nods for The Road to Coronation Street, which included first Bafta nominations for EastEnders star Jessie Wallace and Lynda Baron, there were also two nominations for the BBC2 biopic, Eric and Ernie.

Steve Coogan received his first Bafta nomination since 2003's I'm Alan Partridge for BBC2's The Trip. Miranda Hart was also nominated in the comedy performance category for BBC2's Miranda, but the multi-award-winning show is not in the running for best sitcom.

Two-time winner Mad Men is nominated once again for best international programme, where it will be up against BBC4's hit Danish import The Killing, E4's Glee and Sky Atlantic's Martin Scorsese-produced prohibition drama, Boardwalk Empire.

ITV1's The X Factor is nominated for the entertainment programme prize, along with BBC's The Graham Norton Show and Have I Got News For You – its 11th nomination – and ITV1's The Cube, but there is no nod for Cowell's other ITV1 show, Britain's Got Talent.

Doctor Who, which returned to BBC1 for its new series on Easter Saturday, has won Bafta TV awards before but it is the first time its leading man has been nominated. Smith, in his second season as the Doctor, will go head to head with Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch, Any Human Heart's Jim Broadbent and Daniel Rigby, who starred in Eric and Ernie.

The other leading actor prize will be competed by South Riding's Anna Maxwell Martin, Five Daughters' Natalie Press and Accused's Juliet Stevenson, all of them on BBC1, and Vicky McClure, who starred in Channel 4's This is England '86.

BBC1's Sherlock, BBC3's Being Human, ITV1's Downton Abbey and Misfits will battle it out for the drama series prize, with Eric and Ernie, Channel 4's I Am Slave, BBC2's The Special Relationship and The Road to Coronation Street competing for best single drama.

Sky received its most nominations to date, with six across its various TV channels, including one for the first 3D show to be nominated for a Bafta, Flying Monsters 3D narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

Three new shows are nominated in the sitcom category – BBC1's Mrs Brown's Boys and The Trip and Rev, both on BBC2, up against Channel 4's long-running Peep Show.

And there are four first time nominees in the features category – BBC2's Mary Queen of Shops, Channel 4's Hugh's Fish Fight and Come Dine With Me, and Sky 1's Pineapple Dance Studios.

ITV's coverage of the Cumbria murders and Channel 4 News's reporting on the rescue of the Chilean miners are nominated in the news category, along with BBC1's 10pm news bulletin on the handover of power from Gordon Brown to David Cameron, and Sky News's reporting on the Egypt crisis.

The Bafta television awards will take place on 22 May at London's Grosvenor House hotel and will be hosted by Graham Norton, nominated for his first Bafta since 2002.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook