Evil Pat Phelan up for four British Soap Awards

Pat Phelan first appeared on The Street in 2013

Coronation Street's evil Pat Phelan is leading the charge at this year's British Soap Awards.

Connor McIntyre, who plays the murderer, is in the running for best actor and villain of the year.

He is also up for best male dramatic performance and his "reign of terror" is nominated for best storyline.

Coronation Street, Doctors, EastEnders, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks will compete for the prestigious best soap prize at the live ceremony on ITV on 2 June.

The Slater family returned to Albert Square

Emmerdale won the coveted award at last year's event.

This year will be the first time the ceremony, hosted by Phillip Schofield, will be broadcast live.

To celebrate the awards' 20th anniversary, a one-off 'greatest moment' category has been included in the nominations.

In the running are Coronation Street for Richard Hillman driving his family into a canal (2003), Doctors for Vivien's rape (2008), EastEnders for "You Ain't My Mother" (2001), Emmerdale for the Hotten bypass crash (2016) and Hollyoaks for Jade saying goodbye to Alfie.

Catherine Tyldesley is up for best actress

Best actress nominees are Coronation Street's Catherine Tyldesley (who plays Eva Price) and Lucy Fallon (Bethany Platt), EastEnders' Lacey Turner (Stacey Fowler), Emmerdale's Emma Atkins (Charity Dingle) and Hollyoaks' Anna Passey (Sienna Blake).

McIntyre faces competition in the best male acting category from fellow Corrie star Jack P Shepherd (David Platt), Emmerdale's Ryan Hawley (Robert Sugden), Hollyoaks' Theo Graham (Hunter McQueen) and Emmerdale's Michael Parr (Ross Barton).

There are 16 awards in total, with some voted for by a panel of judges and some by the public.

Scene of the year contenders are the grooming of Bethany in Coronation Street, the Bollywood proposal in Doctors, Lauren and Abi's rooftop fall in EastEnders, Emma meets her fate in Emmerdale and Scott's suicide note in Hollyoaks.