The 2006 British Academy Television Awards were held on Sunday 7 May at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. The ceremony was hosted by television presenter Davina McCall and broadcast on ITV the following day. The nominees for the audience-voted Pioneer Award were announced on Tuesday 14 March; other nominees were revealed on Monday 27 March. Winners Best Actor Winner: Mark Rylance — The Government Inspector (Channel 4) Nominees: Bernard Hill — A Very Social Secretary (More4); Denis Lawson — Bleak House (BBC One); Rufus Sewell — The Taming of the Shrew (BBC One) Best Actress Winner: Anna Maxwell Martin — Bleak House (BBC One) Nominees: Gillian Anderson — Bleak House (BBC One); Lucy Cohu — The Queen's Sister (Channel 4); Anne-Marie Duff — Shameless (Channel 4) Best Comedy (Programme or Series) Winner: Help (BBC / BBC Two) Nominees: The Catherine Tate Show (Tiger Aspect Productions / BBC Two); Creature Comforts (Aardman Animations / ITV); Little Britain (BBC / BBC One / BBC Three) Best Comedy Performance Winner: Chris Langham — The Thick of It (BBC Four); Nominees: Peter Capaldi — The Thick of It (BBC Four); Ashley Jensen — Extras (BBC Two); Catherine Tate — The Catherine Tate Show (BBC Two) Best Drama Serial Winner: Bleak House (BBC / Deep Indigo Productions / WGBH / BBC One) Nominees: Fingersmith (Sally Head Productions / BBC One); Funland (BBC / BBC Three); To the Ends of the Earth (BBC / Power Productions / Tightrope Pictures / BBC Two) Best Drama Series Winner: Doctor Who (BBC Wales / BBC One) Nominees: Bodies (Hat Trick Productions / BBC Three); Shameless (Company Pictures / Channel 4); Spooks (Kudos Film & Television / BBC One) Best Single Drama Winner: The Government Inspector (Mentorn Television / Stonehenge Films / arte France Cinéma / Channel 4) Nominees: Much Ado About Nothing (BBC Northern Ireland / BBC One); The Queen's Sister (Touchpaper Television / Channel 4); Red Dust (BBC / Distant Horizon / Videovision Entertainment / Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa / BBC Films / BBC Two) Best Continuing Drama Winner: EastEnders (BBC / BBC One) Nominees: Casualty (BBC / BBC One); Coronation Street (Granada Television / ITV); Holby City (BBC / BBC One) Best Current Affairs Winner: Dispatches - Beslan (??? / Channel 4) Nominees: Panorama Special - Undercover Nurse (BBC / BBC One); Dispatches - Iraq: The Reckoning (??? / Channel 4); Storyville - A