Ricky is up for the gong for his role as struggling actor-turned-sitcom star Andy Millman, while Stephen is in the running for his turn as incompetent agent Darren Lamb.

The pair have been nominated jointly on four occasions for their writing.

They are up against six-times nominee Dawn French for The Vicar Of Dibley and actress Liz Smith, 85, who is nominated for her role as Nana in the Royle Family.

Caroline Aherne’s special BBC1 episode of The Royle Family, The Queen Of Sheba, is also nominated for best situation comedy, alongside Green Wing and The IT Crowd, both on Channel 4, and Pulling on BBC3.

Dancing On Ice has been nominated for a Bafta for the first time and will battle it out in the entertainment programme category with fellow ITV show X Factor.

They are up against Andrew Lloyd Webber’s How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? (BBC1) and Derren Brown: The Heist (Channel 4).

Coronation Street, EastEnders and Emmerdale are all up for best continuing drama, with Emmerdale nominated for the first time in six years.

The British Academy Television Awards, sponsored by Pioneer, take place at the London Palladium on May 20 and will be broadcast on BBC1.

Ricky takes to the floor with Travolta- Mar 30 2007
It’s hardly the tango, but John Travolta and Ricky Gervais have created a dance all of their own.

The two disco icons took to the floor together to strut their funky stuff in a sequence that has fortunately - or not - been captured on camera.

The Wild Hogs star reprised the 70s moves that made him a household name in Saturday Night Fever - while Ricky did his best to match him by resurrecting the infamous ’David Brent dance’ that featured in series two of The Office (yes, again).

The unlikely partners performed while filming tonight’s episode of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, where the actor also revealed that he’s been offered a guest role in the last ever episode of Extras.

He told Jonathan Ross: "I’ll probably do anything Ricky Gervais says."

And this is despite having seen the comedian dance...

Books by Kay and Gervais win awards - Mar 29 2007
TV comics Peter Kay and Ricky Gervais were winners at the Galaxy British Book Awards, see photos.

Gervais, star of The Office and Extras, won the Children’s Book of the Year prize for his cartoon creations Flanimals of the Deep.

Kay beat Gordon Ramsay to the Biography of the Year award with his best-selling memoir, The Sound of Laughter.

The book was the surprise hit of last year, shifting a record-breaking 600,000 copies in its first two months of release. Sales are now approaching one million.

The Bolton funnyman had also been nominated in the Book of the Year category.

But that went instead to The Dangerous Book For Boys by brothers Conn and Hal Iggulden, a children’s how-to guide extolling such old-fashioned pastimes as playing conkers and climbing trees.

The 18th annual awards - known as the "Nibbies" - were hosted by presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan from London’s Grosvenor House.

Professional atheist Professor Richard Dawkins was named Author of the Year for The God Delusion, his attack on religious faith.

England star Steve Gerrard won Sports Book of the Year for Gerrard: My Autobiography.