EastEnders snubbed in award nominations
EastEnders has no chance of being declared the UK's best soap after it failed to make the cut for the shortlist.
The BBC drama has been left out of the three nominations for the prestigious Best Soap award at the Royal Television Society Awards (RTS).
Rivals Coronation Street, Emmerdale and The Bill, which are all ITV1 shows, filled the nomination slots.
The snub is a blow for EastEnders, particularly after it won the Bafta and National Television Awards for best soap last year.
The long-running series has been forced out of the top three after critics were left unimpressed what they felt were depressing and boring plots in Albert Square.
Recent storylines in the BBC1 soap include Honey and Billy Mitchell discovering baby Petal has the genetic disorder Down's syndrome.
An Albert Square insider admitted to the Mirror that the snub was disappointing, but a source in the Sun insisted: "We're fine - we won the National Television Award."
Other nominations for the RTS awards include this year's Oscar-winner Dame Helen Mirren for her role in Prime Suspect, all three of the Top Gear presenting team jointly for best presenter and Stephen Merchant who beat Ricky Gervais, his co-writer and fellow Extras star, to a nomination for best comedy performance.
The awards take place in London on March 13.
