Sharpe actor Sean Bean up for RTS award for transsexual teacher role in Accused

Sean Bean on his latest role as a transvestite: 'I got pretty good at walking in high heels' (Jason Alden)

TV hardman Sean Bean is up for a prestigious award for his portrayal of a transsexual teacher in a courtroom drama.

The actor, who made his name in the Napoleonic war drama Sharpe, is shortlisted for best male actor at the Royal Television Society's (RTS) Programme Awards 2012.

Bean donned a mini-skirt and a blonde wig for the role in BBC1's Accused where he played an English teacher called Simon and his alter ego, Tracie, whose quest for love leads to the courtroom.

The legal drama, written by Cracker creator Jimmy McGovern, also picked up two of the three best female actor nominations for its stars Olivia Colman and Anne-Marie Duff.

The shortlist is completed by Sheridan Smith who played the wife of Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs in ITV's Mrs Biggs.

Bean faces competition from Line Of Duty actor Lennie James and Oliver Lansley who played DJ Kenny Everett in the biopic Best Possible Taste.

The awards will be hosted by Jo Brand, at a ceremony on Tuesday March 19 at the Grosvenor House Hotel in central London.

And Brand is up for an award herself - having picked up a nomination for best comedy writer for the NHS sitcom Getting On.

Brand and co-writers Vicki Pepperdine and Joanna Scanlan are shortlisted alongside John Morton for Twenty Twelve and the team behind The Thick of It.

Jessica Hynes' role as dim-witted PR guru Siobhan Sharpe in Twenty Twelve has won her a nomination for best comedy performance along with Stella star Ruth Jones and Jack Whitehall for Fresh Meat.

The shortlist for best drama series is made up of Call The Midwife, Line Of Duty and Sherlock.

Geordie duo Ant and Dec are nominated for best entertainment performance along with Charlie Brooker for 10 O'Clock Live and will.i.am for The Voice.

PA